If Jordan Chiles can retain her Olympic bronze medal, she may have teammate Simone Biles — and her Netflix documentary — to thank.
Court documents released on Monday reveal that the video at the center of Chiles’ appeal efforts was provided by director Katie Walsh and the production company Religion of Sports, who obtained special permission to film at the Bercy Arena in and an episode of Biles’ latest project, “Simone. Biles: Rising.” The first two episodes of the docuseries have been released ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics and two more are still to come later this year.
This comparison could prove to be a smoking gun in Chile’s fight to hold on to his bronze medal, because it undermines an important finding of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling – it shows that the gymnast’s appeal of the American body about his information, known as the inquiry, was sent before the deadline of 60 seconds.
“Ask for Jordan!” Chiles coach Cecile Landi can be heard speaking in the game exactly 49 seconds after Chiles’ score in the final floor exercise was announced. He also repeats “search for Jordan” and “for Jordan” before the final 60 seconds.
The CAS decision appeared to depend on the timing of the investigation, which placed Chiles ahead of two Romanian gymnasts and awarded him the bronze medal. The investigation was accepted at the time, but the Romanian Gymnastics Federation later argued that it was sent four seconds too late and should be cancelled. CAS agreed, handing down a decision that effectively relegated Chiles to fifth place and promoted Romania’s Ana Barbosu to bronze medal status.
However, one day after the CAS decision, USA Gymnastics announced that it had obtained new video evidence that would prove that Chiles’ probe was sent in time by Landi, who is also Chiles’ coach. as the coach of the United States team in Paris. . It submitted the video to CAS but declined to publicly disclose details about the footage or its source.
CAS rejected the video, saying it would not be released after its decision was handed down.
Then, on Monday, Chiles formally appealed the CAS ruling to the Swiss Federal Court. Documents sent by his lawyers not only reveal the source of the new video, which lasts about 7 minutes, but also include a hyperlink to it. Chiles’ attorneys also argued that CAS erred in not admitting the video.
According to the documents, Chiles’ team learned about the film when Walsh, the director of the docuseries, sent Landi a message of condolence about the situation.
“We’re not going to let this thing go easily and we’re going to keep looking for videos and stuff,” Landi replied.
Landi then realized that Walsh’s team might have more video and audio than was already being released by NBC and Olympic Broadcast Services, a subsidiary of the International Olympic Committee. which distributes competitive sports to media outlets around the world.
According to the documents, Walsh’s team had three cameras set up at Bercy Arena as well as audio access from Landi, who coaches Biles and Chiles and wore a microphone for the documentary. At Landi’s request, Walsh forwarded the film to the coach, and later to the Olympic Committee and the US Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics. Landi also forwarded it to Chiles’ mother, Gina.
“This shows it’s done!!” Gina Chiles responded to Landi on Facebook on Aug. 11.
“I keep listening to it. They didn’t even try to score!!! This is obvious. This shows that it was sent on time.”
Walsh and Netflix have not responded to multiple messages seeking comment.
Although the video is the strongest evidence in the appeal of Chiles, Monday’s filing presents many other false facts that undermine the CAS decisions.
Invalid email addresses
For three days, CAS sent information about the case in incorrect or out-of-date emails to USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee – including someone who left the USOPC nearly a year earlier . This is despite CAS liaising with the USOPC during the Paris Games regarding US figure skaters earning their gold medals in the team competition at the Beijing Olympics in 2022.
The skiers received their awards, held up by legal disputes over the eligibility of the Russian skier, during a ceremony on Aug. 7. Paris. The incident came a day after CAS sent its first emails to the wrong addresses.
CAS ignored the error messages about the email addresses and did not follow up when they did not hear from the USOPC or USAG, so it was the morning of Aug. 9 where the interview ended with Chris McCleary, USOPC general counsel. It was McCleary who brought Debbie Shon, USA Gymnastics’ chief legal officer, into a series of correspondence with CAS.
That left Chiles, USAG and USOPC officials less than 24 hours to get legal representation, and for that person to read the entire case file, prepare and file a response and prepare for a CAS hearing. . The time change – Paris is six hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States – and Chiles not being in Paris has presented additional problems.
What Paul Greene, the lawyer hired by USA Gymnastics, did not know before the trial, and did not know until several days after, was that the Americans had not been given the facts. relevant to the case.
The arbitrator had ties to Romania
The president of the CAS press panel was Hamid G. Gharavi, a lawyer based in France who has represented the Romanian government at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes since 2016. It is a job that can generate millions of dollars for Gharavi and his firm, and has at least one case pending.
When called to the group, Gharavi issued a declaration revealing his work for the Romanian government and pledging his independence. But when the announcement was sent to other parties in the case, none of the Americans received it. It was also not included in the document file sent to McCleary, the USOPC’s general counsel, once he finally learned of the case.
Gharavi asked at the start of the CAS hearing if there were any objections to the panel. But he did not talk about his work for the Romanian government again and Greene did not know how to raise a complaint because the Americans did not accept Gharavi’s declaration.
Follow the reporters on social media @nrarmour and @Tom_Schad.
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