The controversial saga surrounding U.S. Olympian Jordan Chiles and her bronze medal contest has taken an intriguing new turn.
In a sort of tug-of-war, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled earlier this week, after much administrative negotiation between the various sides, that the bronze medal should go to Ana Maria Barbos of Romania, not Chile.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation then proposed a King Solomon-esque “split the babies” approach, with the twist of adding a third athlete.
“The proposal to award bronze medals to all three gymnasts – Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Barbos and Sabrina Maneca-Boinea – was put forward by lawyers of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, with the federation’s prior approval,” the federation said in a statement.
“The leadership of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG), through its representatives, has taken all necessary measures to reach this agreement. We emphasize that specific demands were made by the American side in order to achieve this goal and that our side consistently complied with these demands. This fact was highly appreciated by the American representatives.”
Fellow Romanian Maneca-Voinea was also the subject of controversial scores at the competition.
The judges initially ruled that Barbos had won the medal.
The United States appealed and Chile’s score was subsequently determined to be higher, but the IOC subsequently said the US team’s appeal came too late, having missed the one-minute deadline.
2024 Paris Olympics
USA Gymnastics maintains it has evidence that the appeal was filed in a timely manner.
It also emerged on Tuesday that the chairman of the committee that will decide the fate of Chile’s bronze medal has deep ties to Romania.
The inevitable winner in this story? Lawyer billable hours.
As USA Today’s Christine Brennan pointed out:There is a precedent of medals being shared amid controversial decisions.
The infamous Russian judging scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics resulted in China and Russia sharing the gold medal.
