Second Romanian gymnast continues to fight for bronze medal in Olympic floor exercise final

Second Romanian gymnast continues to fight for bronze medal in Olympic floor exercise final

Jordan Chiles is not the only gymnast still fighting for a bronze medal in the floor exercise final at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Sabrina Maneca-Voinea and the Romanian Gymnastics Federation have filed an appeal with the Swiss Federal Court, the federation announced on Monday. They are contesting the rejection of Voinea’s complaint by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, according to which she was wrongly deducted 0.10 points because she skated outside the playing field in the floor final.

Voinea’s appeal is the latest twist in a convoluted case that has drawn international attention since Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal on the final day of the Paris Olympics despite doing nothing wrong. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have announced they also plan to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court, citing procedural errors by CAS and video evidence that undermines the basis for the CAS ruling.

Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea will take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea will take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea will take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Chiles initially placed fifth in the floor exercise final on August 5, with a score of 13.666, behind Ana Barbosu and Voinea. The Romanians each scored 13.7 points, but Barbosu placed higher due to a better execution score. Cecile Landi, who is Chiles’ personal coach in addition to being the U.S. coach in Paris, appealed Chiles’ difficulty score, arguing that she did not receive full points for a tour jete, a vault.

A review panel agreed, and the extra 0.100 points moved the American ahead of the two Romanians and into third place. Romania appealed to CAS on August 6, contesting the timing of Chiles’ appeal. CAS ruled on August 10 that Chiles’ appeal was submitted four seconds too late and ordered the International Gymnastics Federation to re-rank the rankings.

The following day, the IOC ordered the reallocation of Chile’s medal, giving Barbosu the bronze medal. Although USA Gymnastics said it had video clearly proving that Landi had submitted the appeal on time, the IOC considered the matter closed and Barbosu received her medal on August 16.

But according to Voinea and the Romanians, all of this would have been moot had Voinea not received a deduction for overstepping the field of play, which replays show she did not do. Without the 0.10 deduction for overstepping the field of play, Voinea’s score would have been 13.8, putting her ahead of Chiles – both on her initial score and on the post-appeal score – and Barbosu.

Voinea and Romania appealed their assessment to CAS, but the court rejected it on the grounds that it was a “field decision.” Although Voinea made a request during the competition, it related to her difficulty assessment, not the decision that a ball was out of bounds. Asking CAS to reverse the decision retrospectively would be to second-guess the judges’ decisions, the court wrote in its reasoned decision of August 14.

“The decision as to whether a 0.1 point deduction was appropriate is a textbook example of a ‘field of play’ decision that does not allow the arbitrators to substitute their opinion for that of the referee,” the CAS wrote. “It justifies non-interference by CAS as it requires the exercise of judgment by the arbitrator based on specialist knowledge of the ‘field of play’.”

“Whether the verdict is right or wrong cannot be verified.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sabrina Maneca-Voinea and Jordan Chiles aim for Olympic medal in gymnastics

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