Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said Tuesday he will boycott the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony over a scoring decision in the women’s gymnastics floor final.
Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu had initially clinched the bronze medal for floor on Monday and began celebrating on the mat. But then U.S. coaches appealed to judges over Jordan Chiles’ score, and a review resulted in a 0.1-point increase, which moved Chiles ahead of Barbosu for the bronze medal.
Barbosu was then left off the podium. She was holding a Romanian flag when she looked up and saw the scoring change on the board. Just then, she dropped the flag, covered her face with her hands and walked away in tears.
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“I decided not to attend the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, following the scandalous situation in the gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable manner,” Ciolacu said in a Facebook post. “To withdraw a medal earned for honest work on the basis of an appeal … is totally unacceptable!”
Ciolacu added that Romania would still honor Barbosu and her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who finished fifth after the review nudged her from fourth, as Olympic medalists. Both will be rewarded medal prize money.
“You have with you an entire nation for which your work and tears are more precious than any medal, no matter what precious metal they are from,” Ciolacu wrote.
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Ciolacu added that viewers worldwide were “shocked by this terrible scene” and that “somewhere in the system of organizing this competition, something is wrong”.
Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci condemned the score change in a social media post on Monday. Comaneci won five gold medals during her Olympic career. She was awarded the first perfect 10 in gymnastics history at the 1976 Summer Games.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” the nine-time Olympic medalist wrote on X.
Coach Cecile Landi defended the decision to inquire about the score.
“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like, ‘We’re just going to try,’” Landi said. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?’”
The Paris Olympics marked Romania’s return to gymnastics since London in 2012. It has a proud history in gymnastics with 12 medals, including gold medals in 1984, 2000 and 2004. The country has not won a gymnastics medal so far in Paris, while the U.S. has 10 so far, with Chiles receiving the bronze in floor.
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