Romanian Gymnastics Federation Makes Statement About Olympic Bronze Medal Ruling

While Romania’s Ana Barbosu is the rightful owner of the bronze medal from the floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympics, her medal triumph wasn’t without controversy.

Barbosu went from finishing fourth after USA Gymnastics coaches issued a score inquiry that bumped Jordan Chiles from fifth to third and another Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea from fourth to fifth, but a Court of Arbitration in Sport ruling nullified Chiles’ score inquiry and pushed Barbosu back into the bronze-medal position.

Though she and Maneca-Voinea finished the identical 13.666 scores, Barbosu won the tie breaker and received a medal while her teammate settled for a fourth-place finish and zero recognition for her performance.

However, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation chose to play by its own set of rules, essentially declaring Maneca-Voinea an Olympic bronze medalist when it awarded her the same car plus a 14-karat gold medal given to all Olympic medalists.

Maneca-Voinea also received the same prize equivalent ($121,000) from Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu that Barbosu received for her feat, per International Gymnast Media .

Maneca-Voinea even posed for a photo for Instagram in her new car, which was gifted by Romanian business mogul Ion Tiriac.

Every car was customized to commemorate every athlete’s Olympic achievement and sport with a special inscription on each one.

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Though Maneca-Voinea technically finished in fourth place, many feel she was the rightful bronze medalist after video replay showed she was wrongfully docked 0.100 points for a phantom touch out of bounds that never happened.

That deduction dropped her from 13.7666 to 13.666, tying her with Barbosu.

Related: Ana Barbosu Sends Message to Jordan Chiles After Receiving Her Bronze Medal

Related: IOC's Bronze-Medal Verdict Caused Rift Between Romanian Gymnastics Teammates