“CAS and the Breakdown of Olympic Dispute Resolution: How the Chiles Case Reveals the Structural Gap Between Arbitration and Judicial Review” 

May 22, 2026
By Peter Carlisle
ASU Sports & Entertainment Law Journal
Volume 15, Issue 2

The Olympic movement often cites the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as evidence that international sport possesses a sophisticated and independent system of legal oversight. Athletes are told that when disputes arise during the Olympic Games, their claims will be heard by competent, neutral arbitrators under established, reliable procedure. Those decisions are also expected to be subject to judicial review before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (SFT). Although CAS award are formally subject to review before the SFT, that process is rarely accessible to athletes, and the structure of international arbitration places strict limits on the scope of judicial review. As a result, the system’s safeguards are more limited that they appear, leaving athletes with far less meaningful recourse than they are led to expect.