Olympics Icon Nadia Comaneci Reacts to Romanian Gymnastics' Sabrina Voinea Announcement

It has now been over a month since the 2024 Paris Olympics officially came to a close. At this point, the buzz surrounding this highly successful edition of the Summer Games is beginning to die down, if it hasn't already.

The same is the case for one of the biggest controversies that came out of the Paris Games. This centered around U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles being stripped of a bronze medal from the floor exercise final after her score was subjected to a 0.100-point deduction due to a technicality (her initially successful judges challenge was overturned after it was determined that it came too late).

This unprecedented turn of events led to Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu getting the said bronze medal after Chiles fell to fifth place. Barbosu jumped one spot to third, thereby making her the rightful winner of the bronze medal.

Another Romanian, Sabrina Voinea, was also involved in the controversy. She had the same final score as Barbosu (13.700), but Voinea finished fourth due to a tie-breaker (higher execution score).

On Monday, September 9, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation took to Instagram to make an announcement about Voinea and the rest of the national gymnastics squad. According to their post, "the holiday is over for the gymnasts from the Olympic batch." The Federation also revealed that Voinea "made the medical visit today" while sharing a photo of the 17-year-old gymnast.

It appears that it's back to business for Voinea and the Romanian gymnastics team, who have now returned to the gym to put in some work.

This announcement drew a subtle reaction from Nadia Comaneci, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Olympians in Romanian gymnastics history.

Comaneci, who has five Olympic gold medals to her name, did not add any caption to her post. However, the fact that she chose to share Voinea's photo appears to be a show of support for the young gymnast and all that she has gone through over the past month.

For their part, Voinea's camp has been vocal about their belief that Sabrina is the rightful winner of the bronze medal. Voinea was docked 0.100 points from her final score because of a violation during her routine. However, based on the evidence presented by her camp, it seems that she did not, in fact, step out of bounds.

Had it not been for the penalty, Sabrina would have finished with a score of 13.800, which would have placed her at third above Barbosu in the final standing.

Comaneci has been supportive of both Voinea and Barbosu throughout this ordeal. At this point, it appears that all parties involved are doing everything they can to move past what has been a very burdensome controversy.

Related: Olympic Icon Nadia Comaneci Reacts to Romanian Gymnastics' Sorrowful Announcement