Jordan Chiles was stripped of her medal by a CAS judge with lots of Romanian ties

This Jordan Chiles saga is being called gymnastics’ “highest profile controversy since the 2000 games in Sydney.” Sure, if you ignore Larry Nassar and the IOC banning Russia. But I agree that this Chiles controversy is a very big deal. In summary, the Olympic judges in gymnastics underestimated Jordan Chiles’ score for her floor routine. USA Gymnastics immediately appealed and the judges changed their score, thus ensuring the bronze medal for Jordan. The Romanian federation appealed to the IOC and CAS (the Court of Arbitration for Sport) using a false argument that USAG complained about Jordan’s score four seconds too late. The IOC said: strip Jordan of her bronze and give it to the Romanians. USAG tried to appeal but the CAS refused to accept USAG’s evidence that they actually appealed the judges’ incorrect score well within the 60-second window. Now we’re learning that one of the people on CAS’s three-person panel has deep ties with the Romanian federation.

American gymnast Jordan Chiles and the US Olympic team may very well feel like protagonists in a Franz Kafka novel, as they find themselves trapped in an increasingly surreal scenario while attempting to reclaim her bronze medal. Their efforts to reclaim the bronze medal that Chiles thought she had won during the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics are encountering some increasingly bizarre obstacles, and a new twist in the ongoing saga emerged Tuesday.

The head of the three-person panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that the USA’s initial inquiry over Chiles’ floor exercise score was filed after the one-minute deadline and awarded third place to Romanian Ana Bǎrbosu on Saturday, has been representing Romanian interests for years.

Dr. Hamid G. Gharavi, Philippe Sands and Song Lu sat on the panel, of which Gharavi was the president, according to CAS. Gharavi’s resume, linked on CAS’ website, lists multiple legal cases in which he has represented Romania in arbitration cases.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution was the first to report on the legal ties Gharavi has with Romania.

In response to an inquiry for comment, Gharavi referred CNN to CAS. CNN has reached out to CAS about a possible conflict of interest within the panel.

In a statement given to the New York Times, CAS said: “In accordance with the guidelines on conflicts of interest issued by the International Bar Association (IBA), CAS has no reason to remove an arbitrator making such disclosure if the parties do not object to his/her appointment.”

What was praised as one of the best-ever Olympic Games has been tarnished by confusion, heartbreak and allegations of incompetence leveled against the governing bodies involved.

[From CNN]

This f–king sucks. The pro-Romanian lawyer suddenly found that the Romanian gymnasts should get the medal, a medal which should be stripped from the Black American woman? Yeah, not suspicious at all! I’ve also heard that many people found it suspicious that Nadia Comaneci was sitting with/around the judges initially when they made their “mistake” judging Jordan’s routine. Comaneci has also been arguing for all three gymnasts (the two Romanians and Jordan) to receive the bronze.

If you’d like to read more about the lengthy history of conflicts of interest within CAS, go here to an excellent WaPo op-ed. Basically, CAS is extremely corrupt and everyone knows that and yet no one knows how to fix it.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.