Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu received Olympic bronze at a ceremony in Bucharest on Friday after the International Gymnastics Federation awarded it to her instead of US gymnast Jordan Chiles following a bitter row.
A score revision over degree of difficulty lifted Chiles to third in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics on August 5, causing heartbreak for Barbosu who thought she had won bronze. Romania appealed the decision, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled the US appeal for the score revision came too late.
Chiles, 23, said on Thursday that being stripped of a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics has been devastating and heartbreaking and delivered her an unjust blow. On Friday, Barbosu, 18, said she felt “very happy and grateful”, though saddened that “there have been such problems at a high level”.
“We as athletes have done absolutely nothing wrong,” she said, adding she hoped for Chiles and fellow Romanian gymnast Sabrina Voinea, who also contested her own score in the floor final, to get “happy conclusions”.
After the medal – a different one than was given to Chiles – was placed around her neck in a short ceremony held by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Barbosu told reporters: “I didn’t realise it was that heavy.”
She added she hopes to bring more medals to the eastern European country, which used to have a powerful gymnastics programme but had not taken part in the Olympics for the past 12 years. “I tell the girls who want to do gymnastics to have faith that if they want something, it will come true if they stick with it and put in the hard work,” Barbosu said.
In spite of the hot afternoon, she patiently posed with the medal for photographers, kissed it and then took photos with some children.
USA Gymnastics has vowed to continue to fight for Chiles’ medal. One of the defining images of the Paris Games shows Chiles and silver winner US superstar Simone Biles and Chiles bowing to gold winner Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade on the podium.
In her remarks Thursday, Chiles also said a swirl of social media attacks have been extremely hurtful as she tries to recover from the controversy over the floor exercise final.
Chiles, Barbosu and Romania’s Voinea have all been attacked online. Romania’s gymnastics federation has asked for the attacks to stop, as did Barbosu’s mother, Pompilia Barbosu, “begging as a mother to stop all the defamations”.
