Battle for bronze

Medal spat! Olympian goes to court

Jordan Chiles (right) was stripped of her bronze medal.(Bild: AP)

US gymnast Jordan Chiles is taking her battle for the Olympic bronze medal to the Swiss Federal Court. She is defending herself against a decision by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The 23-year-old is supported by the US Gymnastics Federation and the US National Olympic Committee.

The CAS did not want to allow any further appeals after an appeal by Romania was upheld and Chile lost her floor exercise medal to Ana Barbosu.

Chile now argues that it had a right to be heard and to present its own evidence. During the floor decision on August 5 at the Summer Games in Paris, the US team had appealed against the evaluation of Chiles' performance. After reviewing the video footage, the jury decided to recognize one element and adjust the difficulty score upwards. As a result, Chiles climbed from fifth to third place.

Dispute over four seconds
However, the decision was only made after the placings had been announced. At this point, Romanian Barbosu had already celebrated her third place in the hall with the national flag over her shoulder. The Romanian federation then lodged an appeal with CAS, arguing that the US team had requested the correction after one minute and four seconds instead of within one minute of the announcement of the ranking, in accordance with the rules. The CAS agreed with this argument and declared the correction in Chile's favor ineffective.

Subsequently, the US Gymnastics Federation submitted new video material which, in its view, proved that the first protest had been communicated after 47 seconds and a second after 55 seconds. Because this evidence was no longer taken into account by the CAS, Chile is now appealing to the Federal Court. The athlete spoke of one of the most challenging moments in her career. "I want justice to be served," explained Chiles. The proceedings could drag on for months or even years.