The USOPC said it will appeal a decision forcing American gymnast Jordan Chiles to return her bronze medal.

PARIS (AP) — U.S. Olympic officials said they will appeal a court ruling that ordered American gymnast Jordan Chiles to return the bronze medal she won within the free exercise on the Paris Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed Chiles’ coach’s appeal to allow her to finish third, finding that the appeal was filed 4 seconds after the one-minute deadline for questions on the result had expired.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Saturday evening it would respect the court’s decision and promote Barbosu to third place. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the ruling on Sunday, announcing that the bronze medal from Monday’s women’s freestyle final would go to Romanian Ana Barbosu.

“We firmly believe that Jordan was rightfully awarded the bronze medal. There were serious errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeals process that must be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.

CAS ruled Saturday that U.S. team coach Cecile Landi’s appeal to add 0.1 to Chiles’ rating got here outside the 1-minute window allowed by the FIG. The ad hoc committee wrote that Landi’s inquiry got here 1 minute and 4 seconds after Chiles’ initial rating was posted.

The IOC said in a statement that it would contact the USOPC about returning the bronze medal to the Chilean and would work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a ceremony to transfer the medal in Barbosu’s honor.

“The initial error occurred in the FIG scoring and the second error occurred during the CAS appeals process when the USOPC was not given sufficient time or notice to effectively challenge the decision,” the USOPC said in a statement released Sunday.

It was unclear exactly what appeals process would happen first. Two potential venues for the USOPC to appeal are Switzerland’s highest court, the Swiss Court of Justice, or the European Court of Human Rights.

CAS wrote Saturday that the initial order needs to be restored, with Barbosu in third, Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea in fourth and Chiles in fifth. The organization added that the FIG should set the ultimate standings “in accordance with the above decision” but left it up to the federation to resolve who would receive the medal after gold winner Rebecca Andrade of Brazil and silver medalist Simone Biles of the U.S.

The FIG said the decision to reallocate the medal was up to the IOC. The IOC confirmed Sunday that it would respect the FIG’s decision and seek the return of Chiles’ medal.

The rapid turn of events added one other dimension to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes.

Legendary Romanian gymnast and 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci feared for Barbosu’s mental health due to the difficult situation wherein she went from bronze to fourth place.

“I can’t believe we treat athletes’ mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them” – Comaneci published on X earlier this week.

At the identical time, Comaneci criticized the judges for his or her evaluation of Maneca-Voinea’s routine — the gymnast was deducted 0.1 points for going outside the sideline, but viral replays showed she barely stayed on the sideline. Comaneci called for a protest from the Romanian Olympic Committee, which was filed, but CAS rejected the appeal.

Chiles suggested such a decision in Instagram Story on Saturday, hinting that she was devastated and was “taking this time to remove myself from social media for the good of my mental health, thank you.”

Jazmin Chiles, Jordan’s sister, wrote on Instagram that Chiles was stripped of her medal “not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges didn’t give her a hard time and forced an investigation.”

Team USA teammates offered support to Chiles, a two-time Olympian.

“Sending you lots of love, Jordan” American star Simone Biles posted on Instagram“Keep your head up, Olympic champion, we love you.”

“All this talk about the athlete, but what about the judges?” six-time Olympic medalist Sunisa Lee added on Instagram. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I am heartbroken for Jordan.”

In a statement released Saturday, USA Gymnastics said it was “devastated” by the decision.

“The investigation into the difficulty rating of Jordan Chiles’ freestyle exercise was initiated in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure fair scoring,” the organization wrote.

Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were overlooked of the medals within the freestyle final, ending tied on 13.700 points. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea thanks to a tiebreaker — a higher rating for execution — and started celebrating by waving the Romanian flag.

Chiles was the last competitor to compete and initially received a rating of 13.666, which put her in fifth place, just behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an investigation into Chiles’ result.

“At that point, we had nothing to lose, so I thought, ‘Let’s just try,’” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it would work, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?’”

The judges upheld the appeal, favoring Chiles over Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.

Upon returning to Romania, Barbosu stressed that she had no problem with Chiles.

“I just want everyone 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 anything like that, we just want to perform at our best and be rewarded based on our results. The problem lies with the judges, their calculations and decisions.”

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Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles, slammed critics in a post, writing that she was “tired” of the derogatory comments directed at Jordan Chiles.

“My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and an unmatched level of sportsmanship,” wrote Gina Chiles. “And they call her disgusting things.”

Uncertainty also coloured a beautiful moment on the medal stand when Chiles and Biles knelt to pay tribute to Andrade after the Brazilian star won his fourth medal in Paris.

“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said of the moment that soon went viral, even Shutter which in itself suggests it is perhaps worthy enough to be placed somewhere near the Mona Lisa.

This memory now carries with it a complicated and emotional afterword.