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.
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.
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- 30 July 2024, France, Versailles: Olympics, Paris 2024, gymnastics, team, women, final, Jordan Chiles from the USA performs on floor.,Image: 894319191, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Marijan Murat/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- 05 August 2024, France, Paris: Olympic Games, Paris 2024, gymnastics, floor, women, final, Rebeca Andrade from Brazil (M) celebrates gold at the award ceremony, Simone Biles (l) from the USA celebrates silver and Jordan Chiles (r) from the USA celebrates bronze.,Image: 896205862, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Marijan Murat/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon
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- FRA, Paris, Olympischen Spiele Paris 2024, 05.08.2024, Geräteturnen Damen Boden Finale, Bercy Arena Jordan Chiles USA während ihrer Boden Routine *** FRA, Paris, Olympic Games Paris 2024, 05 08 2024, Apparatus Gymnastics Womens Floor Final, Bercy Arena Jordan Chiles USA during her floor routine Copyright:,Image: 896212081, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Steffie Wunderl / Avalon
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- PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 5: Silver medalist Simone Biles of United States, gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles of the United States during the medal ceremony after the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. Paris Bercy Arena France *** PARIS, FRANCE AUGUST 5 Silver medalist Simone Biles of United States, gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles of the United States during the medal ceremony after the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France Paris Bercy Arena France Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/DanielaxPorcellix jp-en-EuSpIm-20240805-_DP15383,Image: 896214159, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Daniela Porcelli / Avalon
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- PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 5: Jordan Chiles of United States during the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. Paris Bercy Arena France *** PARIS, FRANCE AUGUST 5 Jordan Chiles of United States during the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France Paris Bercy Arena France Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/DanielaxPorcellix jp-en-EuSpIm-20240805-_DP15182,Image: 896235988, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Daniela Porcelli / Avalon
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- PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 5: Jordan Chiles of United States holds up her bronze medal during the ceremony after the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France. Paris Bercy Arena France *** PARIS, FRANCE AUGUST 5 Jordan Chiles of United States holds up her bronze medal during the ceremony after the Women s Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France Paris Bercy Arena France Copyright: xJustPictures.ch/DanielaxPorcellix jp-en-EuSpIm-20240805-_DP15239,Image: 896470844, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Daniela Porcelli / Avalon
I am a big fan of gymnastics, not just at the Olympics. I don’t know if Jordan should have gotten credit for that leap (a Gogean) she was downgraded on it the first place, or if Voinea should have been deducted for grazing the outside of the mat with her toes, or not. But this is a mess and all three athletes and their federations wanted to share the medal. The IOC and FIG said no, despite clear precedent to recommend multiple medals in these situations. It’s all awful and I hate it.
What’s even worse is the number of comments saying the fix was in for Jordan to get a medal because they wanted an “all black podium.” Those comments are ALL over Nadia’s page by fans. It is disgusting.
It is nice to see a fellow gymnastics fan with a bit of a more nuanced take. So many people are blaming the Romanians for this when it really is the IOC and FIG that made this mess.
A number of people also can’t seem to grasp that crediting the leap was a very marginal call and the actual judges who made the initial call not to credit it (who have to judge live in real time without the video replays that the appeal panel gets) were not acting in bad faith or being inept.
The fact that the IOC and FIG get to hide behind acronyms while the gymnast, both American and Romanian, catch all the heat is an outrage.
I would also like to note: We have not seen the evidence for the timing of the inquiry from either side. The Romanians also had video records and they actually thought the inquiry was more than 30 seconds late, which is a lot less marginal than 4.
I’m no expert at all, just a casual watcher, but from what I understand the Romanians didn’t dispute her getting credit for the more difficult element. Their case was based on timing only, not that the judgement of the inquiry itself was incorrect, yes?
That’s right. According to the public documents, it seems like they weren’t challenging the judge’s call, they were challenging the time. It was the time which upheld the appeal. It dropped Jordan’s score and put Ana in 3rd, Sabrina in 4th, and Jordan in 5th.
