Jordan Chiles will retain the bronze medal she won in the women’s floor exercise at the Paris Olympics if up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as will Romanian gymnasts Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Vonea Each will receive a bronze medal.
But in a 29-page ruling, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) detailed the ruling that led Olympic officials to strip Chiles of his first individual medal and said the global gymnastics governing body was failing in its enforcement of the event. Poor performance in the process and unwillingness to make up for it by awarding medals to all three gymnasts.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) also failed to record the time Coach Chiles asked her about her performance in the Aug. 5 competition, a lapse that CAS called a “failure.” Ultimately, the court ruled that the investigation was conducted four seconds into the one-minute window allowed to check Chiles’ score.
Details released by CAS on Wednesday put the blame directly on the International Sports Federation for the problems that arose during one of the most dramatic moments of the Paris Olympics. After the games, Romanian officials appealed to the court, which set up a three-person panel to arbitrate the dispute during the Olympics.
The panel said its review was limited and left athletes heartbroken.
“Had the panel been able to apply the principle of fairness, given their performance, their sincerity and the injustice and suffering they suffered, it would have certainly awarded the bronze medals to all three gymnasts. The FIG did not provide a mechanism to enforce the one-minute rule or arrangement,” the court said.
The explanation for the ruling also detailed other serious problems in the management of the free practice, which ended with Brazilian Rebecca Andrade winning gold and American Simone Biles taking silver.
Since then, the goals scored by Chiles, Babosu and Maneka Voinea have become one of the most controversial and talked about legends of the Paris Olympics.
“The panel hopes that FIFA will pursue the consequences of this case for these three outstanding athletes, as well as for other athletes and their support staff, so that this does not happen again,” CAS wrote in a statement on the ruling.
The gymnastics federation did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Denied the opportunity to provide new evidence to CAS, USA Gymnastics promised to appeal again to the Swiss Federal Court, the body that gave CAS arbitration legitimacy. Successful appeals to Swiss courts are uncommon.
USA Gymnastics said Wednesday that CAS details released earlier in the day showed that USA Gymnastics did not have enough time to defend Chiles and that Chiles’ coach Cecil Landi submitted 47 seconds after the results were announced. commented.
“We will continue to pursue these and other issues following appeal and continue to pursue justice for Jordan Chiles,” USA Gymnastics said.
On Thursday, Chiles spoke directly about the controversy for the first time, posting on
She hopes her bronze medal will hold up. Her bronze.
“I trust that at the end of this journey, the controllers will do the right thing,” Chiles said.
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In a separate statement Wednesday, CAS rebutted a New York Times report that the panel itself had conflict issues because its head, Hamid G. Gharavi, ) has been representing Romania in different arbitration cases for nearly 10 years.
According to the Times, Gallavi serves as Romania’s legal counsel in disputes handled by the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
CAS said it “condemns the shameless statements made by certain American media outlets, accusing the panel, and in particular its chair, of bias due to other professional activities or nationality, without any knowledge of the circumstances and before reviewing a justified verdict.”
The court said Gallaway’s participation was not challenged during the gymnastics arbitration so “it is reasonable to assume that all parties are satisfied that their case will be heard by this panel”.
USA Gymnastics said it has not seen disclosures about Gallaway or any other panel member and “we have not seen those disclosures to date.”
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At the center of the rivalry controversy was an inquiry by Chiles’ coach Randy about how Chiles’ on-field actions were scored. Chiles initially placed fifth with a score of 13.666. She was the last of nine gymnasts to compete, giving her just one minute to raise a challenge under International Gymnastics Federation rules.
The judges temporarily allowed the inquiry and raised Chiles’ score by 0.1 points to 13.766. This puts her ahead of Bărbosu and Maneca-Voinea, who both scored 13.700. (Gabaosu had an advantage over Maneka-Wojnia because her execution score was higher, meaning the judges viewed her routine as cleaner.)
In one of the most emotional scenes of the Games, Chiles screamed in celebration while Babosu, who thought he had won the bronze medal, dropped the Romanian flag in shock and walked off the floor in tears.
But an appeal by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation to CAS found that the investigation came too late.
After CAS announced its preliminary ruling on Saturday, the International Sports Federation changed the final rankings and the International Olympic Committee said it would reallocate Chiles’ medal to Babosu.
According to the Romanian federation, Babosu will receive the medal at a ceremony on Friday.
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In its ruling published on Wednesday, CAS said the FIG had no immediate mechanism for determining whether the investigation was late, even though it was submitted electronically.
Donatella Sacchi, chairwoman of the FIFA technical committee for women’s artistic gymnastics, said when the investigation arrived, “there was nothing to suggest that the information was received late.”
CAS said it made sense for Sacchi to proceed on the assumption that the investigation was on schedule because there was no set-up that would immediately indicate it was too late.
CAS said: “If FIFA establishes such a mechanism or arrangement, a lot of heartache can be avoided.”
The FIG also cannot reveal the name of the person under investigation because the person was appointed by local organizers, Sacchi said.
Randy attended the hearing as a witness and said she was aware of the one-minute rule and “believed she had conducted her investigation as quickly as possible”.
The CAS continued: “She was unable to establish whether the inquiry was held within the one-minute time limit or beyond as it all happened in such a rush.”
(Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
