USA Gymnastics officials say an arbitration panel won't reconsider a decision asking gymnast Jordan Chiles to return the bronze medal she was awarded in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics.
USA Gymnastics says it will continue efforts to let Chiles keep the medal.
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Silver medalist Simone Biles, of the United States, left, and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles, of the United States, right, bow to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, of Brazil, during the medal ceremony for 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/Abbie Parr)
Flavor Flav gestures prior to a women's water polo group B preliminary match between Italy and USA, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Silver medalist Simone Biles, of the United States, left, and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles, of the United States, right, bow to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, of Brazil, during the medal ceremony for 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/Abbie Parr)
Jordan Chiles medal inquiry: USA Gymnastics says arbitration panel won't reconsider decision
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)
Jordan Chiles medal inquiry: USA Gymnastics says arbitration panel won't reconsider decision
“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,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “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.”
CAS voided an on-floor appeal from Chiles’ coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the one-minute time limit for scoring inquiries.
USA Gymnastics disputed the timing, saying Sunday that the agency submitted video evidence to CAS that showed Team USA coach Cecile Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.
The dispute over such minute details sets up what could be a months- or years-long legal battle over the gymnastics scores.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Saturday night it would respect the court’s decision and elevate Ana Barbosu of Romania to third. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the ruling Sunday, announcing that it was reallocating the medal.
CAS ruled Saturday that Landi’s inquiry to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score came outside the one-minute window. The CAS ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s inquiry came 1 minute, 4 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was posted.
The IOC said 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. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won gold and Simone Biles of the U.S. was the silver medalist.
Any appeal could go to Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Tribunal, or the European Court of Human Rights.
Late Monday, rapper Flavor Flav — who has been a prominent celebrity supporter of 2024 Olympians, including discus thrower Veronica Fraley — posted on the social media platform X that he had made a bedazzled bronze medal for Chiles as a potential replacement while the U.S. fights “the Powers that be.” The replacement is in the manner of a clock, which the rapper has worn for decades, since his days with the group Public Enemy.
“Thank you. Means the world," according to a reply posted on the X account of Gina Charles, the gymnast's mother. “She’s not on socials right now as you can imagine. I’ll share it with her.”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Flavor Flav gestures prior to a women's water polo group B preliminary match between Italy and USA, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Silver medalist Simone Biles, of the United States, left, and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles, of the United States, right, bow to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, of Brazil, during the medal ceremony for 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/Abbie Parr)
Jordan Chiles medal inquiry: USA Gymnastics says arbitration panel won't reconsider decision
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)
Jordan Chiles medal inquiry: USA Gymnastics says arbitration panel won't reconsider decision
What's in a name change, after all?
The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.
But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”
Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.
There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.
“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”
But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?
“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."
As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.
In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.
“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.
“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”
Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)