American gymnast Jordan Chiles appeals to Swiss court to get Olympic bronze medal back

Two-time U.S. Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles has filed an appeal with the Swiss Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that stripped her of her bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics. Chiles was initially awarded a bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics after an appeal challenging the judges’ scoring of her routine was upheld, moving her from fifth to third place. However, the Romanian Olympic Committee filed its own appeal with CAS, noting that Team USA’s appeal fell outside the one-minute time limit for challenging the judges’ scoring.

The CAS ruling upheld an appeal by the Romanian Olympic Committee. As a result, the International Olympic Committee subsequently awarded bronze to Romania’s Ana Barbosu. Chiles has now appealed to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court to overturn the decision.

“From beginning to end, the procedures leading to the CAS panel’s decision were fundamentally unfair, and it is no surprise that they resulted in an unjust decision,” Chiles’ lawyers said in a press release.

In her appeal, she alleged that CAS violated Chile’s fundamental “right to be heard” by refusing to consider video evidence showing that her request had been filed on time.

A conflict of interest was also alleged, as Hamid G. Gharavi, the Chair of the CAS Panel, had served as counsel for Romania for almost ten years and was actively representing Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration.

“Shortly following this appeal, Chiles will file a supplementary petition seeking additional and alternative relief from the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Both letters could result in a review of this case before CAS to give her — for the first time — the opportunity to prepare a defense and present evidence, including the video footage showing that her coach’s score investigation was submitted on time,” it added.

“Jordan Chiles’ appeals confront the international community with a simple legal question: Will everyone stand by and watch as an Olympic athlete who did nothing but the right thing is stripped of her medal because of fundamental unfairness in an ad hoc arbitration process? The answer to that question should be no,” said Maurice M. Suh, Chiles’ attorney, as quoted by CNN.

“Every aspect of the Olympic Games, including the arbitration process, should pursue fair play,” Suh added.

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