Romanian Leader Decides To Skip Olympics Closing Ceremony Due To Gymnastics Controversy

The Prime Minister of Romania has announced that he will boycott the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics as a form of protest against the controversial decision made by the gymnastics judges. The decision caused two Romanian gymnasts to miss out on medals during the women’s final.

During the women’s floor final earlier this week, U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles won the bronze medal after successfully appealing her score. At the time of her appeal, two Romanian gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea, were tied for the third-place position, with Barbosu holding the bronze medal position.

Initially, Barbosu believed she had secured a medal in the floor final on Monday. As the final competitor, Chiles received a score lower than Barbosu’s, which prompted the Romanian gymnast to celebrate by grabbing her country’s flag.

However, shortly after, it was announced that Chiles’ coaches had requested a review of the difficulty component of her score. This review led to a 0.1 boost in Chiles’ score, pushing her slightly ahead of Barbosu with a score of 13.766 compared to Barbosu’s 13.700.

Speaking about the review petition, Team USA coach Cecile Landi stated, “At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like, ‘We’re just going to try.'” She admitted to being skeptical of the outcome but was pleasantly surprised when Chiles’ score was adjusted in their favor.

In an interview with TeamUSA.com, Chiles expressed her astonishment at discovering that her coaches had put in an inquiry for her score. She said, “When it came through, I was very proud of myself. It was my first event final and my first event medal. That is crazy.”

In a social media post, the Romanian Prime Minister, Ciolacu, went beyond expressing his disappointment and compared the situation to previous instances where Romanians were disregarded by the Soviet Union during Olympic Games. He argued that this incident highlighted flaws within the organization of the competition and called it a “blatant injustice” against deserving Romanian women.

Romania has long been a dominant force in gymnastics, and this marked their return to the Olympics after a 12-year hiatus. Nadia Comaneci, a retired Romanian gymnast with multiple Olympic gold medals, criticized the review process that led to Chiles’ victory. She emphasized the importance of protecting athletes’ mental health and emotions.

According to a translated letter, Sabrina Voinea was penalized for allegedly stepping outside the designated acrobatic line with her heel. The International Gymnastics Federation has not yet responded publicly to these claims.