PARIS (AP) — U.S. Olympic officials say they will appeal a court ruling that resulted in American gymnast Jordan Chiles being asked to return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles' coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Saturday night it would respect the court's decision and elevate Barbosu to third. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the ruling Sunday, announcing that it was reallocating the bronze from last Monday’s women’s floor final to Romanian Ana Barbosu.
“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee statement said.
CAS ruled Saturday that Team USA coach Cecile Landi's inquiry to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score came outside the 1-minute window allowed by the FIG. The CAS ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s inquiry came 1 minute, 4 seconds after Chiles' initial score was posted.
The IOC said in a statement it will be in touch with the USOPC regarding the return of Chiles' bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony honoring Barbosu.
“The initial error occurred in the scoring by FIG, and the second error was during the CAS appeal process, where the USOPC was not given adequate time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” said the USOPC statement, which was released Sunday.
It was unclear the exact process the appeal would take first. The two potential places the USOPC could take the appeal would be to Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Tribunal, or the European Court of Human Rights.
CAS wrote Saturday that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision,” but left it up to the federation to decide who would get the medal behind gold winner Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the U.S.
The FIG said it was the IOC’s call on whether to reallocate the medal. The IOC confirmed Sunday it would respect FIG's decision and seek to have Chiles' medal returned.
The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes.
Romanian gymnastics legend and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci feared for Barbosu’s mental health because of the wrenching sequence in which she went from bronze medalist to fourth-place finisher.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier in the week.
Comaneci, at the same time, criticized the judges for the way they scored Maneca-Voinea’s routine — the gymnast was docked 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds, but viral replays showed she narrowly stayed inbounds. Comaneci urged the Romanian Olympic Committee to protest, which it did, but CAS denied that appeal.
Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, indicating she is heartbroken and is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”
Jazmin Chiles, Jordan's sister, said on Instagram that Chiles was stripped of a medal “not because she wasn't good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.”
U.S. teammates offered support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian.
"Sending you so much love Jordan,” American star Simone Biles posted on Instagram. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.”
“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee added on Instagram. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”
USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is “devastated” by the ruling.
“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,” the organization wrote.
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in the floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker — a higher execution score — and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on Chiles’ score was announced.
“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like ‘We’re just going to try,‘” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like ‘What?’”
Judges awarded the appeal, leapfrogging Chiles past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.
Barbosu made it a point after returning home to Romania that she had no problem with Chiles.
“I only want for everybody to be fair, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we only want to perform as best as we can and to be rewarded based on our performance. The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”
Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, called out the critics in a post, writing she was “tired” of the derogatory comments being leveled at Jordan.
“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she’s being called disgusting things.”
The uncertainty also tinges what had been a beautiful moment on the medal stand, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honor Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris.
“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said about a moment that soon went viral, with even the Louvre itself suggesting it might be worthy enough for a spot somewhere in the vicinity of the Mona Lisa.
That memory now carries a complicated and emotional postscript.
Associated Press writer Stephen McGrath and AP Sports Writers Eddie Pells and Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Ana Barbosu, of Romania, competes during the women's artistic gymnastics individual floor finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Two-time U.S. Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles dons her medals as she prepares for photos outside the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York's Times Square, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Two-time U.S. Olympic gymnast medalist Jordan Chiles shows her medals after ringing the closing bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York's Times Square, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that’s severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals.
The political firestorm coincides with South Korea facing a slew of critical foreign policy issues, such as Donald Trump’s election win to become the next president of the United States and North Korea’s reported entry into the Russia-Ukraine war.
The scandal centers around allegations that Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee exerted inappropriate influence on the conservative ruling People Power Party to pick a certain candidate to run for a parliamentary by-election in 2022 at the request of Myung Tae-kyun, an election broker and founder of a polling agency who conducted free opinion surveys for Yoon before he became president.
For weeks, the scandal has been making headlines in South Korea as Myung's leaked phone conversations show he boasted of his influence over the presidential couple and other top ruling party officials.
