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Olympian Jordan Chiles Appeals Bronze Medal Decision to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court
U.S. Olympian Jordan Chiles has filed an appeal to challenge the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to strip her of her bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Oregon native’s attorney announced in a statement on Monday, September 16, that the two-time Olympian, 23, was contesting the decision in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland in “continuation of Chiles’s pursuit of justice for the bronze medal.” The filing was supported by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), according to her attorney Maurice Suh.
Chiles competed in the women’s floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympics on August 5. She initially scored 13.666, placing her fifth, with Romania’s Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca–Voinea tied for the bronze medal position. Jordan’s coaches Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Laurent Landi submitted an inquiry to the panel of judges to reexamine the Team USA member’s routine difficulty and start value. Her score was boosted by 0.100, which bumped her up above Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.
Romania appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that Jordan’s coaches submitted their inquiry one minute and four seconds after she completed her routine, exceeding the one-minute deadline by four seconds. Jordan was stripped of her bronze medal on August 10 and the accolade was ultimately awarded solely to Ana.
USA Gymnastics appealed the CAS ruling with time-stamped video evidence on August 11, proving the scoring appeal was submitted 47 seconds after the score was posted. However, the committee declined to reconsider.
Jordan listed two reasons to back up her claim in the filing. “First, CAS violated Chiles’s fundamental ‘right to be heard’ by refusing to consider the video evidence that showed her inquiry was submitted on time — in direct contradiction to the findings in CAS’s decision,” the statement read. “Second, 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.”
The statement claimed that Gharavi had acted as counsel for Romania “for almost a decade” and “was actively representing Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration.”
In the statement, Jordan’s attorney slammed the decision to demote his client to fifth place, citing that it was an “incorrect assertion” that Jordan’s coaches had been four seconds too late in correcting her score.
“Chiles directly and repeatedly disputed that issue at the arbitration hearing. Subsequent to the hearing, Chiles even submitted video footage which unequivocally proves that the inquiry was submitted on time.”
In conclusion, the attorney asserted that the issue was “about much more” than a 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,” he stated. “Chiles believes in competing fairly and with integrity and holding these organizations to the standards and rules that were established to ensure fairness.”
Jordan broke her silence about the ordeal days after her medal was reallocated via a statement on Instagram. “I am overwhelmed by the love I have received over the past few days. I am also incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time,” the Team U.S.A. member wrote on August 15. “While celebrating my Olympic accomplishments, I heard the devastating news that my bronze medal had been stripped away. I had confidence in the appeal brought by USAG, who gave conclusive evidence that my score followed all the rules. This appeal was unsuccessful.”
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