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≡ NEW HEARING COMING ≡
The long-shot appeal by American gymnast Jordan Chiles to retain the bronze medal she initially won in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games women’s Floor Exercise got a major boost on Thursday.
A long and tangled set of circumstances started on 5 August 2024, as Chiles initially scored 13.666 to place fifth. However, American coaches filed a inquiry with the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), and Chiles’ difficulty score for her routine was increased from 5.800 to 5.900, increasing her score to 13.766, and she was awarded the bronze medal.
But Romania filed protests the next day, claiming that the appeal of Chiles’ score came after the 60-second time limit. On 10 August, the Court of Arbitration for Sport bought the Romanian argument, despite the U.S. side being informed only hours ahead of the hearing due to a communications error.
On 11 August, USA Gymnastics found and turned over video evidence which showed the inquiry on Chiles’ score to be made 47 seconds after posting. But the Court of Arbitration stood by its ruling and the International Olympic Committee awarded the bronze to Romania’s Ana Barbosu.
Chiles, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee pursued the matter on Chiles’ behalf, with a filing to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which can review Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions on limited grounds. One of those is procedural unfairness and on Thursday, the Swiss court statement explained:
“The Federal Supreme Court rejected Jordan Chiles’ appeal concerning the alleged lack of independence and impartiality of the arbitrator in question.
“However, it accepted both requests for revision. In the highly exceptional circumstances of the case in question, it considers that there is a likelihood for the audio-visual recording of the final on 5 August 2024 to lead to a modification of the contested award in favour of the applicants, since the CAS could consider, in the light of this audio-visual sequence, that the verbal inquiry made on behalf of Jordan Chiles had been made before the expiry of the regulatory one-minute time limit.
“The Federal Supreme Court therefore partially overturns the contested award and refers the case back to the CAS for a new ruling, taking into account the probative value of the audio-visual recording in question.”
So, Chiles – already a gold medalist from the team event – hasn’t won her case yet, but the Swiss Tribunal has sent a clear message that she should be (re-)awarded the Floor Exercise bronze.
There was more to the court statement, notably that the two appeals by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation were dismissed. The first was that Chiles’ appeal was made after the one-minute deadline, which was eliminated by the video evidence presented by the U.S. side.
There was also the matter of an out-of-bounds penalty assessed against Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, also using video evidence and if not assessed, would have placed her in third place. But:
“Sabrina Maneca-Voinea challenged the CAS award by filing an appeal and a request for evision with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. In its decision of 23 January 2026, the Federal Court deemed both legal arguments inadmissible. It considered that it could not examine whether the gymnast had stepped outside the boundaries of the floor, as this question fell within the category of non-justiciable rules of the game and not within that of reviewable legal rules.”
USA Gymnastics was thrilled, of course, and issued its own statement:
“We are pleased the Swiss Federal Supreme Court recognized the flaws in the initial process and that Jordan’s case can now be heard inclusive of all relevant evidence.
“USA Gymnastics will continue to support the efforts of Jordan and her team to retain her bronze medal in the 2024 Olympic women’s floor exercise.
“We look forward to a fair arbitration that includes the clear evidence proving the inquiry into Jordan’s score was filed well within 1 minute as required by FIG rules.”
It’s another high point for Chiles, a senior at UCLA this season, who is leading the nation in All-Around scoring with a 39.712 average and leading on Vault at 9.944.
It will take some more time for Chiles’ case to go through the review process at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but it appears that is another victory for her in the future.
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