Romania’s 9th Olympic medal, won at the Paris Olympic Games, is also the last to reach the country, after a long and controversial battle that, unfortunately, exceeded the boundaries of a sports competition.
Jordan Chiles (left) broke down in tears as he won bronze after his grade was increased
The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR) announced that, on Friday, from 3:30 p.m., the event to hand over the Olympic bronze medal to gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu (18 years old) will take place. The celebration will take place on the esplanade of the Olympic House in Bucharest, Ana Maria will receive the medal – different from the one that Jordan Chiles left for the USA! – from Octavian Morariu, member of the International Olympic Committee from Romania. Mihai Covaliu, head of COSR, will also be present at the event.
The action in Bucharest will “cicatrize“, to a large extent, a “open wound” as far as Ana Maria Bărbosu is concerned. Unfortunately, including after the ceremony at the Olympic House, the fate of this medal will remain up in the air. Because the American side announced that it will continue its efforts to recover the bronze lost by Jordan Chiles, going to challenge the TAS decision at the Swiss Federal Court and, if necessary, at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Ana Maria Barbosu. CAPTURE: TVR
So, although Ana Maria Bărbosu will experience, on Friday, a happy moment, it is possible that, years from now – the Americans estimate that a tough and long battle will follow through the courts – she will have to return the bronze. The history of the Olympic Games shows us that there have been such shocking decisions over the years.
The Americans received the bronze after 10 years!
Of course, the most famous case in which a gymnast lost her Olympic medal is the one in which Andreea Răducan was in the foreground, in 2000, in Sydney.
At that time, the Romanian, who was only 16 years old, was stripped of the Olympic gold she had won in the individual-compound. The reason? The anti-doping test that came out positive, a few days after the competition, because Andreea had received two Nurofen pills from the team doctor to treat a cold. The medicine contained a prohibited substance (pseudoephedrine) and, even if it did not improve Răducan’s sports performance – a conclusion reached by TAS as well – she never recovered her medal. As a result, a one hundred percent Romanian podium, in a first phase, looked like this after the Răducan case: 1. Simona Amânar, 2. Maria Olaru, 3. Liu Xuan (China).
Another highly publicized case is also related to the Olympic Games in Sydney, with gymnastics in the foreground. Except that here the turn of the situation, with the change of the Olympic podium, happened after… 10 years!
In the team competition, initially, the podium looked like this: 1. Romania, 2. Russia, 3. China. Years later, more precisely in 2008, it was found out that the Chinese team included Dong Fangxiao who falsified his age in order to compete in Sydney! The rules state that a gymnast must be at least 16 years old or turn 16 in the year she competes in the Olympics. The fact that Dong Fangxiao falsified her age was discovered when she tried to register for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by providing a different date of birth! A thorough investigation followed and, in 2010, the verdict came: the Chinese team from the 2000 Olympics was disqualified, and the Olympic bronze medal in the team competition was transferred to the account of the American women!
“To cherish that moment on the Olympic podium”
Dominique Dawes was part of the United States team that received the Olympic bronze medal ten years after the Sydney Games. Now 47 years old, Dawes, a black gymnast like Jordan Chiles, commented on this fiasco in Paris in the American press.
“For Jordan, this rollercoaster of emotions, with twists and turns, will be a test of character! But I’m sure that finally she will show us all that she is a great champion. Jordan has to keep in mind an important detail: Many athletes who receive an Olympic medal years from now, for various reasons, will never experience that special moment of standing on the podium. Well, Chiles has had that experience. And not only did he live it, but he also chose an emblematic photo. I mean the one where three black gymnasts were on the Olympic podium after the floor competition. It was a unique image in the history of our sport. Jordan needs to stick with that image and cherish that moment he had on the Olympic podiumDominique Dawes said.
