Jubilation turned to anguish in a split second for Romania’s Ana Barbosu on Monday at the Paris Olympics.
Barbosu thought she had won a bronze medal in the women’s floor exercise after Jordan Chiles initially received a score of 13.666. It would have been enough to give Barbosu the first Olympic medal of her career.
She began to celebrate when officials announced that Chiles’ score changed following an inquiry. Chiles received a news core of 13.766, solidifying her spot on the podium.
Barbosu was shocked after picking up her country’s flag to celebrate. She left the floor in tears.
Gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci slammed the score change.
“I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this… let’s protect them,” the nine-time Olympics medalist wrote on X.
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Comaneci won five gold medals during her Olympics career. She was awarded the first perfect 10 in gymnastics history at the 1976 Summer Games.
Team USA coach Cecile Landi defended the decision to inquire about the score.
“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like,e ‘We’re just going to try,’” Landi said. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like, ‘What?’”
Barbosu, 18, was in her first Olympics since starting her senior career. She was a decorated junior champion as she won six gold medals in the 2020 Junior European Championships.
She finished first in the 2022 and 2023 Romgym Trophy in the all-around and first in the 2023 Romanian Championships in the all-around and uneven bars.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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