American Olympic gymnastics star Jordan Chiles and her legal team filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland over the bronze medal scandal that has overshadowed the Games.
Chiles was awarded the bronze medal in the floor exercise routine at the end of the Paris Games when her coaches filed a score inquiry after her performance. Chiles was elevated from fifth to third place. But Romanian officials brought their own appeal to the Center of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which overturned Chiles’ score and stripped her of a medal.
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Jordan Chiles celebrates with her medals. (Reuters/Hannah Mckay)
Now, Chiles and her lawyers are going to a higher court.
“Chiles asks the Supreme Court to find that the CAS decision was procedurally deficient for two reasons,” Chiles’ lawyers said in a statement, according to Olympics.com.
“First, CAS violated Chiles’ 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’ decision.
“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: Mr. Gharavi has acted as counsel for Romania for almost a decade and was actively representing Romania at the time of the CAS arbitration.
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Jordan Chiles competes in the Paris Olympics at Bercy Arena on Aug. 5, 2024. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
“Today’s appeal filing was supported by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which filed a letter in support of Chiles’ appeal.”
USA Gymnastics said it was working closely with Chiles and her team in the “continued pursuit of justice for Jordan.”
Chiles gave her first sit-down interview about the incident this week during a panel at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2024 on Wednesday. The gymnast noticeably choked up when she was asked about the topic.
“To me, everything that has gone on is not about the medal, it’s about, you know, my skin color,” Chiles said, tearing up.
Chiles previously claimed she was facing “racially driven attacks” from social media users in a statement posted to X on Aug. 15. When Chiles won the bronze medal, it resulted in the first gymnastics podium in Olympic history that featured three Black contestants.
Jordan Chiles at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Hannah Mckay)
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“It’s about the fact that there were things that have led up to this position of being an athlete and I felt like everything has been stripped.”
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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