Dispute over Jordan Chiles’ Olympic floor routine rolls on as US claims CAS sent emails to the wrong addresses
By Kevin Dotson, CNN
(CNN) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is standing by its ruling that Romania’s Ana Bărbosu is the rightful third place finisher in floor exercise at the Paris Olympics.
The decision led the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to request that American gymnast Jordan Chiles return the bronze medal she was originally awarded.
Video came out Friday showing Bărbosu being awarded a bronze medal in an official ceremony at the Olympic Sports Association in Bucharest, conducted in front of the Romanian Olympic Committee and attended by the president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, and Romania’s prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, according to CNN affiliate Antena 3.
In a media release on Wednesday, CAS maintains that, during its hearing with Romanian and US officials, there was never a dispute over USA Gymnastics (USAG) missing the one-minute deadline to challenge Chiles’ floor exercise score.
Olympic judges had inially revised Chiles’ score, raising her into the bronze medal position and bumping Bărbosu off the podium.
“At the hearing, there was no dispute between the parties that Ms. Chiles’ inquiry was submitted 1 minute and 4 seconds after her score was official [sic] displayed on the scoreboard,” CAS said in its release.
“All parties accepted as clear and determinative the report prepared by Omega, the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games, and submitted by the FIG itself. No party sought the admittance of other evidence.”
USAG has previously stated that it did not come into possession of video which it claims proves that its inquiry was submitted after just 47 seconds until after CAS had already made its ruling.
“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,” USAG said Sunday.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and USAG also now claim that CAS initially sent “crucial communications” to the wrong email addresses, and as a result, the parties were not able to properly prepare for the hearing.
“The USOPC strongly contests the CAS decision due to significant procedural errors,” USOPC told CNN Thursday. “From August 6-9, CAS sent crucial communications to erroneous email addresses at USOPC and USAG, an error not corrected until August 9 – three days after filing, two days past the deadline to submit objections, and less than 24 hours before the hearing.
“This deprived us of adequate time to respond meaningfully or gather necessary evidence. We informed CAS of our objections immediately.”
Both parties say they will continue to appeal the matter.
“Our pursuit of truth in this matter remains unwavering,” the USOPC said.
Chiles took to Instagram Thursday to say she was “overwhelmed” by the love and support she’s received in the aftermath.
“I am so incredibly grateful to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, USAG, and the USOPC for their unwavering support during this difficult time,” she wrote.
“I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” Chiles continued. “I’ve poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my culture and my country.”
“I will approach this challenge as I have others – and will make every effort to ensure that justice is done.”
On Monday, USAG said it would “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.”
The national governing body has also voiced concerns about Dr. Hamid G. Gharavi, who has represented Romania in previous arbitration cases, chairing the CAS panel. CAS says that none of the parties involved objected to Gharavi’s appointment to the panel, but USAG claims that it was never informed of his ties to Romania.
“CAS did not send the conflict-of-interest disclosures of any panelist to USA Gymnastics, nor have we seen the disclosures to date,” its statement read.
Bărbosu said Friday: “The resolution of the case was possible thanks to the federation and the law firm that did not give up on us, the sportswomen, and fought for all of us and wanted there to be three bronze medals.
“I thank them because they fought for us and continue to fight. I’m very happy to have this medal and I hope to continue to represent Romania at the highest level and bring back as many medals as possible. Thank you!” she added, per Reuters.
Last week, Chiles posted four breaking hearts emojis on her Instagram story, explaining how she was “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health.”
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CNN’s Thomas Schlachter contributed to reporting.
