JORDAN CHILES CASE SENT BACK TO THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has issued the following important Press Release on 29 January 2026:
“The Swiss Federal Supreme Court Judgments of 23 January 2026 (4A_438/2024, 4A_494/2024, 4A_510/2024, 4A_512/2024, 4A_594/2024) Awarding of the bronze medal in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Admission of requests for revision by Jordan Chiles and USA Gymnastics
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has accepted the requests for revision lodged by American gymnast Jordan Chiles and USA Gymnastics against the arbitral award handed down in August 2024 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Jordan Chiles finished third in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after successfully challenging her initial score during the competition.
The CAS, which was subsequently called upon, ruled that Jordan Chiles had filed her complaint too late during the competition. It therefore stripped Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal and awarded it to Ana Maria Bărbosu. Because of an audio-visual recording discovered after the CAS award, the Federal Supreme Court acknowledged that this new evidence may justify a modification of the contested award.
It referred the case back to the CAS for it to re-examine the situation, taking this new evidence into account.
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and the request for revision filed by Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who had finished fifth in the competition and also wanted to obtain the bronze medal.
The final of the women’s individual artistic gymnastics floor exercise at the Paris Olympic Games took place on 5 August 2024. Ana Maria Bărbosu scored 13.700. After her performance, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea was ranked fourth in the provisional ranking, behind Ana Maria Bărbosu. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea had 0.1 points deducted for stepping outside the boundaries of the floor, which she did not contest on site. Jordan Chiles was the last gymnast to compete. She scored a total of 13.666. Following a complaint lodged by her coach and accepted by the competition’s senior jury, her score was set at 13.766. Jordan Chiles thus relegated Ana Maria Bărbosu to fourth place and was awarded the bronze medal.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Ana Maria Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea appealed to the ad hoc chamber of the CAS set up for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They argued that Jordan Chiles’ complaint had been lodged after the one-minute deadline stipulated in the applicable regulations had expired. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea contested the penalty imposed on her, arguing that she had not left the boundaries of the floor. On 10 August 2024, the CAS panel of three arbitrators ruled that the complaint filed on behalf of Jordan Chiles had been made one minute and four seconds after the American gymnast’s score was announced on the scoreboard and was thus late. It therefore ruled that Jordan Chiles’ score should remain at 13.666. The CAS also ruled that it could not review the penalty imposed on Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Sabrina Maneca-Voinea challenged the CAS award by filing an appeal and a request for revision 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.
Jordan Chiles also filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, challenging the independence and impartiality of one of the three CAS arbitrators, as well as a request for revision of the 10 August 2024 arbitral award. The United States Gymnastics Federation (USA Gymnastics) also submitted a request for revision. 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.”
We act on behalf of clients in appeals to CAS and the Swiss Federal Supreme and further information is available from Dr Lucien Valloni, an experienced lawyer in such appeals, by emailing him at valloni@valloni.ch.