The head of a panel that ruled that the American gymnast Jordan Chiles had to give up her Olympic bronze medal in favor of a Romanian athlete has represented Romania for almost a decade in arbitration cases, documents show.
The Romanian athlete, Ana Barbosu, was awarded the bronze medal as a result of the panel’s decision, and Chiles was dropped to fifth place.
The result left Chiles brokenhearted: It took away her only individual medal at the Games, and means her appearance on the podium — the first all-Black medals stand at a gymnastics event at the Olympics — is now left with an asterisk.
Chiles posted four broken heart emojis on a black background on social media on Saturday after the decision was announced, and later said she was stepping away from social media altogether amid a torrent of racial abuse.
The decision to reallocate the medals in the floor exercise outraged U.S. Olympic and gymnastics officials, who have threatened to take their fight to the Swiss courts.
Persons:
Jordan Chiles, Chiles’s, Ana Barbosu, Chiles, Hamid G, —
Organizations:
Olympics, Sport, Games
Locations:
Romanian, Romania