The International Olympic Committee and a court of appeals have ruled in Romania’s favor, but the battle for Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal isn’t over.
Amid USA Gymnastics’ vows to take the fight the to the highest court in Switzerland, Romania announced Tuesday that it’s moving forward with a medal ceremony for gymnast Ana Bărbosu. This is all in the wake of the IOC appearing to reject a Romanian proposal that all three athletes involved in the dispute be awarded bronze medals.
But there’s also new information about the three-person panel convened by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled to strip Chiles of her medal. The chair of the panel reportedly has active ties to Romania, which would be a clear conflict of interest. Yet he was still allowed to participate in a decision that ruled in favor of Romania.
CAS has responded to those reports and released a statement passing blame for the controversy to the International Gymnastics Federation.
Here’s the latest and the need-to-know in the ongoing gymnastics bronze-medal saga from the Paris Olympics.
Chair of panel reportedly has Romanian connections
The chair of the CAS panel that stripped Chiles of her bronze medal, Hamid G. Gharavi, is a lawyer based in France. According to the New York Times, Gharavi serves as legal counsel to Romania at the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, and has been working with Romania for nearly 10 years.
While the arbitrators on this panel were required to fill out a conflict of interest form, there is wiggle room for panel members to explain why their potential conflict of interest would not affect their ability to make an unbiased decision. This appears to be what happened with Gharavi; the court told the Times in an email that Gharavi “had disclosed his work with Romania in writing and that none of the parties involved in the hearing had objected to his appointment as the panel’s chair.”
However, Gharavi’s close work with Romania outside of the sports sphere is considered to be a clear conflict of interest by the International Bar Association, according to an expert who spoke with the Times. By those standards, Gharavi should have recused himself from any involvement with this case.
It’s not clear if this new revelation will have any impact on the case going forward. CAS rarely reopens cases or explains the reasoning behind its rulings, and has already refused to reopen this case despite the discovery of new evidence.
CAS did, however, issue a statement on Wednesday in response to reports about Gharavi’s ties to Romania.
“The CAS condemns the outrageous statements published in certain US media alleging, without knowledge of the above and before review of the reasoned award, that the Panel, and more particularly its chairman, was biased due to other professional engagements or for reasons of nationality. As none of the parties involved in this case has challenged any Panel member during the procedure, it can reasonably be assumed that all parties were satisfied to have their case heard by this Panel. Any subsequent criticism is without foundation or merit.”
CAS lays blame for controversy on Gymnastics federation
In a separate 29-page statement released Wednesday, CES stated that it didn’t have the authority to reach a conclusion awarding bronze medalists to all three of the gymnasts embroiled in the controversy — Chiles, Bărbosu and Bărbosu’s Romanian teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Its hands are tied by rules set by the International Gymnastics Federation, according to CAS.
“Therefore, it remains that the allocation of three bronze medals in this Event would be impossible with the strict application of the FIG Rules save if the Parties for a consent award to this effect, which FIG opposes,” the CAS statement reads.
CAS concluded that its panel would have awarded three bronze medals if FIG regulations and decisions allowed it to do so..
“If the Panel had been in a position to apply equitable principles, it would surely have attributed a bronze medal to all three gymnasts in view of their performance, good faith and the injustice and pain to which they have been subjected, in circumstances in which the FIG did not provide a mechanism or arrangement to implement the one minute rule it established under Article 8.5,” the CAS statement continues.
“If the FIG had put such a mechanism or arrangement in place, a great deal of heartache would have been avoided. The Panel expresses the hope that the FIG will draw the consequences of this case, in relation to these three extraordinary Athletes and also for other Athletes and their supporting personnel, in the future, so that this never happens again.”
FIG didn’t issue an immediate response on Wednesday to the CAS statement.
Romania says it’s moving forward with medal ceremony
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee said Tuesday that the disputed bronze medal initially awarded to Chiles in Paris will be presented to Bărbosu in a ceremony in Bucharest on Friday.
The ROSC made the announcement in a statement released Tuesday. The IOC previously stated that the medal would be awarded to Bărbosu in a “reallocation ceremony.” Neither the IOC nor FIG have addressed or verified Tuesday’s claim by the ROSC.
“Gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu will take possession of the Olympic bronze medal won in the floor final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” the ROSC’s statement reads.
“The medal will be handed to him by Octavian Morariu, member of the International Olympic Committee for Romania, and by Mihai Covaliu, president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, during an event that will take place on the esplanade of the Olympic House in Bucharest, Friday August 16, starting from 09.30.”
What’s happening with Chiles’ medal?
If the Romanian ceremony is indeed going forward, it doesn’t appear that it will do so with the medal that was awarded to Chiles.
There’s no indication from USA Gymnastics that it has returned the medal or intends to do so. On Monday, USAG vowed to keep fighting to retain the medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected its appeal that the medal was rightfully awarded to Chiles in the first place. USAG promised to take the fight to Switzerland’s Supreme Court.
“We are deeply disappointed by the notification and will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process, including to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, to ensure the just scoring, placement and medal award for Jordan,” USAG’s statement reads.
How we got here
Chiles initially finished fifth in the floor routine final in the last rotation of the gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics behind Bărbosu and Maneca-Voinea, who initially finished the event in a third-place tie with scores of 13.700. Bărbosu was initially declared the bronze-medal winner via a tiebreaker over Maneca-Voinea.
Chiles’ coach Cecile Landi filed an appeal of the scoring of her routine upon its conclusion, and judges determined that Chiles wasn’t awarded full credit for a skill upon review. Her score was adjusted from 13.666 to 13.766, moving her past the Romanian gymnasts into bronze-medal position.
Chiles’ score adjustment overturned on technicality
A few days later, the ROSC appealed this decision, and the CAS granted the appeal. CAS didn’t determine that Chiles’ score adjustment was made in error, but that Landi filed her appeal of Chiles’ score four seconds past a one-minute deadline to do so at the conclusion of Chiles’ routine. Chiles’ score was reverted to 13.666, back to fifth place.
USAG, meanwhile, appealed the CAS decision, citing video evidence that it states shows that Landi filed her appeal within the allotted time. Whatever evidence USAG presented didn’t compel the CAS to change its decision.
The IOC responded to the CAS decision with a statement of its own on Sunday that the medal would be awarded to Bărbosu via a “reallocation ceremony.”
“The IOC will reallocate the bronze medal to Ana Barbosu (Romania),” the IOC statement reads. “We are in touch with the NOC of Romania to discuss the reallocation ceremony and with USOPC regarding the return of the bronze medal.”
The IOC has not verified that the ceremony the ROSC announced Tuesday is that “reallocation ceremony.”
Should Maneca-Voinea actually get the medal?
In a separate appeal to Chiles being awarded bronze, the ROSC argued that Maneca-Voinea was penalized 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds on her routine when she didn’t step out. Video shows that she did not.
An additional 0.1 points would elevate Maneca-Voinea’s score to 14.8000 past Bărbosu’s score and Chiles’ adjusted score into bronze-medal position. The CAS dismissed the appeal of Maneca-Voinea’s score without explanation, and the ROSC has move forward with a focus on reallocating the medal to Bărbosu.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation has proposed that three bronze medals be awarded, with Chiles allowed to keep hers. This does not appear to be an option in the eyes of the IOC.
Source Agencies
