The Olympic bronze medal was first awarded to U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles however later revoked over a scoring controversy.
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu obtained her Olympic bronze medal throughout a ceremony within the capital Bucharest on Friday that marked the conclusion of a swirl of controversy after the medal was first awarded to U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles but later revoked.
“I didn’t count on the medal to be so heavy, however I might put on it day and evening if that is what it takes to have it,” Barbosu mentioned after the ceremony.
The medal was reallocated to Barbosu after a ruling by the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport final week that voided an attraction by Staff USA coach Cecile Landi through the Aug. 5 ground train ultimate in Paris, which had vaulted Chiles into third place and pushed Barbosu right down to fourth.
Chiles was initially awarded the bronze following the attraction and took part within the medal ceremony following the competitors.
That call triggered an uproar in Romania, traditionally a gymnastics powerhouse, and led its gymnastics federation to request a evaluation of the U.S. group’s attraction process. CAS finally dominated in favor of Barbosu, saying the U.S. group had made its attraction 4 seconds past the one-minute deadline.
Chatting with reporters on Friday after receiving her medal, Barbosu mentioned the decision of the controversy “was attainable with the assistance of the federation and the regulation agency who didn’t quit on us athletes and fought for us.”
“I’m very blissful to have this medal and hope to signify Romania on the highest degree and produce residence extra medals,” she mentioned.
Romania was a longtime superpower in gymnastics, however has didn’t excel lately. Barbosu’s end result brings residence Romania’s first ladies’s Olympic medal in gymnastics for the reason that 2012 London Video games. USA Gymnastics has mentioned it can proceed efforts to let Chiles maintain her medal.
Inquiries are an ordinary a part of gymnastics competitions, with athletes or coaches asking judges to evaluation a routine to make sure parts are rated correctly. Scores may be adjusted up or down primarily based on an inquiry.
However the affair on the Paris video games has been painful for all of the athletes concerned, exacerbated by streams of on-line abuse directed on the gymnasts. Chiles, who has obtained some racially charged feedback on social media that she’s referred to as “fallacious and very hurtful,” said on Thursday that the choice to strip her of the bronze was “unjust.”
Barbosu on Friday mentioned the medal controversy was “saddening,” and that “we anticipated the referees and employees on the Olympics to do their job correctly.”
Nonetheless, she mentioned, she was sending the U.S. gymnasts “good ideas.”
“I’m considering of them even when right now I bought the medal,” she mentioned.
