Jordan Chiles appeals in Swiss court to reclaim Olympic medal after Team USA gymnast’s heartbreak in Paris

Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles has filed an appeal in a Switzerland court in an attempt to get back the Olympic bronze medal she won in Paris, but was later stripped from her due to a Romanian query. 

Chiles appeal in a Swiss supreme court, per the Washington Post, is the latest chapter in the gymnastics saga where Chiles was the third-place finisher in the individual floor exercise at the Olympics. 

The American’s bronze-medal finish came after an appeal to raise her score based on difficulty that was given in the moment. 

In Paris, Chiles was originally given fifth place on floor and a United States appeal, launched by coach Cecile Landi, raised her marks by one-tenth to third place behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and fellow American Simone Biles. 

Days after the Olympics, the Romanian athletic commission filed an appeal of the scores that dropped their athlete, Ana Barbosu, from the medal stand. 

The appeal found the United States’ original challenge of the scores was filed four seconds too late and was invalid. 

That led to the reversal, giving Barbosu the bronze medal and Chiles only winning one medal in Paris as part of American’s gold medal in the team competition. 

Chiles said she was taking a break from social media amid the backlash to her returning her medal but has now reappeared with several appearances in New York City. 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport made the decision to revoke Chiles’ bronze and their rulings can be appealed based on a few factors. including a ‘lack of jurisdiction’ or a ‘violation of elementary procedural rules,’ per the CAS website. 

USA gymnastics claims as part of the appeal it has video that the inquiry into Chiles’ score started 47 seconds after her score was posted, which is 13 seconds before the deadline, per The Washington Post. That video has not been released to the public. 

Chiles most recent public appearance was at Wednesday’s MTV Video Music Awards, where she co-presented an award with famous rapper Flava Flav. 

Before giving out the award, Chiles was presented with a bronze clock by Flava Flav,  with the rapper stating it was ‘something that they can’t take away from you.’