The head of the panel that ruled Jordan Chiles should lose her Olympic bronze to a Romanian athlete has represented Romania’s government in legal disputes for years, it has emerged.

Ana Barbosu was reinstated into third at Chiles’ expense in Saturday’s seismic ruling. Chiles herself had been elevated into third place over Barbosu when her coaches appealed her score in the floor final at the Paris Games. Barbosu was celebrating her bronze at the time and was left in tears while Chiles celebrated.

Romania appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) where Hamid G. Gharavi was the chair of the panel, despite his links to the Romanian government.

It flags a potentially significant conflict of interest claim in an already delicate situation. The New York Times says panel members must complete a conflict of interest form before reviewing any case and that Gharavi had disclosed his work with the Romanian government. The Times also says Gharavi refused to comment when approached by them.

Chiles reacted by posting four broken-hearted emojis on Instagram and said she was taking a break from social media while her sister said racism was behind the decision.

The Jordan Chiles Olympic bronze dispute has taken a twist over ‘conflict of interest’ claims

Ana Barbosu is scheduled to receive the bronze taken from Chiles in Romania this week

USA gymnastics said it was ‘devastated’ and has vowed to fight the ruling by appealing to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. It is rare, however, for CAS decisions to be overturned.

Barbosu, who has reached out to Chiles on social media, is set to receive her bronze in Bucharest on Friday.

Chiles won the bronze in women’s floor exercise in Paris when her coach submitted an inquiry to challenge the judges’ initial score and her score was corrected from 13.666 to 13.766. Chiles moved into third place, passing Romanians Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.

Romania took its case to CAS, saying that the United States’ inquiry was not made within the one-minute window stated in the rules. Romania argued that the Americans missed that time limit by four seconds.

 After the ruling on Saturday went against Chiles, the U.S. later countered it had video evidence that coach Cecile Landi made the appeal 47 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was posted, well within the time limit.

Jordan Chiles posted two statements to social media about her losing her bronze medal

Barbosu said she hopes she is on the podium alongside Chiles at the next Olympics

Barbosu, meanwhile, sympathized with Chiles in a social media statement which read: ‘Sabrina [Maneca-Voinea], Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same.

‘But I know you’ll come back stronger. I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share [the] same podium. That is my true dream!

‘This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation. We, athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful.

‘I wanted to end this edition of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in the spirit of Olympism, the true value of the world.’