Team France currently sits at 15 medals in these Sochi Olympics, which marks its biggest medal haul ever at a Winter Games.
Three of them came as part of a medals sweep in men’s ski cross by Jean Frederic Chapuis (gold), Arnaud Bovolenta (silver), and Jonathan Midols (bronze).
But Canadian and Slovenian officials have protested the result, saying that Chapuis, Bovolenta, and Midols were wearing illegal suits that had been changed to gain an illegal aerodynamic effect.
According to Reuters, the protest was originally made to the FIS (International Ski Federation), which said they couldn’t consider it because it wasn’t made in time.
The protest has now been escalated to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in all of sporting-related law.
CAS officials are meeting this evening to discuss the matter. Their findings will be released tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. ET.
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The group has released the following statement:The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) registered two urgent applications: the first one filed by the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA) and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the second by the Slovenian Olympic Committee (SOC), both against the decision rendered by the Competition Jury of the International Ski Federation (FIS) on 21 February 2014. The decision challenged is related to protests made by the CFSA, with the support of the COC, and by the SOC “regarding the actions of the French team competing on February 20, 2014 in the Men’s Ski Cross competition”. The FIS Competition Jury decided that the protests could not be entertained because they have not been filed on time after the race.
The CFSA/COC/SOC ask for the disqualification of all of the French competitors from the 20 February 2014 Ski Cross Big Final competition (Jean-Frédéric Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol) and for the correction of the final rankings. They allege that, just before the Big Final, French support staff changed the shaping of the lower leg suits of the riders creating an aerodynamic effect that the Appellants submit is contrary to the International Freestyle Skiing Competition Rules.
The Respondents in this arbitration procedure are the FIS and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The French NOC (CNOSF) has been designated as interested party.
A Panel of the CAS ad hoc Division will hear this case during the night.
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