LAUSANNE, Switzerland — U.S. gymnast and Vancouver native Jordan Chiles will appeal to a Swiss high court after being stripped of her bronze medal from the floor exercise finals at the Paris Olympics, according to a statement from her attorneys.
The gymnast has requested that the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland overturn a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that her coaches' request for a score adjustment came seconds after the deadline.
A statement from law firm Gibson Dunn and co-counsel Homburger AG released Monday indicates that Chiles is appealing on her own behalf, although she has the support of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
In addition to the appeal, Chiles' attorneys said they will be filing a petition for "additional and alternative relief" to the high court. Both briefs could provide the opportunity for a retrial in which Chiles would be allowed to prepare a defense and present evidence.
Chiles' appeal argues that the arbitration court violated her "right to be heard" by refusing to consider video evidence showing that Team USA's inquiry was submitted on time and not after the deadline as the court determined.
"The entire CAS proceeding was unfair because Chiles was not properly informed that Hamid G. Gharavi, the President of the CAS panel that revoked Chiles’s bronze medal and awarded it instead to a Romanian gymnast, had a serious conflict of interest: Mr. Gharavi has acted as counsel for Romania for almost a decade and was actively representing Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration," Chiles' attorneys wrote. "Given these undeniable deficiencies, Chiles asks the Federal Supreme Court to reinstate the score that she rightfully earned at the floor event final."
Under the arbitration court's decision, Chiles was bumped from third place in the floor exercise finals to fifth. Her attorneys claim that the court incorrectly stated that there was "no dispute" that Chiles' coach was late in making an inquiry, though both Chiles and U.S. Olympic officials have argued otherwise.
The arbitration court also gave Chiles little chance to plead her case, her attorneys said, notifying her a few hours before the hearing that it was being held.
"From start to finish, 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' attorneys wrote. "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."
From the beginning, judges' decisions in the floor exercise finals generated controversy. Chiles was in close competition for bronze with two Romanian gymnasts, and she initially earned a score that put her behind them at fifth place. But after the inquiry from Chiles' coaches, the judges granted her an adjustment that boosted her up to third.
One of the Romanian gymnasts, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, had also received a small deduction from the judges for stepping out of bounds during her routine, though video replays showed that she'd narrowly remained inbounds. An initial challenge of that deduction by Romania was rejected.
The CAS did not reverse the deduction for Maneca-Voinea but did side with Romania's claim that Team USA's inquiry was submitted four seconds too late. That decision bumped Chiles back down to fifth place and awarded the medal to Ana Barbosu, the other Romanian gymnast.
Chiles received a consolation prize at the MTV Video Music Awards last week from rapper and U.S. Olympic Water Polo benefactor Flavor Flav in the form of a diamond-encrusted bronze clock. Chiles also retains a gold medal from the 2024 team all-around event.
