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≡ ANALYSIS AND OBSERVATIONS ≡
The wild ride of American gymnast Jordan Chiles continues with the continuing cascade of conflicting information which has seen the Court of Arbitration for Sport decide that she was not the winner of the Paris 2024 Artistic Gymnastics women’s Floor Exercise bronze medal back on 5 August.
There is hope for Chiles, however. First, a recap of what happened:
● 5 August: Chiles, 23, competed in the Olympic women’s Floor Exercise final in Paris, initially scoring 13.666 to place fifth. However, American coaches filed a inquiry with the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), and Chiles’ difficulty score for her routine was increased from 5.800 to 5.900, increasing her score to 13.766, and she was awarded the bronze medal.
● 6 August: Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu (18) – fourth at 13.700 – and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (17) – fifth at 13.700 – filed separate appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, asking for the change in Chiles’ score to be rescinded and each made a case for the bronze medal.
● 8 August: A further filing by both Romanian gymnasts asked for all three to be awarded the bronze medal.
● 10 August: A hearing before three arbitrators was held and a decision announced later the same day, with Chiles’ score reverting to 13.766 for fifth place and Barbosu as the bronze medalist. All other submittals were dismissed. The FIG published the decision in a short post, without comment.
● 10 August: On the same day, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee issued an unhappy statement:
“We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.
“Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support or instigate them. We commend Jordan for conducting herself with integrity both on and off the competition floor, and we continue to stand by and support her.”
● 11 August: USA Gymnastics announced:
“USA Gymnastics on Sunday formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, conclusively establishing that Head Coach Cecile Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the publishing of the score, within the 1-minute deadline required by FIG rule. …
“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.
“The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”
● 11 August: The International Olympic Committee issued a statement:
“The IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania). We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
● 12 August: The Court of Arbitration for Sport slammed the door on the USA Gymnastics’ request; according to a USAG posting:
“USA Gymnastics was notified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday that their rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented. We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement, and medal award for Jordan.”
● 14 August: The Court of Arbitration for Sport published the full opinion of its 10 August decision, which included some remarkable information, including that the USOPC and USA Gymnastics did not know about the filings until 9 August at 10:23 a.m. and had only until 8 p.m. that same day to file any submissions, and to be ready for a hearing at 8 a.m. the next morning. A submission on Chiles’ behalf was filed at 7:57 p.m.
The decision noted that as regards the timing of the filing of the inquiry concerning Chiles’ score, Donatella Sacchi (ITA), President of the FIG Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee, was closely questioned, and the opinion stated:
“It appears on the basis of the evidence that no one on behalf of FIG was in place to monitor the compliance with its mandatory one-minute rule. The verbal inquiry made on behalf of Ms. Chiles was reviewed by Ms. Sacchi on the assumption that it had been submitted on a timely basis, without the same having been checked and without any possibility of a violation being flagged.
“There was here a manifest default in the arrangements: there was no monitoring system in place to allow the referee to know whether or not the request for an inquiry was filed in a timely manner. In the circumstances, the Panel wishes to make clear that it considers it to have been entirely reasonable for Ms. Sacchi to proceed as she did, on the assumption that a monitoring arrangement was in place and that, in the absence of notification as to a late request, she should proceed to conduct the inquiry.
“The failure was the responsibility of the FIG, not of Ms. Sacchi or of Ms. Canqueteau-Landi.”
However, the opinion also stated that USA Gymnastics did not challenge the 1:04 inquiry period for the inquiry during the hearing. And the CAS panel simply took at face value the 1:04 timing of the inquiry, with no other evidence before it, and reversed Chiles’ score.
● 17 August: Barbosu received a bronze medal from the IOC in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.
So, now what?
USA Gymnastics and the USOPC don’t have many options. The IOC has made its decision and given a bronze to Barbosu, but long-time observers remember the firestorm from the judging fiasco at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the award of dual golds to Russian Pairs skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze and Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, after the Canadians had initially been placed second.
The IOC Executive Board could so the same thing in this case, but the date of future meetings has not been announced as yet.
USA Gymnastics and the USOPC can also apply to the Swiss Federal Tribunal for a re-hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but with a different panel. The grounds for this are very limited, under Swiss Private International Law Act §190; there are five.
There appear to be no grounds for the arbitration panel being improperly arranged, despite allegations of one arbitrator having done business with the Romanian government before; no jurisdictional questions, or that claims were not decided. However:
§ 190 “d. where the principle of equal treatment of the parties or their right to be heard in an adversary procedure were violated;
§ 190 “e. where the award is incompatible with public policy.”
Certainly, USA Gymnastics can make a cogent argument that its treatment was compromised by not being informed of the filings, or the hearing in a timely way, especially since it was able to come up with evidence on the timing on its inquiry a day after the hearing after not being notified of the Romanian filings for three days.
The public policy argument is more nebulous, but the inadmission for timing reasons of evidence which USA Gymnastics said the CAS panel agreed was “conclusive” seems to defeat the reason for having the Court of Arbitration in the first place.
The IOC can end all of this with a look back to what happened in Salt Lake City in 2002. That’s not likely to happen quickly, but it may happen in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal seems sure. Chiles will return to UCLA when classes resume on 26 September; she has already learned a lot this summer.
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