The 2024 Olympic floor exercise final did not only put the US gymnast Jordan Chiles and Romania’s Ana Barbosu at loggerheads. It also plotted Barbosu against her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea. What happened?

In the event, both Sabrina and Ana scored 13.700. But Ana was placed ahead of Sabrina because of the former’s higher execution score of 8.000 versus her teammate’s 7.900. 17-year-old Sabrina was hit with a 0.100-point deduction for her foot allegedly touching out of bounds. But here is the twist. The video replay showed that her foot stayed in bounds the entire time. Even worse, if her score had been calculated accurately, Sabrina should have finished ahead of Barbosu. Repercussions had to be there.

After the incident, Ana told Romania’s ‘Un Podcast’, “I saw Sabrina, I held her. I hope it’s better, it still takes time. I don’t want to say much, because I can’t know what she feels. It’s very difficult, I can’t interpret her feelings myself. I felt her a little more distant from me, but I think it’s because of the situation. Maybe she is also thinking. … It will pass, we need the team further.” But despite Ana receiving the bronze medal after going through the chaos, a fresh development has the potential to further strain their relationship.

On November 21, Federația Romnă de Gimnastică (the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, FRG) handed out the rankings for the best gymnast of the year on their official Facebook page, and as reported by Ziare.com, Ana came in second, behind Sabrina. This was a pure surprise coming from the FRG, as even though Barbosu became the first athlete in 12 years to get the Olympic medal for Romania (since 2012 (London), when Sandra Izbaşa won the gold in vaulting, Cătălina Ponor won the silver in floor, and the Romanian women’s team took bronze), she was behind her fellow Olympian in the standings.

According to the announcement, the points obtained in all competitions from 2024 were taken into account in establishing the rankings.“The Executive Committee of the FRG has established, based on the scores obtained at the competitions in 2024, the ranking of the first 10 athletes in the three disciplines”, it is stated.

These gymnasts in the top 10 rankings would also be receiving their honor from the FRG at the 2024 Gymnastics Gala on December 7, which would take place at the Sports Hall in Cheile Grădiștei, Romania. But wait, don’t we have some justification for the ranking?

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Sabrina was projected as the brightest hope of a medal for Romania. And that is not without a reason. She won two silver medals at the 2024 European Veterans Championships on the balance beam and floor exercise. “I really want medals on beam and floor. We have been very happy because we brought Romania to the Olympics again after 12 years. And that’s why we spend every day in the gymnastics hall and we work hard,” Sabrina had told AFP back then. So she did.

She returned to practice only in July after battling an inflammation in her leg. “I grit my teeth and move on,” she had said. According to her mother, Camelia Voinea, Sabrina told her doctor that she’s definitely not skipping the Olympics, saying “If I need to compete in one leg, I will.” While, she came back from the cusp of it, Romania’s gymnastics federation was by her side.

President of the Romanian Olympic Committee Mihai Covaliu, however, urged the International Gymnastics Federation—the official body behind the gymnastics competitions—to reconsider Sabrina’s scoring. “The way in which the score was assessed and the refusal to present the full reasons/proofs for the rejection of the appeal submitted within the time limit set by the rules seriously harms the image of international gymnastics,” he said in an August 6 Facebook post, “but in particular affects the athlete, even jeopardizing their mental health.”

But her score was not reconsidered eventually. While Sabrina’s incident was unsettling enough, both Ana and Jordan also had to go through fire during the entire episode.

Ana Barbosu and Jordan Chiles stand in solidarity through unprecedented mess

Chiles initially received a score of 13.666, placing her in the fifth slot. But Team USA lodged an inquiry saying the initial evaluation didn’t credit Jordan with a tour jeté full. After her score inquiry was entered, Jordan’s score was boosted by 0.1, moving her ahead of both Sabrina and Ana to secure the third-place finish with 13.766.

But as Romania further challenged it, the Court of Arbitration for Sport then ruled the review from the U.S. was submitted after the one-minute deadline. The International Olympic Committee later announced Chiles must return the bronze medal. Later Ana received her Olympic bronze medal during a ceremony in the capital Bucharest on August 16.

“I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career,” Chiles said. “Believe me when I say I have had many. I will approach this challenge as I have others — and will make every effort to ensure that justice is done. I believe that at the end of this journey, the people in control will do the right thing.”

Ana on the other hand also stepped forward in solidarity, saying, “Thank you to everyone who added a bit of bronze to this medal. Right now I can’t help but think about Sabrina and Jordan as well.”

Even if it was about an Olympic medal, neither Jordan Chiles nor Ana Barbosu wanted to get into such a mess that was created at the Paris Olympics. Two months passed down the lane, and after keeping up with the stress, Barbosu finally opened up, stating, “Now I’m back on track with training and school. Especially with school, because I’m in the twelfth grade and I focus a lot on learning. I can’t say that the emotions have passed, but somehow they have been blurred by others. Now I don’t have time to think about what happened.” While that indeed shows her maturity, hasn’t the Olympic rivalry again reignited with the latest FRG verdict?