Jordan Chiles Olympic medal controversy: Panel chair’s conflict of interest, Romania’s medal ceremony and USA’s fight – MASHAHER

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.

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 arbitration 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.

Romania says it’s moving forward with medal ceremony

The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee says 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 the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) have addressed or verified Tuesday’s claim by the ROSC.

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.

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 her Romanian teammate Sabrina 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 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.