While we’ve had a blast cheering on our favorite teams and countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the iconic sporting event is nearing its end. With all the historic wins (looking at you, Simone Biles 👀) came a ton of drama. Just when we thought it was over, there were new developments mere days before the Closing Ceremony.
Let’s just say...if reporting on all the drama at the Olympics was an Olympic sport, we’d be taking home the gold—and that’s exactly why we’re here today! The latest news surrounds the Prime Minister of Romania, who’s reportedly skipping the Closing Ceremony after Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal win at the women’s gymnastics floor exercise final. Here’s everything we know about the sitch.
Why is the Romanian Prime Minister skipping the Closing Ceremony?
Long story short, Romania Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is refusing to attend the Olympics closing ceremony in protest over the women’s floor exercise final that went down earlier this week. ICYMI, two Romanian gymnasts didn’t make the medal stand, and Ciolacu was having none of that!
On Wednesday, August 6, he released a statement that said Ana Bǎrbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea were treated “in an absolutely dishonorable way” by the judges during the competition. Ana got fourth place after Team USA’s Jordan Chiles’s score was reassessed. Sabrina was penalized for leaving the floor exercise mat, although it’s unclear whether she actually stepped out of bounds.
So why is he so upset?
Great Q! In his statement, Ciolacu revealed he was upset with the judges after they gave Jordan Chiles a new score, which he deemed an “unacceptable” move as it bumped Ana from third place. “I decided not to participate in the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, after the scandalous situation in gymnastics, where our athletes were treated in an absolutely dishonorable way. To withdraw a medal earned by honest work on the basis of an appeal, which neither the coaches nor the top technicians understand, is totally unacceptable,” he said, per CNN.
“It is unacceptable that, in a competition of this magnitude, which promotes values such as respect, understanding, and excellence, a girl who had honestly won her medal should be brutally deprived of the result of her work of four years! I couldn’t look at her tears and accept with serenity that such a thing is perfectly normal!” he continued.
He added, “And the fact that hundreds of millions of viewers from all over the world were, like us Romanians, effectively shocked by this terrible scene, shows that somewhere, in the system of organizing this competition, something is wrong.”
As for Sabrina...
...aka the gymnast who received a 0.1 point penalty for allegedly landing out of bounds, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation submitted a request to the International Federation of Gymnastics for a detailed analysis of why the penalty was assessed. 👀
“Sabrina was penalized by one-tenth of a point for a hypothetical exit from the mat, which can be proven to be an error in judging,” said a statement from the Romanian foundation. “At the same time, the FRG has requested that, in the spirit of transparency, the detailed analysis and justification for the nine gymnasts participating in the floor final be made public, in order to provide an official response to the gymnasts, the Romanian gymnastics community, government and state authorities, and national and international media.”
Don’t mind us, just spiraling over all of this ^^^ until more details drop. 😵💫
