CNN
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American gymnast Jordan Chiles and the U.S. Olympic team may feel like the protagonists of a Franz Kafka novel, as they find themselves trapped in an increasingly surreal scenario as they try to reclaim the bronze medal.

Their efforts to reclaim the bronze medal Chiles believed they won during floor exercise at the Paris Olympics are facing some increasingly bizarre obstacles, and new developments in the ongoing saga emerged Tuesday.

The head of the three-person panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that the US preliminary investigation into Chiles’ floor exercise score was filed one minute after the deadline and awarded third place to Romania’s Ana Barbosu on Saturday, has been representing Romanian interests for years.

According to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Dr. Hamed J. Gharavi, Philippe Sands and Song Lu sat on the panel of which Gharavi was chairman. Gharavi’s CV, which is linked on the CAS website, includes several legal cases in which he represented Romania in arbitration proceedings.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution was the first to issue a report on the legal relations between Garavi and Romania.

Asked for comment, Garavi referred CNN to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In a statement sent to CNN on Wednesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said: “In accordance with the IBA Conflict of Interest Guidelines, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has no grounds to remove an arbitrator who makes such a disclosure if the parties do not object to his appointment.”

The Olympic Games, once hailed as one of the best ever, have been marred by confusion, grief and accusations of incompetence levelled at the governing bodies involved.

At first, Barboso thought she had the medal until the U.S. team successfully appealed the judge’s assessment of Chiles’ dance, which elevated the American from fifth to third place and instantly made her a symbol of the first all-black podium finish in Olympic gymnastics. Chiles held the medal for just five days before the Court of Arbitration for Sport awarded it to Barboso.

Complicating matters further, communications leading up to the court’s ruling were flawed.

According to CNN contributor Christine Brennan, the Court of Arbitration for Sport incorrectly notified US officials about Saturday’s hearing.

The US team now says it has video evidence that its appeal was filed within the 60-second timeframe – but USA Gymnastics says CAS has told them that under its own rules, the decision cannot be reconsidered “even when new, compelling evidence is presented.”

On Monday, USA Gymnastics announced that it “will continue to pursue all possible avenues and appeals, including the Swiss Federal Court, to ensure Jordan receives a fair result, placement and medal award.”

Meanwhile, Chiles deleted herself from social media, posting four sad emojis after the CAS ruling on Saturday. Now she and Perboso are in a state of uncertainty, caught in the emotional trap imposed on them by one of the world’s most important sporting competitions.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee appears to be running out of options, but said it will work “diligently to resolve this matter quickly and fairly.”

It is difficult to know what a fair solution would look like, but if anyone thinks this will be settled quickly, they should remember another scene at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

Two days after the gymnastics competition concluded, nine American figure skaters stepped into the sunshine beneath the Eiffel Tower to receive their gold medals from the team competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

They had been waiting for them for two and a half years.