Did a corrupt CAS panel member strip USA gymnast Jordan Chiles of a bronze medal?

According to USA Today, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has officially decided that it will not re-open the challenge raised by USA gymnastics, which contended that Jordan Chiles fared well enough to earn a bronze medal.

However, some new information has been revealed that may greatly alter the perception of the appeals process. The head of CAS' panel that ruled against Chiles has clear ties to Romania, as the New York Times and others have reported. The decision to rule against Chiles has awarded the bronze medal to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu.

Hamid G. Gharavi is an attorney in France, but lends his legal expertise to Romania with regard to a dispute the country has with the World Bank's International Centre For The Settlement of Investment Disputes. He has been providing counsel to Romania for at least a decade, according to the New York Times.

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CAS told the New York Times that Gharavi did disclose his legal work on behalf of Romania, as he was required to do before joining CAS. CAS stated that there were no objections to Gharavi's involvement after said disclosure.

Despite the somewhat murky circumstances surrounding CAS' final ruling, USA Gymnastics is not going to walk away from the matter. They told USA Today, “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 score, placement and medal award for Jordan.”

Jordan Chiles has had to deal with the emotional roller coaster of missing out on a medal, then winning it, only to eventually be told that she has to return it. We’ll go through the hard to fathom sequence that Chiles and her fans have had to endure.

This all started shortly after Chiles finished her routine in the women’s floor exercise final. Initially, she was not slated to win anything in the event, as a score of 13.666 left her in fifth place.

Gymnastics teams have the right to challenge the score assigned to a performance in this event, and the United States exercised that right after Chiles’ score was posted. According to USA Today and others, head coach Cecile Landi would have had one minute to submit the injury to revisit the score.

The challenge was deemed to have been received in time, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), ended up increasing Chiles’ score, which put her in third place and in line for the bronze medal. The challenge was based on the notion that Chiles difficulty score was graded too low, according to People’s website.

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The CAS’ decision put Chiles’ score ahead of two Romanian gymnasts, which prompted action from the Romanian Olympic Committee to appeal the decision.

Remarkably, CAS switched their ruling back to the original score, placing Ana Barbosu in third and bumping Chiles back out of the medal picture.

USA gymnastics did not take the matter sitting down, and issued a statement to People magazine’s website. “We are devastated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling regarding women’s floor exercise. The inquiry into the Difficulty Value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith, and, we believed, in according with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring.”

The Romanian Gymnastics committee didn’t contend that Chiles wasn’t graded on a fair curve. Instead, their rebuttal reportedly centered around the notion that USA coach Cecile Landi did not submit the challenge within the one-minute window. The Romanian body believes the challenge came four seconds too late.

Chiles and Team USA gymnastics were stunned that the Romanian committee disputed the result on the basis on timing. After it seemed liked Chiles’ case was dead in the water, another development in the saga unfolded.

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According to USA Today, USA gymnastics allegedly has obtained footage proving that Landi submitted the inquiry ahead of the one minute cutoff. They’re saying that Landi actually challenged the score twice, at 47 seconds and again at 55 seconds, and that the video they have now proves this.

USA Gymnastics told USA Today, “The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”

As this dramatic back and forth has played out, Jordan Chiles has been following the ups and downs just as everyone else has. She posted on Instagram, “I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.”

USA Gymnastics told People, “Throughout the appeal process, Jordan has been subject to consistent, utterly baseless and extremely hurtful attacks on social media. No athlete should be subject to such treatment. We condemn the attacks and those who engage, support, or instigate them.

Gina Chiles, Jordan’s mother, posted on social media to say, “The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024. I’m tired of people who say it no longer exists. My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched.”

For what it’s worth, Ana Barbosu, who stands to gain from Chiles misfortune in this matter, has had classy things to say about the situation. She wrote on social media “Sabrina (her Romanian teammate), Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger.”

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Barbosu also took a shot at CAS and the IOC on social media. “This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation. We athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful.”