Jordon Chiles, seen here at the 2024 U.S. Championships, finds herself in the middle of an Olympics controversy not of her making.

Gymnastics -- the figure skating of the Summer Olympics

August 17, 2024

You just knew that the Paris Olympics would not end without a judging controversy, didn’t you?

This one involves American gymnast Jordan Chiles, who won the bronze medal on the floor exercises until she didn’t. It seemed her routine had a higher degree of difficulty than that of the original bronze medalist, Romania’s Ana Barbosu, and the U.S. filed an immediate appeal, giving Chiles the medal and devastating Barbosu. But then Romania appealed and Chiles was stripped of the medal, because the U.S. appeal was four seconds too late, even though video reportedly shows that it wasn’t.

The U.S. and Romania agreed to share the bronze medal, but the International Federation of Gymnastics said nothing doing, and now it’s off to the Swiss Federal Tribunal for the ultimate decision. In the meantime, it didn’t take the press long to uncover that Hamid G. Gharavi, who headed the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel that ruled against the U.S., had represented Romania in some arbitration cases. So not the most unbiased of judges.

On Friday, Aug. 16, Barbosu got the bronze medal — different from the one awarded at the Paris Games — and Chiles, still in possession of the bronze from Paris, vowed to seek justice.

The Rio Games and the summer of our discontent

August 23, 2016

Is it just me or were the Rio Games ultimately dispiriting? Yes, I’m glad as an American that the United States won 121 medals and as a woman that American woman won 61 of them. (Give it up for Title IX.)

And I thought the Christoph Waltz/Samsung Galaxy commercial – in which the two-time Academy Award winner manages to mock superior Eurotrash and over-accomplished, multitasking exceptional Americans at the same time through a series of character vignettes – was just terrific.

But too many athletes reminded me that time is the cruelest opponent. ...

Phelps: A fish out of water no more

April 9, 2015

Michael Phelps will return to competitive swimming next week after having completed his six-month suspension for DUI.

Phelps will join a field that includes longtime friendly rival Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky at the Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Ariz. April 15 through 18.

After last competing at the Pan Pacific Championships in August, Phelps was arrested in September and suspended by USA Swimming in October.

He’s not on the roster for the World Championships in Kazan, Russia this August, but does anyone doubt that Phelps – the only U.S. men’s swimmer to post a world-leading time in an Olympic event in 2014 – will be there? ...