A contentious judging decision and messy appeals process has spiraled into an international argument for Olympic bronze.
A contentious judging decision and messy appeals process has roiled women’s gymnastics — and spiraled into an international argument for Olympic bronze between the US and Romania.
At the center: American gymnast Jordan Chiles and Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu, whose razor-thin fight for an Olympic medal has already blow up into threats of legal action and vows for «justice.»
The drama kicked off last Monday during the floor exercise in Paris.
Initially, Chiles finished fifth with a score of 13.666. But after her coach filed an inquiry, arguing Chiles should’ve been awarded more difficulty points, her score was upped to 13.766 — enough to net bronze.
The stunning about-face unfolded in real time. Bărbosu, who’d been awarded bronze before the inquiry, looked up at the scoreboard mid-celebration to see that she’d been dethroned. She dropped her Romanian flag and rushed off in tears.
Chiles, meanwhile, fell to the floor in tears, hugging her coach Cecile Landi and teammate Simone Biles before receiving her medal on the podium.
And the shocking switch may not have been the only scoring error. Bărbosu’s teammate, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, scored 13.700 in her routine after she was deducted .1 points for stepping out of bounds. But replays later appeared to show that Maneca-Voinea’s foot didn’t go out and the gymnast has since asserted she didn’t go out of bounds.
But Maneca-Voinea’s coach didn’t asked for a review that day.
