US gymnast Jordan Chiles appeals against decision that stripped her of Olympic bronze medal
Chiles lost her medal from the women’s floor event in Paris after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favour of a Romanian appeal
United States gymnast Jordan Chiles on Monday filed an appeal in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland to overturn a decision that stripped her of her Olympic bronze medal in the women’s floor event at the Paris Games.
Chiles was forced to give up the medal when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last month ruled in favour of an appeal by Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu, who was subsequently awarded the bronze.
Barbosu and her team had appealed to the CAS that an inquiry filed by the US team over the results of the floor exercise, which led to Chiles’ initial score being revised upwards, had been registered four seconds after the one-minute deadline allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation.
The success of the Romanian appeal meant Chiles’ score was reduced and she fell out of third place behind Brazilian winner Rebeca Andrade and silver medallist Simone Biles, her American teammate.
In the appeal, lawyers for Chiles argue that CAS refused to consider video footage that “unequivocally proves” that the inquiry was submitted in time.
They also argue that Hamid Gharavi, the president of the CAS panel that revoked Chiles’ bronze medal, had a conflict of interest.
