The chairman of the commission that ruled that Jordan Chiles should lose her Olympic bronze medal to a Romanian athlete has been representing the Romanian government in legal disputes for years, it has emerged.
Ana Barbosu was restored to third place at Chiles’ expense in the seismic ruling on Saturday. Chiles herself had been elevated to third place at Barbosu’s expense when her coaches appealed her score in the floor final at the Paris Games. Barbosu was celebrating her bronze at the time and was in tears as Chiles celebrated.
Romania appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where Hamid G. Gharavi was the chairman of the panel, despite his ties to the Romanian government.
It marks a potentially significant claim of conflict of interest in an already delicate situation. The New York Times says that panel members must fill out a conflict of interest form before reviewing a case and that Gharavi had disclosed his work with the Romanian government. The Times also says that Gharavi declined to comment when approached.
Chiles responded by posting four broken heart emojis on Instagram and said she was taking a break from social media, while her sister said racism was behind the decision.
The Olympic bronze medal dispute between Jordan Chiles and the national team has taken a turn amid claims of ‘conflict of interest’
Ana Barbosu is expected to receive the bronze she won from Chiles in Romania this week
USA Gymnastics said it was “devastated” and has vowed to challenge the ruling by appealing to Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court. However, it is rare for CAS decisions to be overturned.
Barbosu, who contacted Chiles via social media, will collect her bronze in Bucharest on Friday.
Chiles won bronze in the women’s floor exercise in Paris when her coach launched an investigation to challenge the judges’ original score. Her score was corrected from 13.666 to 13.766. Chiles moved into third place, overtaking Romania’s Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Romania brought its case before CAS, saying that the United States investigation had not been done within the one-minute time frame stipulated in the rules. Romania argued that the Americans had missed that time limit by four seconds.
After Saturday’s ruling went against Chiles, the U.S. later responded by saying it had video evidence showing coach Cecile Landi made the appeal 47 seconds after Chiles’ first score, well within the time limit.
Jordan Chiles posted two statements on social media regarding the loss of her bronze medal
Barbosu said she hopes to be on the podium next to Chiles at the next Olympics
Barbosu, meanwhile, expressed sympathy toward Chiles in a statement on social media, saying: “Sabrina [Maneca-Voinea]Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling because I have been through the same thing.
“But I know you will come back stronger. I hope from the bottom of my heart that at the next Olympic Games we will share all three [the] the same stage. That’s my real dream!
“This situation would not have existed if those responsible had respected the regulations. We, athletes, are not to blame and the hatred directed at us is painful.
‘I wanted to end this edition of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the spirit of Olympism, the true value of the world.’
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