Chiles’s appeal to retain Olympic bronze sent back to CAS

U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles’ bid to defend her Paris Olympics bronze medal will continue after Switzerland’s supreme court sent the matter back to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday.

Chiles was awarded a bronze medal on the floor exercise in Paris after a score revision on difficulty put her on the podium at the expense of Romania’s Ana Maria Barbosu.

Advertising

However, Romania appealed the decision and CAS ruled in Barbosu’s favor, finding that America’s request for a points revision was made only four seconds too late.

Chile’s lawyers appealed the decision based on video footage that they said “conclusively proves” that the redaction objection was filed in a timely manner.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court said it would send the case back to CAS “to reexamine the situation, taking into account the new evidence.”

“In the highly exceptional circumstances of the case in question, the court considers that there is a possibility that the audiovisual recording of the final on 5 August 2024 could lead to the change of the contested decision in favor of the applicant (Chile),” the court said.

Advertising

USA Gymnastics welcomed the decision.

“We are pleased that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court recognized the flaws in the initial process and Jordan’s case can now be heard with all relevant evidence,” the federation said.

“We look forward to a fair arbitration with clear evidence proving that the investigation into Jordan’s score was completed within 1 minute as required by FIG rules.”

The Swiss Supreme Court rejected Chiles’ lawyers’ claim that the head of the CAS panel handling the case had a conflict of interest because he had been Romania’s lawyer for several years.

cfe/bm-bb/mw