11 days after the conclusion of the women's floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the bronze medal is officially in the hands of Romania's Ana Barbosu, following the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) controversial decision to strip American Jordan Chiles of her medal.
A recognition event took place in Barbosu's hometown of Foscani, where she was awarded the bronze medal and spoke to the crowd.
Barbosu mentioned both Chiles and her Romanian teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who would have won the bronze had the judges not incorrectly penalized her for going out of bounds. However, since Maneca-Voinea did not submit an inquiry to challenge the deduction while on the field of play, the appeal in attempt to award her a medal was tossed out.
"I can't help but think about Sabrina and Jordan right now," Barbosu said. "It's a difficult situation for us, with so many uncertainties and overwhelming emotions. I hope everyone understands that we have not done anything wrong at the Olympics. And that the Olympic spirit is more important than any misunderstanding between authorities. I want to believe that the day will come when all three of us will receive a bronze medal each."
The day prior, Chiles broke her silence for the first time, publishing a statement on her social media accounts.
"I am now confronted with one of the most challenging moments of my career," Chiles wrote. "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."
After initially placing fifth, Chiles jumped into third place behind Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade and teammate Simone Biles after an inquiry raised her score by 1 tenth.
Barbosu, seemingly unware that an inquiry had been filed, was celebrating the bronze medal with the Romanian flag draped around her shoulders until she noticed the scoreboard has changed.
Chiles exploded with tears of joy, while Barbosu broke down with tears of devastation.
The following day, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to review the procedure surrounding Chiles' inquiry.
Although the inquiry was accepted on the field of play and Chiles participated in the medal ceremony, the CAS ruled that Chiles' coach Cecile Landi made her appeal four seconds too late. As a result, it recommended voiding Chiles' inquiry and restoring the original results with Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea going to third and fourth place, respectively, and Chiles returning to fifth place.
The CAS ruling was supported by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the IOC, who officially changed the competition results.
USA Gymnastics attempted to appeal the decision, stating it had video evidence that proved Landi had verbally inquired within 47 seconds - with 13 seconds to spare - but CAS rejected the request.