The Battle over Jordan Chiles's Bronze Medal
US, Israel try to deter Iran from launching an attack
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📌 OLYMPICS OFFICIALS DEMAND US GYMNAST RETURN HER BRONZE MEDAL
The Summer Olympics may be over, but there is still a battle for one medal playing out. And, it could last for several more months or even years.
American gymnast Jordan Chiles has been stripped of her bronze medal in the individual floor exercise after the Romanian gymnastics team challenged her final score, sending Chiles down to fifth place. Team USA is now appealing the ruling after a setback Monday night. But first, let’s back up here and bring you the timeline.
FROM FIFTH TO THIRD BACK TO FIFTH
This controversy centers around scoring at the floor exercise competition last week. Chiles was initially given a score of 13.666, and finished in 5th place. However, Team USA quickly appealed, saying she should not have received a 0.1 deduction on her difficulty score. The judges agreed that they had erred, and bumped her up to 13.766. That put her ahead of two Romanian gymnasts for a 3rd place bronze medal finish. She went home with the medal.
But, it didn’t end there.
In recent days, the Romanian gymnastics federation made an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that Chiles’s inquiry had actually been filed after a 60 second deadline, thus rendering her new score invalid. The court agreed, ruling that the American inquiry had come four seconds late (at 64 seconds).
Bottom line: even though the judges admitted they made a scoring mistake, the appeal came too late. Chiles’s original 13.666 score has been reinstated and international officials say she needs to return the medal.
OK, NOW WHAT?
USA Gymnastics will appeal to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland after the CAS rejected their request Monday to reconsider the case.
A couple issues here: It is unclear who runs the ‘clock,’ and what part of an official inquiry has to be filed within the 60 second deadline. [International gymnastics has been tweaking rules on the fly for years.]
New evidence: USA Gymnastics now says it has video showing Chiles’s coach, Cecile Landi, actually stated her request for a judge’s inquiry 47 seconds after the score appeared (13 seconds before the deadline!).
Team USA said it did not have this footage at the time of the court’s initial ruling, and thus, could not submit it as evidence. The CAS says their decision is final, so USA Gymnastics is now pursuing other avenues of appeal. This could end up in the European Court of Human Rights.
For the record, there is no Olympic medal police force, so it is unclear how they could ever force Chiles to return her gear.
📌 US, ISRAEL BRACE FOR SIGNIFICANT IRANIAN ATTACK
The US is moving more forces into the Middle East, as it hopes to deter Iran and proxy terrorist forces from launching a potential attack on Israel in the coming days.
Iran is looking to retaliate for the recent assassinations of top leaders of both the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups—which the Islamic regime help fund and arm. One of the killings also took place inside an Iranian government building in Tehran, a huge embarrassment to the Islamic regime.
THE LATEST
The Pentagon, which rarely makes the location of submarines public, says that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered guided missile submarine, to the region.
Austin has also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to speed up its movement from East Asia and join other forces in the region. It could still take another two weeks to arrive, but the point is to reinforce to Iran that the US will not let Israel be attacked.
A Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukr, and a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, were killed in separate incidents last month. Israel took responsibility for the strike that killed Shukr but has not said if it was also behind the attack that killed Haniyeh in Tehran. Though, Israel has privately admitted to US officials that were behind that attack as well.
Both the US and Israel assess an Iranian attack could take place as soon as this week, but still do not have a clear sense of timing and how significant it will be.
Acting Iranian foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani said Sunday that “Iran will make the aggressions of the … Israeli regime costly in a legitimate and firm action.”
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Trump, Elon Musk hold a live chat for nearly two hours after a lengthy technical glitch (AXIOS)
📌 Trump accidentally uses private plane once used by Jeffrey Epstein (USA TODAY)
📌 U.S. colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs after years of putting it off (AP)
📌 New homes in the U.S. now cost less per square foot than old houses (AXIOS)
📌 Trump sues DOJ for $100M over Mar-A-Lago raid (FOX BUSINESS)
📌 DNC officials fear anti-Israel protesters may be planning disruptions not just on the streets of Chicago, but inside the arena itself (NY TIMES)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Putin vows to “kick enemy out of Russia” as Ukraine invasion expands to dozens of villages (CNN)
📌 New remains of victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD are found in Pompeii (DAILY MAIL)
📌 Tropical storm warnings issued for Caribbean (FOX WEATHER)
📌 A19th century shipwreck found off the coast of Sweden is filled with champagne bottles… and authorities won’t allow anyone a sip (CBS)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Nvidia named top ‘rebound’ stock as Wall Street argues recent slump is overdone (YAHOO! FINANCE)
📌 Stock markets pray inflation stays well behaved this week when government releases new consumer price data (REUTERS)
📌 Researchers are developing technology to analyze food consumption by the bite, with the goal of tracking nutrition while you eat (WSJ)
📌 Macy’s store closures will set off a wave of change at shopping malls (CNBC)
📌 Ford unveils new Mustang and Bronco inspired electric bikes (FOX NEWS)
📌 Waymo will begin testing driverless robotaxis on San Francisco freeways (TECH CRUNCH)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 Banksy reveals new rhino art (ABC NEWS)
📌 Snoop’s side quests: Beyond the Olympics, the rapper has proved his versatility from cooking to wrestling (AP)
📌 Former President Obama reveals ‘brat’ summer playlist (USA TODAY)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: AUGUST 13
1907: First metered taxi cabs hits streets of NYC. They are initially red and green, but are eventually painted yellow in order to be more visible.
1952: “Hound Dog” is recorded for the first time by Big Mama Thornton. Elvis Presley would follow with his version in 1956.
1980: Devo released their song 'Whip It.'
1997: ‘South Park’ premiered on Comedy Central. It is set to run through a 30th season in 2027.