The International Olympic Committee announced Thursday morning that Romania can award gymnast Ana Barbos a bronze medal, paving the way for an awards ceremony that Romanian authorities have scheduled for Friday amid a controversial sports drama that has consumed much of the world.
“The FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) adjusted rankings are based on the final decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and are binding on all parties,” the IOC said in an emailed statement to USA Today Sports. “Although an appeal to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court is still possible, the CAS decision is immediately enforceable and Barbos is entitled to receive her bronze medal.”
American skater Jordan Chiles is in the United States and still has the bronze medal she won in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics, two people familiar with the matter who did not want to be identified told USA Today Sports.
Chile will not return its bronze medal. U.S. officials have said they plan to appeal what the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said were “serious procedural errors” by the CAS. The appeal will likely be taken to the Swiss Federal Court.
In a statement Wednesday night, the USOPC said: “Between August 6 and 9, CAS sent critical communications to incorrect email addresses for the USOPC and USAG, and this error was not corrected until August 9 – three days after filing, two days after the appeal deadline, and less than 24 hours before the hearing. This denied us sufficient time to provide a meaningful response and gather the evidence we needed. We immediately filed an appeal with CAS.”
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U.S. officials then produced a time-stamped video showing that the U.S. filed its appeal against Childs’ score 47 seconds after her score was announced, within the one-minute deadline, instead of the four seconds presented at the CAS hearing. The CAS said it could not reopen the case, despite conclusive video evidence showing Childs deserved the bronze medal. “Our appeal was subsequently substantiated by new evidence showing FIG clerical errors and CAS inappropriate action, which could not have been raised at the time of the rushed hearing. In short, we were denied a meaningful opportunity to present our views,” the USOPC said.
As the debate raged, U.S. and Romanian officials offered to award the bronze medals to both Chile and Barbos, but the FIG rejected the proposal. Now, the Romanian Olympic Sports Committee is moving forward on its own.
This rush to hold the medal ceremony stands in stark contrast to the recently concluded Kamila Valieva doping scandal, in which various international sports organizations and anti-doping agencies spent so long on the case that the U.S. and Japanese figure skating teams finally received their gold and silver medals at the Paris Summer Olympics exactly two and a half years after competition at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics had finished.
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