In 2024, the Bronze Was Unfairly Taken from Jordan Chiles. A Recent Court Win Means She Might Get It Back
Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments Media LLC
4.3 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
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Summary
Take a break from the downfall of democracy and instead get outraged at the deep injustice of a year-long feud over a bronze medal in women’s gymnastics. This story’s got everything: bravery, racism, the best and the worst of sportsmanship, bad blood that’s been brewing since the Cold War, and, somehow, the Swiss Federal Court. Come for the weird gymnastics scoring rules, stay for the legal analysis of international arbitration rules.
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Rory Carroll (August 5, 2024). Gymnastics - Biles bows to Andrade in floor final at Paris games. Reuters.
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International Gymnastics Federation, Code of Points
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International Gymnastics Federation, Technical Regulations
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English press release from Swiss Federal Court.
Further reading:
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Richard McLaren, The CAS Ad Hoc Division at the Athens Olympic Games, 15 Marq. Sports L. Rev. 175 (2004).
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Video of the relevant floor routines, plus a time stamp for when they all attempt the infamous Gogean leap:
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Rebeca Andrade: 0:55; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXKM8ThtYOE
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Simone Biles: 0:53; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2m2UL5bljw
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Jordan Chiles: 1:29; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU0769SvbWE
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Ana Bărbosu: 1:06; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik01tvmwV9c
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Sabrina Maneca-Voinea: 1:49; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuF-smKa4Vo
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Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | People are crying. It's unbelievable. What a way to end the Olympics. |
| 0:05.0 | And then a lawsuit takes the bronze medal away from Jordan Childs. |
| 0:14.0 | This is the first time ever that an athlete has been stripped of their medal in Olympic history who was not doping or cheating. |
| 0:40.1 | Hello and welcome to opening arguments. |
| 0:43.5 | This is, I believe, OA, 1, 2, 3, 4. |
| 0:44.4 | I'm pretty sure. |
| 0:45.5 | I'm not, I think. |
| 0:49.3 | It's hard to know with a number and gets a little weird with extra episodes and the VAB response and the YouTube's and everything. |
| 0:51.0 | But it's possible that we are here for episode 1, 2, 3, 4, which is really fun. |
| 0:56.2 | I'm Thomas Smith. |
| 0:56.8 | That over there is Janessa. |
| 0:57.9 | How are you doing? |
| 0:58.4 | I'm doing great. |
| 0:59.7 | You better be more than great after being honored with the great number 1, 2, 3, 4. |
| 1:03.6 | Yeah, I'm excited. |
| 1:04.9 | And we're talking numbers today. |
| 1:06.9 | So it's perfect. |
| 1:07.5 | We're talking numbers. |
| 1:08.8 | Well, now I'm extra great. Love numbers. Yeah. What kind of numbers are we going to be talking about? |
| 1:13.8 | So we're talking gymnastics scoring numbers, which are some of the most complicated numbers out there. |
| 1:19.8 | Why are we talking gymnastics numbers? That doesn't sound like a law show. Yeah. So this is international sports arbitration court. |
| 1:26.9 | Ooh. |
... |
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