In an Olympic drama that could match any at🀅hletic feat during t🍸he Paris Games, the saga around the ruling that stripped Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal while giving it to Romania’s Ana Barbosu took another odd turn on Wednesday.
An email error by the Court of Arb𒆙itration for Sport cost USA Gymnastics valuable time to prepare for the hearing challenging Chiles’ medal, a
Days had gone by before USA Gymnastics was alerted to the Romanian ಞeffort and the hearing that was going to take place because the court sent emails to the wrong addresses and thus delaying any contact between the gymnastics body and the CAS.
T🌱he Court of Arbitration for Sport attempted to get in touch with USA Gymnastics on Aug. 6, but didn’t reach the Americans until Aug. 9, less than 24 hours before the Aug. 10 heaꦐring was scheduled to take place, according to the report.
The 𝕴United States successfully argued the deadline was unreasonable and the court extendedꦯ the deadline by two hours.
A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics told the Washꦫington Post the delay was “due to CAS sending case filings to incorrec♕t email addresses.”
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee descri💮bed the hearing as “rushed” and it “made it impossible” to raise the concerns and evidence to 𒊎back their case that Chiles rightfully deserved the bronze medal.
“We were denied a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic and Pꦡaralympic Committee told WaPo in a statement.
The error could provide more g💙rounds for ♈the United States should they decide to take the issue up with the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
All of the drama stems from a complai𒐪nt by the Romanian Gymnastics Federation that the United States𒉰 had not asked the judges during the floor routine final to reconsider her score within the one-minute allotted to do so.
The CAS ruled that Chiles’ original score should be rein🔥stated and that moved Barbosu back into third place giving ❀her the bronze medal.
The drama has captivaꦉted sports 🏅fans across the globe days after the Olympic games came to an end.
The CAS also said it would not reopen the case despite the United States saying it had clear video evidence that proved the request 💮to adjust the score came within the allotted time.
The United States has said it will continue its fight.
A report by the New York Times on Tuesday shed light on a posꩵsible conflict of inteꦬrest by panel chair Hamid G. Gharavi after it came to light that h🉐e had done legal wღork for Romania.
The n response to the repo♔rts condemning what it called “outrageous statements published in certain US med♏ia.”
“As none of the parties involved in this case has challenged any Panel member during the procedure, it can reasonably be assumed that all parties were satisfied to have their case heard by this Panel. Any subsequent criticism is without foundation or merit,” the court said in a statement.