The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee will appeal the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that resulted in gymnast Jordan Chiles being stripped of her bronze medal in the floor exercise. 

Controversy exploded on Saturday after CAS retroactively knocked Chiles from third in the event down to fifth, saying that the inquiry that improved her score by one-tenth of a point came four seconds after the time limit to make such inquiries had expired. 

The International Gymnastics Federation and International Olympic Committee both said they would adhere to the CAS decision, meaning that Romanian Ana Barbosu would win bronze with Sabrina Maneca-Voina, Barbosu’s teammate, in fourth. 

“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 and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the USOPC said in a statement on Sunday. “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. As a result, we were not properly represented or afforded the opportunity to present our case comprehensively. 

“Given these circumstances, we are committed to pursuing an appeal to ensure that Jordan Chiles receives the recognition she deserves. We remain dedicated to supporting her as an Olympic champion and will continue to work diligently to resolve this matter swiftly and fairly.” 

It’s not clear what comes next. The USOPC could take the appeal to either the Swiss Tribunal (the high court in Switzerland, where CAS is based) or the European Court of Human Rights. 

The dispute is over Team USA coach Cecile Landi’s inquiry on Chiles’ difficulty score, which added a decisive tenth of a point to her total. That was described at the time as a prayer, and the initial decision to give Chiles bronze was met with outrage by Romania, whose prime minister said he would refuse to attend the closing ceremony over the treatment of his nation’s athletes. 

USA Gymnastics said in another statement on Sunday that it had submitted a letter and video evidence to CAS establishing that Landi’s request came within the one-minute deadline after Chiles’ score was published, and requesting that her score be reinstated. 

“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 statement read. “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.” 

Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci had posted on X earlier this week in support of Barbosu’s mental health, but wrote Sunday that it was “awful to take the medal away from Jordan.” 

Chiles herself posted an Instagram story on Saturday with a trio of broken heart emojis, saying she would take a break from social media. 

Her sister, Jazmin, however, stayed active on the platform. 

“Please keep Jordan [and my family] in your prayers,” Jazmin wrote in a lengthy Instagram story. “Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well. 

“They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals. Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds. Not because she wasn’t good enough. 

“But because the judges failed to give her difficulty [score] and forced an inquiry to be made. 

“FOUR SECONDS. Her bronze was stripped over 4 seconds of time that would have never needed to happen if the judges did their job. 

“I love you baby sis. And I got yo back no matter what.” 

With Simone Biles winning silver and Brazilian Rebeca Andrade winning gold, removing Chiles from the podium prevented it from being the first all-black Olympic gymnastics podium in history. 

“Just so y’all are aware — in the HISTORY of the Olympics NO ONE has ever been stripped of a medal for this,” Jazmin Chiles wrote in another post. “Also — there are only TWO ways you can be stripped of a medal. Cheating or doping. She did neither.” 

Suni Lee, Chiles’ teammate, also blasted the ruling on social media. 

“All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges??” Lee wrote. “Completely unacceptable. This is awful and I’m gutted for Jordan. I got your back forever, Jo.”