Romania gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea is quitting the sport as referees rejected her review appeal, which could have won her the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.
American gymnast Jordan Chiles originally finished fifth in the initial lineup, but her coach challenged the scoring, which helped the American athlete increase her scores at a time when Romania’s Ana Barbosu was already celebrating her bronze victory.
The decision of the judges did not sit well with Team Romania as two of their athletes, Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, were pushed down in the revised results.
Maneca-Voinea was unhappy with the judges as she complained about why her review appeal was rejected, but Chiles’s was accepted.
In the final tally, Maneca-Voinea’s points were reduced by 0.1 as judges claimed that she violated the rules with her feet. As video evidence surfaced after the event, it has become increasingly clear that she did not break any law, which means that she was supposed to finish third had referees decided to consider her appeal.
Feeling that the decision was unjust and that her efforts in the competition were not properly recognized, Voinea publicly announced her decision to give up the sport entirely. Her mother, Camelia Voinea, who is also an Olympic silver medalist, supported this decision and expressed her dissatisfaction and frustration over the lack of support for their rights. In her statement, Sabrina Voinea expressed that she believed she performed better than Chiles in the final but was denied the victory by a “weird” decision.
Romanian Olympic legend Nadia Comaneci also came to defend her country’s athlete and wrote on X that she could not see any foul play.
President of the Romanian Olympic Committee, Mihai Covaliu, wrote a combative letter to the International Gymnastics Federation and complained about the scoring system and the refusal of referees to consider appeals registered within the allocated time frame. The letter also mentioned that the decision directly impacts the mental well-being of the athlete and puts the reputation of international gymnastics on the line.
Covaliu went on to write that Maneca-Voinea’s decision to give up on the sports should be enough to force authorities to reanalyze the situation and come up with revised results. Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also announced not to attend the Olympics closing ceremony on August 11 as a protest.
Now, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that Chiles’s coach made the appeal after the one-minute window, which makes the appeal void. The CAS has announced that it will restore the initial results, which will bring Barbosu back to the podium while Maneca-Voinea finishes fourth and Chiles stands fifth.
However, the controversy is far from over. After the CAS verdict, Chiles has announced to take a break from social media due to mental health issues as USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee also came to her rescue.
Their joint statement suggested that Jordan faced continuous hateful attacks throughout the appeals process, which is highly condemnable and undermines the integrity of the athlete.