They are all so close in scoring, any differences can easily be attributed to judging error. Part of the problem is there is no accountability for the FIG. Judges are not required to give any explanation for their scores. As close as we get is a reference judge panel – judges who score the same routines for a comparison, but the scores don’t count. We still don’t know what they were actually deducted for in any case.
With scores that close, they’re clearly within the margin of error, and sharing a medal seems more than fair. The IOC and FIG are being petty as hell.
blueberry, you are absolutely right about what they are disputing. They can only call into question the administration error, not her score.
But a number of people have framed this issue as unfair, because the initial judges made a “mistake” and she should not have had to appeal at all. And the truth is that it is a lot more nuanced than that. Which is what I was pointing out.
This all sounds like they planned on fixing the competition from the beginning to make sure Romania medaled somewhere. Nadia is basically “all lives mattering” this & refused to outright denounce the racism Jordan has been facing. Someone said if litigation was an Olympic sport, US would get gold because they’re not letting this go.
Nor should they let it go! It stinks, and I believe the US will win.
Yep they clearly are cheating to steal the medal Jordan earned. And started with downgrading her routine and when the US caught this they went this route.
Can we step away from the phrase “stripped of her medal” when we talk about this story? Medals get stripped when an athlete is caught doping or doing something else unethical or illegal. Jordan has done NOTHING wrong in all this. The fault lies entirely with the judges.
Language matters. She’s a black athlete in a sport historically dominated by white women, and there’s definitely a racist undercurrent in this whole mess. Let’s make sure to use language that doesn’t inadvertently perpetuate a false narrative. Her medal is being taken away from her, arguably robbed from her. Not “stripped.”
Thank you for saying this. I’ve had the same thought about the connotations of the word “stripped”, but wondered if maybe I was just reading too much into it.
It’s very jarring language! I don’t know if there is a more proper term that the IOC uses, but this seems to be the wording used throughout. On one hand I completely agree we should be careful, but it’s also necessary to convey the seriousness of what they are doing to Jordan. Maybe adding context in the headline? “Chiles’ medal stripped after judge errors” ?? Also troubling were the headlines about Jordan ‘taking’ the bronze from Ana. The bronze medal was never awarded to Ana and Jordan earned the medal with her correct score.
Also, taking a medal from an athlete without any wrongdoing, is completely unprecedented. An athlete has never before been asked to return a medal because of a judging error.
Yes. Jordan has done nothing wrong. Saying she was stripped of a medal is wrong.
🎯
Part of the deal with the Olympics is to spread good will amongst the world competitors, so I don’t think it’s a good look to squabble over a bauble. Every Olympics there are complaints whispered about the Olympic committee. If I remember correctly, Rio was kind of a dumpster fire from the beginning? They are making money, so they are not going to fix anything.
‘a bauble’? Those athletes would beg to differ, I’m sure. They spend their lives making sacrifices and training, to contend for ‘a bauble’.
It’s still a glorified bauble, with everything that attaches to it.
The ATHLETES and even their federations want to share. It is the IOC and FIG who are being petty.
This is such a disgrace, and I’m glad that the USOPC intends to fight like hell for Jordan to keep the medal that she absolutely earned.
While most of my concern lies with Jordan because of the the racist abuse and cheating accusations she’s been subjected to, I feel for Ana as well. This is not how she or any other athlete would ever want to get a medal.
I feel so strongly that an athlete should never be punished over a judge’s mistake. She did her job, they didn’t do theirs.
Yes! Exactly! And I’d say, if you want my medal, come and get it! Look me in the face!
