Jordan Chiles Appeals to Swiss Court Over Olympic Bronze

Jordan Chiles of the United States competes in the artistic gymnastics women's floor exercise final on Day 10 of the Summer Olympics at Bercy Arena in Paris on Aug. 5. Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Lawyers representing American gymnast Jordan Chiles have launched an appeal with Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court to overturn a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling that stripped her of an Olympic bronze medal.

Chiles was stripped of her medal on Aug. 11 after the CAS ruled that an inquiry lodged by coach Cecile Landi, which increased Chiles’s final score, was submitted too late to be considered.

As a result, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the bronze to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu instead.

According to a Sept. 16 press release from Gibson Dunn, the law firm representing Chiles, the appeal is based on two key reasons: CAS violating Chiles’s “right to be heard” by refusing to consider video evidence, and a conflict of interest.

USA Gymnastics claims it formally submitted a letter and video evidence to the CAS showing that Landi’s request to file an inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after Chiles’s score was published. All inquiries about scores have to be submitted within one minute to be considered.

Gibson Dunn claims an undeclared conflict of interest also marred the CAS proceeding. The law firm argues that Hamid G. Gharavi, the president of the CAS panel that revoked Chiles’s bronze medal, has acted as counsel for Romania for almost a decade.

“Given these undeniable deficiencies, Chiles asks the Federal Supreme Court to reinstate the score that she rightfully earned at the floor event final,” the law firm said in a statement.

“This appeal is about much more than the bronze medal. Chiles is pursuing her case to encourage the entire Olympic community to take steps to ensure that future Olympians do not face a similar ordeal.”

International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) regulations allow a coach to challenge a difficulty score, provided it’s done verbally and immediately after the publication of the score.

The difficulty score starts at zero, and an athlete will earn points by completing the composition requirements and skills with higher difficulty ratings.

Chiles initially received a score of 13.666, placing her fifth before Landi called for an inquiry and review, which saw an extra 0.1 added.

As a result, Chiles’s score was improved to 13.766, awarding her the bronze medal. The Romanian Gymnastics Federation immediately filed an official challenge with the CAS to review the circumstances surrounding the decision to revise Chiles’s score.

It ruled that Landi was four seconds late when she lodged an inquiry to review the athlete’s score during the floor exercise final.

Counsel acting for Chiles, Maurice M. Suh, said the appeal to Switzerland’s Supreme Court has a simple goal in mind.

“Jordan Chiles’s appeals present the international community with an easy legal question—will everyone stand by while an Olympic athlete who has done only the right thing is stripped of her medal because of fundamental unfairness in an ad-hoc arbitration process?” Suh said.

“The answer to that question should be no. Every part of the Olympics, including the arbitration process, should stand for fair play.”

The Paris Olympics ended Aug. 11.