Head of Panel That Ruled Against Jordan Chiles Represents Romania in Other Cases

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 three members of a special tribunal convened for the Olympics by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after Romania lodged a complaint ruled that a successful appeal made by Chiles’s coach over the points awarded to her in the floor exercise competition was initiated four seconds late. 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. The revelation that Hamid G. Gharavi chaired the panel that resolved the dispute in favor of a Romanian athlete despite having a long relationship with Romania’s government is sure to inflame the case further.

Very little is known about the deliberation and how the panel reached its verdict, with the court publishing just a one-page statement confirming the decisions it made. A detailed document outlining the full reasoning behind the outcome will eventually be sent to all the parties involved.

U.S.A. Gymnastics said on Monday it had been notified by the court that under its rules, the decision cannot be reconsidered “even when conclusive new evidence is presented.”