This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Thank you so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
I know I said we were done talking about the Olympics, but I’m sorry. Today we’ve got to circle back because this Jordan Chiles bronze medal thing has become a complete dumpster fire.
Chiles is being forced to give her Olympic medal back, which is already bizarre. But what makes it worse is that it’s everyone’s fault but hers.
It all started with Chiles dramatically winning her Olympic bronze medal two weeks ago in the individual floor routine competition. Her original score was posted at 13.666, but her coach, Cecile Landi, filed an inquiry with the judges, arguing that they’d miscalculated her difficulty score.
It turns out Landi was right. They did miscalculate her score. Following the inquiry, her score bumped by a tenth, giving her a 13.766, which just edged out Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu for bronze.
The drama that was unnecessary, sure. But, hey. At least the problem was solved, right? Wrong. At least, according to the Court of Arbitration in Sport and the International Olympic Committee.
READ MORE: Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal controversy, explained
To make a long story short, the CAS ruled that Landi’s inquiry came a whopping four seconds after the one-minute deadline following Chiles’ initial score, so it shouldn’t have been accepted. And because it shouldn’t have been accepted, the IOC is making Chiles return her bronze medal that she would’ve won in the first place if the judges had just done their jobs properly.
The situation, somehow, gets worse. Team USA decided to appeal the ruling with evidence that Landi’s inquiry did, indeed, beat the 1-minute deadline required. Twice. But the CAS doesn’t allow arbitral awards to be reconsidered — even if the evidence clearly says it should be! On top of that, the CAS reportedly didn’t even speak to the right Team USA officials when considering the Romanian appeal.
The question I’m left to ponder here is this: Does anyone involved in this process know how to do their jobs? It sure doesn’t seem like it.
All these institutions we’re supposed to trust have failed here. The gymnastics judges, the IOC, the CAS. They’ve all fumbled their part of the process along the way to bring us to this very moment where Chiles is being made to pay for their mistakes.
Not only is she being wrongfully stripped of a medal that she earned, but now she’s also vulnerable to the most hateful people on the internet who were already going to try and invalidate her incredible accomplishment with racist attacks before the ineptitude of these governing bodies added fuel to the fire.
Chiles took solace in knowing she was part of gymnastics’ first all-Black podium. She was proud of that. That meant more than any medal. It was history. A positive spin that — let’s be honest — gymnastics desperately needed.
Now, whether she gets to keep the medal or not, the moment will forever be blighted by the incompetence of the governing bodies that are supposed to be protecting this sport.
I’d say it’s a shame, but it’d be awfully presumptuous of me to assume that the parties involved have any.
On the road again
The New York Jets have reclaimed their throne, folks. Somehow, the other New York team has already become the most dramatic team in the NFL and we haven’t even played a game yet.
Remember when the Jets traded a conditional third-round pick to the Eagles for Haason Reddick back in April? Yeah, well, he already wants out.
Reddick requested a trade from New York on Monday after the two sides couldn’t strike a long-term deal. Jets GM Joe Douglas says Reddick isn’t going anywhere. That’s cool. We’ll see how that works out.
Our Cory Woodroof has five teams Douglas can call when he inevitably changes his mind about this, though, starting with the Atlanta Falcons.
“No team in the NFL needs Reddick like the Falcons. Seriously. If the Falcons could find a way to add a talent like Reddick to their pass-rushing group, that’d be a huge, huge boost to a pretty middling unit on paper. Reddick would arguably be Atlanta’s most proven pass-rusher since defensive end John Abraham, who last played for the Falcons in 2012.”
Make the call, Joe.
Living your best life … kind of
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker seem to be having an blast together in St. Tropez after winning a gold medal.
I will say I’ve never seen anyone make going down a slide seem less … meh? than Kevin Durant. My boy still has his game face on.
book and kd living their best lives in st tropez post olympics as they deserve 🥲 pic.twitter.com/OP61O0Srj0
— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) August 13, 2024
Somebody tell him the job is finished, please?
Quick hits: Matthew Judon trade destinations … Haunted hotels with Mookie Betts … and more
— Robert Zeglinski has six trade destinations for Patriots’ star Matthew Judon
—Mookie Betts ain’t messing with no ghosts. Smart man. Tyler Nettuno has more.
— Here’s Charles Curtis with more fantasy football tips for you. Take notes, folks.
— Byran Kalbrosky has a projection for the 2028 Olympic men’s basketball team for you here.
— Malika Andrews absolutely handled this earthquake like a pro. Wow.
— Here’s Robert Zeglinski with five things we learned about the NBA through the Olympics
That’s a wrap, folks. Let’s do this again tomorrow.
-Sykes ✌️