Jordan Chiles appeals Olympic medal decision in Swiss court
Jordan Chiles, the gymnast who had her bronze medal stripped from her moments after the 2024 Paris Olympics concluded, is fighting the decision in Switzerland's Supreme Court.
"Jordan Chiles' 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? The answer to that question should be no," Chiles's attorney, Maurice Suh, said in a statement. "Every part of the Olympics, including the arbitration process, should stand for fair play."
The ruling made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) can only be appealed regarding an issue rooted in the decisionmaking and not a direct contest with the verdict. The Swiss court will now decide if Chiles's legal team presented a proper argument for an appeal or if the issue should be dismissed.
Suh stated that Chiles's "right to be heard" was violated, among a host of other discrepancies.
Chiles was the last gymnast to complete her routine, leaving her coach, Cecile Landi, with only one minute to inquire about the score. The CAS documented that no formal system was in place for monitoring score inquiries and did not admit evidence from USA Gymnastics, which showed Landi expressed her inquiry before the deadline.
Although the Romanian Gymnastics Federation reported that Landi missed the deadline, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee didn’t discover the appeal from the Romanian team until the day before the Aug. 10 hearing.
Later, the CAS agreed with the entity, prompting it to revoke Chiles's medal.
Prior to the incident, Chiles was awarded the bronze medal after judges accepted Landi's inquiry, which raised her mark by one-tenth, earning her a spot on the podium next to Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade.
"The biggest thing that was taken from me was that it was the recognition of who I was," Chiles said on stage at the 2024 Forbes Power Women's Summit in New York. "Not just my sport, but the person I am."
Her attorneys said they would file another petition in Swiss court, which could lead to retrial in the CAS.