The vault American gymnast Jordan Chiles took over two Romanian gymnasts in order to earn a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics has ignited a controversy.
When the floor exercises competition was over on Monday, Chiles was fifth, according to The New York Times. Then the U.S. asked the judges to review the scores, claiming Chiles should have a higher number.
Chiles then got a boost that took place just as Romania’s Ana Barbosu was ready to accept a bronze medal, according to the New York Post.
Chiles’ new score sent Barbosu to fourth. Fellow Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea was also passed over, and is pushing back against what took place after her own appeal to the judges was rejected while that of Chiles was approved.
Maneca-Voinea has now quit gymnastics, her mother and coach Camelia Voinea wrote on Facebook, according to Fox Sports.
Maneca-Voinea received a 0.1 point deduction after judges claimed her heel touched the floor beyond the competition boundaries, according to the Sporting News.
Since then, video evidence has emerged that her heel may not have actually touched.
“The girl in third place … her landings were a bit lower … I think she may have stepped out of bounds … I had a routine that was much better than hers … what happened was a very weird thing,” Maneca-Voinea said in an interview, speaking Romanian, Sporting News reported.
Romanian gymnast and Olympic legend Nadia Comaneci posted her case for Maneca-Voinea on X.
I don’t see the heel touching down.. do you? #sabrinavoinea pic.twitter.com/KZzmj5kcoD
— Nadia Comaneci (@nadiacomaneci10) August 6, 2024
“I don’t see the heel touching down.. do you?” she wrote in one post.
Mihai Covaliu, the president of the Romanian Olympic Committee, sent a letter of protest to the International Gymnastics Federation, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“The way of assessing the score awarded and the refusal to fully present the reasons/evidence for the rejection of the appeal submitted within the deadline provided by the regulation brings serious damage both to the image of international gymnastics but especially affects the athlete, endangering [her] mental health,” he wrote.
Do you think this was fair?
“The media coverage of the case of the Romanian sportswoman at the international level, her public declaration to give up practicing this sport as a result of today’s decision morally obliges the decision-makers to reanalyze, substantiate and communicate the final decision,” he wrote.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said due to the incident, he will not attend Sunday’s closing ceremony.
“I decided not to participate in the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics after the scandalous situation in gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable way,” he wrote on Facebook, according to the Post.
“The fact that hundreds of millions of viewers from all over the world were, like us Romanians, effectively shocked by this terrible scene, shows that somewhere, in the system of organizing this competition, something is wrong.
“I don’t want to argue with anyone today, but I just choose to protest with my gesture against a blatant injustice towards some Romanian women who have fully proven their worth!” he said.
