Chiles: Taking away bronze ‘unjust’

American gymnast Jordan Chiles called an arbitration panel’s decision that she must return the bronze medal she was awarded in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics “unjust” and a “significant blow” in a message posted on social media Thursday. The International Olympic Committee, in light of the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, announced it would reallocate the bronze to Ana Barbosu of Romania. It was thought Chiles had won the bronze after judges changed her score following an appeal by Team USA coach Cecile Landi. Romania successfully protested to the CAS that Landi’s appeal wasn’t made within one minute of Chiles’ score being posted. “... This feels unjust and comes as a significant blow,” Chiles wrote in an Instagram post. “To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful.” USA Gymnastics has said it will continue efforts to let Chiles keep the medal, saying it submitted video evidence to CAS that showed Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.

Judge fastest to 300 career homers

Aaron Judge noticed his teammates dancing in the bullpen as he rounded first. He got quite the reception when he crossed the plate, too. Not only did he hit his 300th homer, the Yankees’ slugger reached that milestone faster than any other player when he connected against the White Sox during a 10-2 victory on Wednesday night. “It’s a great achievement,” he said. “... I was hoping it would come in a win.” Judge, 32, hit the mark in his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat with a three-run drive in the eighth inning. The six-time All-Star and 2022 AL MVP drove a 3-0 up-and-in sinker from Chad Kuhl into the White Sox bullpen in left for his major league-leading 43rd homer. The Yankees let loose as the ball cleared the wall, jumping up and raising their arms and banging the dugout railing. Ralph Kiner reached 300 homers in his 1,087th game, and Babe Ruth did in his 3,831st at-bat. “Those are some guys that have done a lot of great things in this game,” Judge said. “You throw around a lot of those names to people who don’t know baseball and they know who they are. It’s a special group to be in.”

US Open gives Osaka wild-card entry

Two-time champion Naomi Osaka and fellow past U.S. Open winners Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem and Bianca Andreescu were given wild cards Wednesday into this year’s tournament. Osaka won the first of her four Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadows in 2018 and took the title again in 2020. But like the other past champions given wild cards, she has missed significant time in recent seasons and wasn’t ranked highly enough to qualify directly for the tournament. Osaka returned this season after giving birth last year, but is still searching for the form that led her to No. 1 in the rankings and made her one of the most dominant players on hard courts, having also won the Australian Open twice. Osaka also left the tour for mental health reasons. Andreescu beat Serena Williams for the 2019 women’s title. Thiem, winner in 2020, will get a chance to play a final Slam tournament, having announced earlier this year that he would retire following the season. Wawrinka won the 2016 title for one of his three Slam titles. The U.S. Open begins Aug. 26. —Associated Press