Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles is moving forward in the fight to get her bronze medal back — filing an appeal in Swiss court to overturn the controversial ruling surrounding her Olympic floor routine results.
Chiles’ legal team released a statement on Monday … saying they’re looking to get the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision reversed once and for all by filing docs in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.
Chiles’ reps claim there are two major issues with the handling of the decision — the first being the CAS not honoring her “right to be heard” by refusing to watch video that will prove the initial inquiry into her score was submitted within the permitted timeframe.
The other problem Chiles’ legal team has is centered around CAS president Hamid G. Gharavi … who they claim had a “serious conflict of interest” due to his role as counsel for Romania for years — even actively representing the country during the organization’s arbitration.
“Given these undeniable deficiencies, Chiles asks the Federal Supreme Court to reinstate the score that she rightfully earned at the floor event final,” the statement said.
As we previously reported, Chiles’ floor routine score was changed from 13.766 to 13.666 … bumping her down to fifth place — giving Romania’s Ana Barbosu the bronze instead.
At the time, the CAS stated Team USA’s coach was four seconds too late in objecting the results … even though the floor judges accepted and approved the inquiry at the time.
Chiles’ reps even say the whole arbitration process was flawed … as she was only give a few hours’ notice before her hearing into the matter began.
“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.”
The statement added Chiles has support from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee as she continues her battle for the bronze.
“This appeal is about much more than the bronze medal,” it concluded. “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.”