Country boycotts Paris Games after being stripped of medal
The prime minister of Romania has vowed to boycott the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics over what he described as “flagrant injustice” to two of the country’s gymnasts.
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has called out the "scandalous situation" surrounding Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea, who both missed out on medals after the women's floor routines.
Barbosu was initially believed to have won bronze and was beginning to celebrate the win, when the judges then adjusted the difficulty of American gymnast Jordan Chiles' routine, bumping her up into third place and sending the Romanian gymnasts into fourth and fifth position.
The president of the country’s gymnastics federation Carmencita Constantin told AFP she would file two complaints to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after both Romanian gymnasts left the competition in tears.
Voinea, 17, who filed an unsuccessful appeal of her own, complained she had been unfairly penalised.
Fellow Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci chimed in on the controversy, urging a review of Voinea’s routine, after she claimed the athlete didn’t step outside the floor surface, an act she had been punished for.
It comes as heartbreaking new footage of Barbosu’s medal being taken away emerged, after the final scores were updated and resulted in her coming in fourth place.
As a result, the Romanian gymnastics team, who qualified for the first time in 12 years, left Paris without a medal after coming in seventh in the team competition.
Prime Minister Ciolacu shared his upset over the loss, saying the athletes were treated "dishonourably" and would be boycotting the closing ceremony in protest.
“I have decided not to attend the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics after the scandalous situation in gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonourable way,” he wrote on Facebook.
Romania also sent a letter of protest to the International Gymnastics Federation, after it was revealed that Voinea has now quit gymnastics after the dramatic Olympics loss.
Image credits: Daniela Porcelli/SPP/Shutterstock Editorial