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Jordan Chiles appeals to Swiss court in fight for Olympic bronze medal in gymnastics

Jordan Chiles said she would do anything to get her bronze medal back, and that fight continued on Monday.

Chiles' lawyers have filed a formal appeal with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Switzerland's highest court, to overturn the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport that stripped Chiles of her bronze medal in the women's floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Successful appeals before the Swiss arbitration court are rare, but Chiles' lawyers argue that the CAS decision – which led the International Olympic Committee to award Chiles' medal to Romanian Ana Bărbosu – violated Chiles' “right to be heard”.

In a press release, Chile's lawyers make two arguments why the decision was “procedurally flawed.” They argue that the CAS refused to consider video evidence that “showed that their request was submitted on time.” They also said the entire CAS process was unfair because Chiles was not properly informed that Hamid Gharavi, the chair of the CAS panel that made the decision, had “a serious conflict of interest” as he was acting as legal counsel for Romania.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee also filed a letter in support of the appeal. USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it would “file supporting motions with the court to continue to seek justice for Jordan.”

“We made a strategic decision together to have Jordan lead the initial registration,” USA Gymnastics said.

The ongoing saga dates back to the August 5th match at the Bercy Arena in Paris.

Chiles initially placed fifth with a score of 13.666 points, but the judges increased her score by a tenth of a point after her coach Cecile Landi made a request. After the successful challenge, Chiles was relegated to bronze – Bărbosu finished fourth – and burst into cheers and tears when she learned of her podium finish.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation then appealed to CAS, challenging the timeliness of Chiles' request on the grounds that it was submitted four seconds after the one-minute time limit for such an appeal had expired.

The CAS ruled that Chiles' request had indeed been made too late and her original result should be reinstated, effectively knocking her off the podium. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) amended the results to reflect this before leaving the final decision on awarding the bronze medal to the IOC.

The IOC awarded Bărbosu the bronze medal, which she received at a ceremony in Bucharest on August 16.

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USA Gymnastics said it did not have enough time to properly present Chiles' arguments and that it believed Landi made the request 47 seconds after the result was released, 13 seconds within the acceptable window. It had not seen any disclosures about Gharavi or other jury members; the court said in its decision that Gharavi's participation was not challenged during the gymnastics arbitration process, so “it can reasonably be assumed that all parties were satisfied that their case would be heard by this jury.”

With his appeal before the Swiss court, Chiles is asking for the opportunity to adequately present his arguments.

“Both submissions could lead to a retrial of the case before CAS to give her – for the first time – the opportunity to prepare a defence and present evidence, including the video footage showing that her coach's points request was submitted on time,” her lawyers said in a press release.

In its full decision, CAS said it would give Chiles, Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea – whose request to increase her score was rejected – a bronze medal each if the court had its way, which Romania had requested in its appeal. CAS said FIG had no policies to ensure the correct protocol was followed or a mechanism to track the timing of requests, even though Chiles' request was submitted electronically.

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Donatella Sacchi, chair of the FIG Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee, said that when the request was received, “the information showed no indication that it had been received late.”

According to CAS, it was reasonable for Sacchi to assume that the investigation was timely as there was no indication that it was delayed.

“If the FIG had introduced such a mechanism or regulation, much grief would have been avoided,” CAS said.

Chiles, who will return to UCLA for the upcoming women's gymnastics season, spoke at length about the loss of her medal at the Forbes Power Women's Summit in New York last Wednesday.

“The most important thing that was taken away from me was the recognition of my personality, not just my sport, but the person I am,” she said.

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(Photo: Alex Gottschalk / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

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