The IOC & FIG will never miss an opportunity to absolutely bungle any situation that they can. CAS has another thing coming if they think that USAG will fold under their pressure. They completely supported Paul Hamm during the same kind of judging debacle almost 20 years ago. Once again a shameful spotlight is put onto the governing bodies of Olympic sport
In the end no one is going to feel great about having this medal, and that’s the situation that has been created by the IOC and FIG. They should have let Jordan keep her medal and simply awarded another. That would be the move that I think would have preserved as much goodwill for the athletes and their federations as possible. The whole thing is just impossibly messy at this point and that is the IOC’s fault. And they’ve set what I think is a dangerous precedent…athletes quibbling over technicalities after the fact. The IOC should stand behind the actions of its judges during the games (including accepting a score protest 4 seconds late, if that is what happened at the time) unless there is some sort of fraud or fixing or other offense involved. I suspect we will see more of this sort of thing in the future.
I’ve never been more glad for American litigiousness than I am right now. If they think Litigious Karen (lol I love Kaiser for dreaming this up) with unlimited resources will let this go, then they don’t know Litigious Karen. I’m so glad USAG is fighting for Jordan. I know people are trying to be kind to the Romanian gymnast, but I honestly am struggling to find any sympathy for her. I’d personally be ashamed to use a [made up] technicality to steal a medal from another athlete.
Sits with you!! I think it’s gross and they are going on social media bragging about getting their STOLEN medal. Yeah no sympathy for them they plotted this and did it because they couldn’t stand the all black podium and they are sore LOSERS.
I’m ready to go to war about this I’m so mad they are doing this to Jordan, it’s is just evil.
She wrote something on her IG I think about her heart going out to Jordan and Sabrina (the foot out of bounds girl) because she’s been through the ‘same thing’… I’ll give her a little grace for being young and perhaps inexperienced, but… I think staying quiet would be better.
She is referring to believing she won a medal and having it taken away.
The athletes haven’t done anything to deserve any criticism. They have handled this situation with class and respect. The fans have been atrocious.
Agree. The video of her thinking she got bronze and beginning to celebrate to then realise it wasn’t happening was heartbreaking. Not her fault at all.
Honestly at this point it is clearly they Nadia, Fig and now I believe Romania conspired from the beginning to cheat. First with the downgrading of Jordan’s routine and when that didn’t work and the US caught them they did an ILLEGAL inquiry, did not tell the US, refused to see evidence, and started a racist hate campaign against Jordan online.
At this point it’s gotten so bad, the only outcome I’ll be ok with is a public apology, admission of wrong doing by FIG, CAS and Nadia, firing all involved and a lifetime ban for Nadia and if I’m honest I’m ok with banning Romania because I’m not sure those girls are so innocent in this now.
But I want people punished for what they’ve done to Jordan and I’m glad that USGym is fighting like hell for her. It is her damn medal and only hers!!
Go, US and Jordan, take these corrupt organizations to the mat! And l hope she’s still in possession of her medal and hasn’t relinquished it.
I would say Larry Nassar is the biggest scandal to hit the olympics ever because of what he did to US gymnasts for so many years.
That being said, why is the Olympic judging committee so far behind the times in that they don’t ask judges from affected countries to recuse themselves from decision making such as this?
Someone really needs to take a long, hard look at all the rules, process/procedures & overhaul them for the twenty-first century.
I can’t wrap my head around the argument people keep making that the second Romanian girl should also be given a bronze. At no point in the proceedings did she have a score that landed her on the podium. The first Romanian girl (Ana, I think) did, and Jordan did. The second girl never was higher than 4th, appeal or no appeal.
One argument is that the two Romanians were tied so both should get bronze. I don’t think it flies, because the tie was broken according to the rules. Think it was who had a higher score for “execution.”
Another argument is Romania’s challenge was for a higher score for the one who lost the tie breaker, which would have put her ahead of the other two.
The decision was to throw out both challenges, so bronze would go to the Romanian who originally thought she won bronze.
I think there are people in gymnastics who think that the sport has become too ‘athletic’ and less ‘artistic.’ I think those people would rather have the old scoring system that focused less on difficulty and allowed for more subjectivity. Those people are still clogging up the FIG, IOC, etc, whatever and while they may not have had an intent to fix the scores, it could certainly be clouding their judgement. That’s the way it looks to me at least.
One of the many reasons why I’m no fan of the Olympic games.