Romanian teen gymnast Sabrina Voinea is the forgotten would-be bronze medalist in one of the most tumultuous sagas over below-par judging at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Fellow team mate and eventual bronze medalist Ana Barbosu, thought she’d won the medal only to have it taken away from her and handed to US gymnast Jordan Chiles amid a scoring dispute.
Romania’s Gymnastics Federation lodged an appeal and the bronze was restored to Barbosu who physically received it on Aug. 16 in a ceremony. The stripping of the medal has angered Chiles’ team who are pursuing the matter in the courts.
Wronged by the judges?
But Sabrina Voinea also claims she was wronged by the judges, and Romania agrees, although having successfully appealed against Chiles and seeing the bronze return home has complicated the matter
Though she ranked fourth, Romania is treating her as a bronze medalist. Along with Barbosu, the 17-year-old, along with all other Romanian Olympic medalists, was awarded a car, the equivalent to a bronze medal, by Romanian Prime Marcel Ciolacu.
Voinea who is the daughter of 1988 Olympic silver medalist, Camelia Voinea, who is also her personal coach, placed fourth with a score of 13.700. However, she was penalized 0.1 points for stepping out of bounds although video shows she did not step outside the area. Without the deduction, she would have received a score of 13.800 and taken the bronze.
The controversy has led to judges facing accusations of discretionary, biased and unprofessional conduct.
How did the saga unfold?
As soon as the floor final was over Romania’s Ana Barbosu was in third with 13.700, the same score as Voinea, but ahead of her due to a higher execution score. As Barbosu began was celebrating the bronze with the Romanian flag, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles’ score was raised from 13.666 to 13.766 after USA Gymnastics lodged a complaint. Chiles then took her place on the podium as the bronze medalist.
But Romania challenged the results, and the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) ruled that Chiles request for a remark had been filed too late; and dropped her score to the original 13.666, declaring Ana Barbosu to be the true bronze medalist.
Barbosu finally received her bronze medal on Friday at an official medal ceremony in Romania by IOC (International Olympic Committee) member Octavian Morariu.
Appeal
In the days after the floor final, Romania’s lawyers also appealed against the unjust stepping out of bound for Voinea during the final. CAS has rejected the appeal.
In addition to the misrule over the stepping out of bounds, judges were allegedly over harsh over the execution of one of her jumps in the routine, potentially depriving her of another 0.1 in hes final score,making her a clear bronze medalist.
Romania’s Gymnastics Federation has called for all three gymnasts, Chiles, Barbosu and Voinea to receive the bronze medal to end the dispute.
After ruling on the multiple applications, CAS stated that it falls to the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) to determine the rankings in the floor final and assign the medals accordingly.By declaring Barbosu the bronze medalist, FIG ruled out the possibility of all three gymnasts getting a bronze medal.
So who won the gold?
There has been no dispute about the gold and silver medals. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade took gold with 14.166, and U.S. gymnast Simone Biles claimed the silver with 14.133.
USA Gymnastics and USOPC (United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee) are pursuing the appeal for Chiles, claiming it was filed in good faith and within the time limits. They have taken the case to higher courts.
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