Asked about his ties with Myung during a press conference Thursday, Yoon said, “I didn’t do anything inappropriate and have nothing to hide regarding Myung Tae-kyun.”
Yoon said he has never meddled in any candidate nomination processes at the PPP, and had never asked Myung to carry out surveys for him, though he acknowledged that Myung gave him some sort of help during his presidential primary campaign in 2021.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party said Yoon's response only showed his “arrogance" and “self-righteousness." The party earlier demanded Yoon apologize, reshuffle top officials and accept an independent investigation into his wife.
The Democratic Party recently shared what it said was an audio file of phone calls between Yoon and Myung on May 9, 2022 — a day before Yoon took office for a single five-year term. The opposition party alleges that the conversation proves Yoon provided Myung with political favors in return for free surveys.
In the audio file, Yoon can be heard telling Myung that he asked a PPP committee to pick senior party member Kim Young-sun to run for one of the parliamentary by-elections the following month. Kim Young-sun eventually obtained the party’s nomination and won the election.
In the file, Myung is heard saying, “I really won’t forget this favor for my entire life. Thank you!”
South Korea’s election law bars public servants, including the president, from interfering in elections, but applies no such restrictions to a president-elect, so it's unclear whether Yoon violated the law.
Recent surveys showed Yoon's approval rating fell below 20% for the first time since his inauguration. Kim Keon Hee has been grappling with other scandals, such as spy camera footage purportedly showing her accepting a luxury bag as a gift from a pastor.
Yoon apologized for causing public concerns about him and his wife, but stressed that many of the allegations raised were not consistent with the facts.
Some ruling party lawmakers have accused the Democratic Party of deliberately ramping up political attacks on Yoon and his wife in an effort to rescue its embattled leader, Lee Jae-myung, from legal troubles.
Lee, a firebrand lawmaker who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, is undergoing four separate trials over corruption and various other allegations. The first two district court rulings on Lee over his election law violation and perjury charges are set for Nov. 15 and Nov. 25. Either a prison sentence or a fine of more than 1 million won ($750) in the election law case would unseat Lee as a lawmaker and disqualify him from running in elections for five years, although he is likely to appeal any guilty verdict.
Surveys show Lee is the early favorite for the 2027 presidential race to succeed Yoon.
On foreign policy, Yoon — who has worked closely with Washington and Tokyo to solidify security cooperation in the face of North Korean threats — expressed optimism that the three-way partnership will continue to expand under Trump’s government. He said he wants to meet Trump and new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba soon to coordinate policies.
During his previous presidency, Trump engaged in highly orchestrated nuclear summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Yoon noted that North Korea’s arsenal has significantly advanced since Trump’s diplomacy with Kim collapsed in 2019.
Yoon said Trump “will be receiving comprehensive reports very soon about how North Korea’s nuclear technologies and capabilities have changed since then."
“After he receives these reports, I think we can have more meaningful and in-depth discussions when we have the opportunity to meet," Yoon said.
When asked about concerns that Trump’s “America first” approach would damage South Korean interests in trade through increased tariffs and other measures, Yoon said Seoul was making “multifaceted efforts to minimize the losses to our people’s economy.”
“Things can’t be exactly the same as they were during the Biden administration,” he said, “but we have been preparing to hedge these risks for a long time."
Earlier Thursday, Yoon had a telephone call with Trump, congratulating him on his election win and discussing strengthening bilateral cooperation. The two agreed to arrange an in-person meeting soon, according to Yoon’s office.
Prospects for South Korea-U.S. relations under Trump “could depend on whether Yoon is able to strike up positive chemistry with Trump immediately during the transition and foster a close personal friendship to convince him to want to support advance Seoul’s interests,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.
“This might be the only way to avert devastating consequences and surprises in the alliance relationship — including South Korean questions about Washington’s defense commitment — that we currently assume would happen based on Trump’s harsh rhetoric against allies and transactional style,” she said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives for a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol answers a reporters' question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives for a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol answers a reporters' question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol answers a reporters' question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol answers a reporters' question during a news conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)
