The prime minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, announced on Tuesday his decision to skip the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics due to a “scandalous situation” that resulted in his country missing out on a bronze medal in women’s gymnastics.
Ana Barbosu was already in celebration mode for her bronze in the floor event on Monday when the coaches for Jordan Chiles of the United States filed an appeal regarding Chiles’s score. This inquiry led to a 0.1 point increase, which allowed Chiles to surpass Barbosu for the final podium position.
In a post on Facebook, Ciolacu stated, “I have decided to not attend the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics due to the scandalous events in gymnastics, where our athletes were subjected to an utterly dishonorable situation. To rescind a medal earned through hard work based on an appeal is simply unacceptable!”
Ciolacu assured that Romania would honor Barbosu and also Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who finished fifth, as Olympic medalists “in every sense, including prizes.” He added, “You have the support of an entire nation that values your efforts and tears more than any medal, no matter the material it’s made of.”
While Barbosu was on the floor with a Romanian flag, she glanced at the video board and noticed the scoring change. She dropped the flag in disbelief, covered her face, and walked off in tears.
In gymnastics competitions, inquiries are a routine practice where athletes or coaches request judges to reassess a routine for proper scoring. Scores can be increased or decreased following such reviews. The updated scoring for Chiles also affected Maneca-Voinea, pushing her to fifth place.
Romania, once a dominant force in gymnastics, returned to the Olympics after a 12-year absence. Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci criticized the situation on X, stating, “I can’t believe we are toying with the mental health and emotions of athletes like this.”
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Ciolacu expressed that viewers around the world were “utterly appalled by this dreadful scene” and emphasized that this incident reveals that “there is something amiss within the system of organizing this competition.”
