Ana Barbosu has sent a message to her USA gymnastics rival Jordan Chiles, after Romania’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport saw her reclaim her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics at the expense of the American.
The bombshell CAS verdict emerged Saturday, sparking widespread outrage from the USA camp that included Chiles’ teammate Simone Biles. Chiles’ older sister even said that racism was behind the verdict.
Barbosu initially thought she had won bronze but Chiles’ score of 13.666, which had initially placed her fifth, was bumped up by 0.1 following an appeal from her coach. The Romanian, already celebrating. was left in tears and the change to Chiles’ score meant that Barbosu and her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea were pushed down to fourth and fifth, each with matching scores of 13.700.
But now, in a message Chiles was tagged in on her Instagram, Barbosu said: ‘Sabrina [Maneca-Voinea], Jordan, my thoughts are with you. I know what you are feeling, because I’ve been through the same. But I know you’ll come back stronger.
‘I hope from deep of my heart that at the next Olympics, all three of us will share [the] same podium. That is my true dream!’
Jordan Chiles has lost her bronze medal after a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Romania’s Ana Barbosu has sent Chiles a message on Instagram after reclaiming her bronze
Barbosu said she hopes she is on the podium alongside Chiles at the next Olympics
‘This situation would not have existed if the persons in charge had respected the regulation. We, athletes are not to be blamed, and the hate directed to us is painful.
‘I wanted to end this edition of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in the spirit of Olympism, the true value of the world.’
It comes as USA gymnastics revealed Monday that they were told by CAS that they are not allowed a retrospective appeal back against Saturday’s decision.
USA gymnastics said it was ‘devastated’ by the decision, with Chiles taking to Instargam to say she was removing herself from social media ‘for my mental health’.
Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth, right behind Maneca-Voinea.
But her coach Cecile Landi called for an inquiry over a jump that had originally been given a lower difficulty grade.
Judges awarded the appeal, which saw Chiles leapfrog past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
Barbosu responded by dropping her Romanian flag in horror before bringing her hands to her face and walking off in tears.
The Romanian Gymnastics Federation said on August 7 it had submitted requests to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It said one of them was linked to the inquiry submitted by Chiles’ coaches.
One of Jordan’s older sisters, Jazmin Chiles, posted a statement to her social media claiming racism was behind the decision to strip the USA gymnast of her bronze medal.
‘Please keep Jordan (and my family) in your prayers. Racism is real, it exists, it is alive and well,’ Jazmin said. ‘They have officially, 5 days later, stripped her of one of her medals.’
‘Not because she didn’t win, not because she was drugged, not because she stepped out of bounds. Not because she wasn’t good enough. But because the judges failed to give her difficulty and forced an inquiry to be made.’
‘FOUR SECONDS. Her bronze was stripped over 4 seconds of time that would have never needed to happen if the judges did their job. I love you baby sis. And I got you back no matter what.’
In a following post, she added: ‘Just so y’all aware – in the HISTORY of the Olympics NO ONE has ever been stripped of their medal for this.
‘Also – there are only TWO ways you can be stripped of a medal. Cheating or doping. She did neither.’
