I rarely write about sports but this story goes well beyond athletic competition. It involves bureaucratic bungling and arrogance of a kind that many conservatives will find familiar.

So the story here is that Jordan Chiles is an Amercian gymnast who was competing for Team USA at the Olympics in Paris. Initially she was ranked 5th but it turned out one of the judges had made a mistake.

As the last competitor in the recent floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chiles bounced up on her first landing, landed short on her last, and initially finished in fifth.

However, U.S. head coach Cecile Landi quickly noticed that the judges had given her a lower-than-required difficulty score. That score gives a gymnast credit for all of their attempted skills. The more difficult the routine, the higher the score.

Chiles had basically hit a three-pointer but was only given credit for two.

The moment the judges were informed of their mistake, they changed her score and Chiles soared into third place, leaving her in stunned tears and setting up one of the Games’ coolest moments.

This really was a great moment. Chiles went from thinking she'd fallen short to being overwhelmed as she realized she'd won a medal.

Jordan Chiles had the BEST reaction when she found out she won bronze in the women's floor final! 🥹🥉 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/4hQl4wtF69

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) August 5, 2024

The key point here is that she earned it. She didn't cheat. The judges almost cheated her by making a mistake. Fortunately, the coach caught it and it was corrected.

At least that's how it seemed. Moments after the medal ceremony, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) claiming that the coach for Team USA had made their appeal to Chiles (incorrect) score late. The coach only had one minute to appeal the score and according to Romania, the appeal happened four seconds late. And because Romania's own gymnast was in fourth place if the US appeal was deemed late, a Romanian gymnast would get the bronze medal instead.

CAS ruled that Chiles’ inquiry was indeed raised late and her initial score should be reinstated, effectively kicking her off the podium. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) altered the results to reflect such before giving the IOC the final say on who would be awarded the bronze medal.

The IOC gave the bronze to Bărbosu, who received her medal at a ceremony in Bucharest on Aug. 16.

To be clear, no one has argued that the initial (lower) score was correct. Everyone knows that the judges made a mistake which a) never should have happened and b) should have been corrected. The only issue is whether the appeal of that error came four seconds late. 

Luckily for Jordan Chiles there is fresh evidence the appeal on her behalf did not come late. Also on hand that day in Paris was a film crew that was filming the entire competition for a Netflix documentary about Simone Biles. Video shot as part of that documentary clearly shows the US appeal was made and heard within the 60 second deadline.

Now, in documents filed on Monday, Sept. 16 in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Chiles' attorney has submitted footage from Religion of Sports, the production company behind Biles' docuseries, and director Katie Walsh that they claim proves the "exact time" Landi inquired on Chiles' behalf. 

Monday's new filing argues that Landi first stated she'd like an "inquiry for Jordan" 49 seconds after the result came in, which falls within the 60 second window granted for appeals...

The footage also apparently shows two "technical assistants" making "eye contact with" Landi and nodding to her "to indicate receipt of the Verbal Inquiry," per the filing.

Here's the video showing three different angles with a timestamp. The score is announced at 15:31:55. There is then a discussion and the head coach says "What about Jordan, you want to try?" to another coach. She then moves down the floor and says "Inquire for Jordan" at 15:32:40. It has been 45 seconds. She then repeats herself "Inquiry for Jordan" at 15:32:48. That's two appeals both of which are well within 60 seconds. The appeals were not late.

This is all part of an appeal made to the top court in Switzerland asking them to overturn the decision of the CAS. But of course just because the facts are clear and the prior decisions are wrong does not mean that these international bodies will do the right thing. They could simply refuse to reconsider. That sort of institutional arrogance might have worked better in an age before there were multiple cameras with timestamps watching everything that happened. It doesn't work now, at least it shouldn't.

And there's one more wrinkle here that's worth noting. The top guy at CAS has a major conflict of interest.

The gymnast's legal team is also arguing that CAS president Hamid G. Gharavi had a "serious conflict of interest" in the matter between Chiles and Barbosu of Romania. Per the documents, Gharavi acted as counsel for Romania for nearly a decade and had been an active representative of the nation at the time of the CAS' decision to strip Chiles of her medal.

If the CAS is a real organization with integrity and not a sham, it ought to consider the new information on its own and reverse the earlier, flawed decision. What it shouldn't do is hide behind the courts or its own pride in order to double down on the wrong result. Jordan Chiles won the bronze. She should be allowed to keep it and she should be given an apology for the series of screw-ups that made it necessary to take things to this point.