New audio challenges ruling over Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal

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In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jordan Chiles took home a team gold medal and a bronze in the floor apparatus final, but the bronze was later stripped from her on a technicality. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
On Tuesday, the saga of Jordan Chiles’ stripped bronze medal for the individual Olympic floor exercise continued, with the gymnast filing an appeal with the Swiss Supreme Court. The new appeal included audio-visual evidence that challenges the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling that Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, did not submit an inquiry within the required time limit.

The primary controversy with the CAS ruling has been the timing of Landi’s inquiry, which awarded an extra 0.1 points to Chiles’ difficulty score as a result of a leaping element missed by the judges. As the final gymnast in the floor exercise, Chiles and her coach had one minute after her score was posted to submit an inquiry.

An analysis by the Washington Post published Thursday confirmed that Landi requested an appeal in time, but that the official did not log the inquiry until 15 seconds after Landi’s first request and seven seconds after her second request.

Landi can be heard saying “Inquiry for Jordan” multiple times within the one-minute time limit, starting at 46 seconds after Chiles’ score was posted. An official did not log the inquiry until one minute and four seconds after Chiles’ score was officially recorded, and one minute and one second after her score was posted on the board.

Those few seconds were the basis of the initial CAS ruling that stripped Chiles of her medal, as well as the court’s choice to double down on the decision.

The footage, which includes the audio of Landi’s inquiries, was filmed as part of Team USA teammate Simone Biles’ documentary, “Simone Biles Rising.” Landi, who is also Biles’ coach, was mic’d up for the documentary, and can be heard saying “Inquiry for Jordan” twice before the one-minute deadline.

Notably, the footage also reveals that Landi had tried to submit an inquiry for Biles, who finished in second behind Rebeca Andrade. Chiles, Biles and Andrade made history as the first all-Black podium.

On social media, Biles said that she was frustrated that the appeal was not processed correctly, but that she didn’t mind ending in second.

“Honestly not a big deal for me, Rebeca had a better floor anyways,” Biles said, responding to a comment on X about her mishandled appeal. “Upsetting how it wasn’t processed but I’m not mad at the results.”

While Biles was fine with how things turned out for herself, she felt differently about Chiles: “JUSTICE FOR JORDAN,” she wrote.

Romania’s Ana Bǎrbosu, who was originally in third before Chiles’ new score bumped her off the podium, received her bronze medal in Romania in August. It is unclear whether Chiles is still in possession of her bronze medal.

On Aug. 15, Chiles released her first statement since the CAS ruling, calling the ruling “devastating” and “unjust” while noting that she had been subjected to “unprompted racially driven attacks” online.

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Chiles also spoke of losing the medal at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit last week, saying it “felt like everything had been stripped.”

“The biggest thing that was taken from me was, it was the recognition of who I was,” an emotional Chiles said during the Forbes Power Women’s Summit. “Not just my sport, but the person I am.

“It’s not about the medal. It’s about my skin color. It’s about the fact there were things that have led up to this position of being an athlete. And I felt like everything has been stripped. I felt like when I was back in 2018 where I did lose the love of the sport, I lost it again.”

For now, though, Chiles and her team are showing no signs of giving up on getting the medal back.