The Romanian women’s artistic gymnastics team faced some tough moments during the floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On Monday, August 5, Team Romania raised a score inquiry regarding Sabrina Maneca-Voinea’s performance. Teams can request the judging panel to reassess an athlete’s score, particularly the difficulty level of certain moves. Unfortunately, Maneca-Voinea’s challenge was denied. The score remained unchanged, and this allowed Simone Biles, Maneca-Voinea’s teammate Ana Barbosu, and Jordan Chiles to perform their routines. All three scored higher than Maneca-Voinea.

Rebeca Andrade, Biles, and Barbosu managed to secure gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively. But as Barbosu celebrated with her country’s flag, it was announced that Team USA had filed an inquiry regarding the difficulty of one of Chiles’ leaps. This challenge was accepted by the judges, which moved Chiles from fifth to third place, bumping Barbosu out of the medal ranks.

Barbosu was devastated to miss out on a medal.

“Thank you to everyone who encouraged me before, during, and after the competition,” Barbosu wrote on Instagram. She also shared a post from retired gymnast Sandra Izbasa-Bianca, which said, “I hear more vividly than ever the words that the coaches repeated to us almost daily in the training room. ‘You, as Romanians, must be more than perfect in order not to leave room for interpretations!’ And here, it proves itself once again! Girls, head up and back straight! Keep believing in your dreams! Go Romania!”

Team Romania spent the following days reexamining their athletes’ floor scores. Mihai Covaliu, the president of the Romanian Olympic Committee, sent a letter of protest to the Gymnastics Federation to contest the results. This came after Maneca-Voinea decided to quit the sport. In a subsequent statement on Facebook, it was revealed that Maneca-Voinea made a “public declaration to give up practicing this sport as a result of today’s decision.”

Covaliu stated, “The punctual evaluation modules agree and refuse the integral proposition of motive since the regulation involves grave prejudices in the imagination of international sport, which has a particular impact on sport, which risks to cause serious harm to the international sports imagination. The sports media of international level, publicly declaring their renunciation of sportive practice, can follow a decision of mandatory moral factors for the analysis, fundamental and communication decision of a final decision.”

Maneca-Voinea’s mother, Camelia Voinea, also felt her daughter was judged unfairly. She expressed on Facebook, “Sabrina did not leave the mat for any acrobatic line, they are all here, she deserves a medal. We have interrupted gymnastics here today, no one is fighting for our rights! We love all of you infinitely who have supported us ❤️. That’s all I could take!”

Former Olympic athletes have voiced their support for the Romanian gymnasts, calling for a fair reconsideration of the scores.

Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comăneci told Euronews Romania, “We have to clarify for Sabrina, because this child worked very hard. For me, the biggest dilemma is Sabrina Voinea because everyone didn’t know what was happening with the one-tenth deduction. It is a deduction in neutral, minus a tenth that is usually given when you are off the carpet.”

Comăneci added, “I looked at the video now, the corners, the video that NBC sent. They didn’t understand why that deduction was given either. I asked the head umpire and she said she put the heel on. I haven’t seen any pictures of [her] putting the heel on [out of bounds].”

The Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, also decided to boycott the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony in protest.

Ciolacu stated, “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. To withdraw a medal earned for honest work on the basis of an appeal … is totally unacceptable!”

Ciolacu continued, “Ana and Sabrina, 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.”