On August 5, the great hall of the Bercy Arena in Paris was the scene of one of the most significant images of the Paris Olympic Games. Three black gymnasts on the podium for floor exercises. Before the Brazilian anthem was played, two of them, the legendary Simone Biles and her close friend Jordan Chiles, silver and bronze, bowed in a theatrical and sentimental reverence as the champion, Rebeca Andrade, ascended to the top.
Only six days later, a decision by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) rendered the symbolic photo of the most beautiful Games useless, a false image of a false podium, since the bronze was not to be for Chiles, the FIG announced, but for the Romanian Ana Barbosu. Scandal, they shouted in the United States, a voice that was not heard by the gymnastics federation, where the great power of the legendary Romanian Nadia Comaneci is still evident, nor by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where the referee Hamid G. Gharavi, who was also the lawyer for the Romanian team, ignored her claim. Chiles, who feels robbed, and the United States only have the recourse to appeal to the Federal Court of Switzerland, where they will have the invaluable help of the Netflix platform, which to rescue Chiles and the podium of the black power, lends them some clarifying images recorded on August 5 in the Bercy pavilion for their documentary series Simone Biles Rising (The rise of Simone Biles).
When Chiles finished her routine, the explosive American was awarded 13.666 points, the fifth best score, while Barbosu received 13.700. Shortly after, after a complaint by the American delegate, Cécile Landi, the judges increased Chiles’ score by one tenth (to 13.766), making her third and a tenant of the podium. black power. Romania protested shortly afterwards. It claimed that Landi’s complaint had been made 64 seconds after the score announcement, which was beyond the 60-second time limit, and that the subsequent increase of one tenth could not be allowed. The United States, for its part, said no, that Landi had complained to the judges’ table when only 47 seconds had elapsed. The evidence they presented did not convince the court.
The Netflix recording was presented as evidence to the Swiss court on Monday, with Chiles’ lawyer stating in the filing that it came from the director of Simone Biles RisingKatie Walsh, and producer Religion of Sports. Walsh and her crew had been in Paris to film Biles’ Olympic journey for the second part of the series, and they also ended up capturing key footage for Chiles’ case. According to the court document, filed in German, Walsh reached out to Landi to express her support following Chiles’ decision. Landi asked if the director had footage of what happened after Chiles’ floor performance and ended up receiving a video that contained footage from all three documentary cameras, as well as the live NBC broadcast and a ticking clock. The video shows Landi addressing the judges’ table 47 seconds after Chiles’ score was shown. Two seconds later, according to the document, Landi is heard making a verbal objection, while a technical assistant is seen making eye contact with her and acknowledging the objection. Landi verbalized the objection at least once more before the 60-second time limit expired.
The history of claims to the Swiss Federal Court against CAS decisions shows a dismal percentage of success, close to zero percent, which will surely render the deployment of images useless, at least judicially.