Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu will receive the bronze medal for her floor routine at the Paris Olympics on Friday in a ceremony in the capital city of Bucharest.
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee announced Tuesday that Barbosu will have the disputed medal presented to her by Octavian Morariu, a member of the International Olympic Committee for Romania, and by Mihai Covaliu, president of the national committee.
Meanwhile, USA Gymnastics continues to forge ahead with its fight to allow American gymnast Jordan Chiles to retain the medal, which was presented to her after the floor exercise in individual competition on Aug. 5.
Chiles won the bronze in women’s floor exercise in Paris when her coach submitted an inquiry to challenge the judges’ initial score and her score was corrected from 13.666 to 13.766. Chiles moved into third place, passing Romanians Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea.
Romania took its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), saying that the United States’ inquiry was not made within the one-minute window stated in the rules. Romania argued that the Americans missed that time limit by four seconds.
The CAS on Saturday ruled in favor of Romania and ordered Chiles’ bronze medal to be reallocated to Barbosu, who was tied at 13.7 with her countrywoman but had a higher execution score.
However, the U.S. later countered it had video evidence that coach Cecile Landi made the appeal 47 seconds after Chiles’ initial score was posted, well within the time limit. That wasn’t enough for the CAS to reassess.
Now, USA Gymnastics is appealing to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland after CAS rejected the request to revisit the case.
It is not clear whether Chiles has returned the medal to the International Olympic Committee, so it’s therefore unknown whether Barbosu will receive the one Chiles had in her possession or a duplicate.
–Field Level Media
