“We feel an obligation to make sure we get to the truth and the right outcome” : US Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO will continue fighting for Jordan Chiles to retain her bronze medal
Elite American gymnast Jordan Chiles won bronze for her country in the women’s floor exercise, in this year’s Olympics held in Paris. But since then, the American has been part of a rather peculiar controversy which led to the International Olympic Committee requiring her bronze medal back.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the judging panel in women’s floor exercise made a grave mistake while issuing the inquiry of Chiles’ coaches, which ultimately moved Chiles to the podium finish. The IOC also put out a statement that the bronze medal will be given to fourth place Ana Barbosu, from Romania.
Since then, apart from Jordan Chiles’ two appeals, USA Gymnastics has also come to the picture to file their separate appeal, in hopes that the Swiss Federal Tribunal reopens the case. The argument that the Americans are providing is that Jordan Chiles was not given a fair opportunity to defend her case.
“She had earned the medal” : Sarah Hirshland will do everything in her power for Jordan Chiles to retain her medal
Most recently, from the South Lawn of the White House where President Joe Biden welcomed and congratulated hundreds of Olympic and Paralympic medallists for their achievements, USOPC’s Chief Executive Officer Sarah Hirshland was also present and confirmed that the organisation will keep on fighting for the decision regarding Chiles to overturn.
“We feel an obligation to make sure we get to the truth and the right outcome. So, we’re going to fight to get there, we’ve had really constructive conversations with Jordan – and, frankly, with the Romanians. We’ve had a lot of dialogue with them. And it’s a constructive conversation. Of course, everybody’s got a vested interest. And the reality is the integrity of the competition is critical to sport, and we want to protect the integrity of competition.” said Hirshland.
“If we didn’t believe that she had earned the medal, we’d be in a different conversation. But we believe she earned that medal, so we’re going to ask the courts to look at the evidence again. Don’t know that they will or won’t, but that’s what we’re going to try.” the 49-year-old added.
An outcome which might be the biggest possibility for now, is that Ana Barbosu, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea and Jordan Chiles all share the bronze medal. But when quizzed about whether or not the USA will be supportive of this, Hirshland said that it is ‘complicated’.
“There are a lot of details around how that might be done that I can’t give you a blanket answer, we support the integrity of the competition and getting to a result that reflects that. And we think, in every instance, that keeps a bronze medal in Jordan’s hands.” said the CEO.
With the second appeal already sent to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the proceedings are expected to take several months, as this can be a long and draining fight for Chiles and co. with little to no confirmation of actually winning the case. But for now, only two things can happen. Either the Swiss Federal Tribunal will accept the original CAS ruling which will end the American gymnast’s fight on the spot, or it will send the case back to the CAS for further evaluation.
