Father of Romanian Gymnast Shared Heartbreaking Post Amid Bronze Medal Appeal

Now that U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles has officially been stripped of a bronze medal from the floor exercise final of the 2024 Paris Olympics, it's Ana Barbosu of Romania who is recognized as the rightful third-place finisher.

At the same time, however, fellow Romanian gymnast Sabrina Voinea is still fighting for the same medal. Voinea and Barbosu both finished with a final score of 13.700. However, it was Barbosu who placed third due to a tiebreaker (higher execution score).

After initially finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, Barbosu and Voinea both jumped one spot after Chiles' score was brought back down to 13.666. This came after the American's initially successful judges appeal was reversed due to a technicality (it came four seconds outside the challenge period).

For her part, Voinea was also docked 0.100 points during the competition after the judges determined that she stepped out of bounds. The issue, though, is that she did not -- at least according to the evidence presented by her camp.

This same evidence has been submitted in Voinea's official appeal as her camp looks to get the point deduction reinstated. If the said appeal is successful, Voinea's score will increase to 13.800, thereby making her the bronze medal winner.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Voinea's parents have been very supportive. Her mother, Camelia Voinea, is a Romanian Olympic icon. She has been vocal about what they feel is an injustice against her daughter.

Sabrina's father has also been active on social media campaigning for his daughter's case. On Friday, he shared a video showing how Sabrina did not step out of bounds during her routine. He captioned it using several emojis, which included three broken hearts.

This is an undeniably difficult time for Sabrina, but one could argue that it's even more burdensome for her parents. To see your daughter be robbed (allegedly) of her dream and to not be able to do anything about it must be one of the most heartbreaking situations a parent can find themself in.

The silver lining, though, is that at least the fight is not over yet for the Voineas.

Related: Romanian Gymnast Reinforces Judges' Error at Olympics, Calls for Medal Win

Related: Olympics Legend Nadia Comaneci Has Firm Stance on How To Solve Jordan Chiles Medal Controversy