AGERPRES special correspondent to Paris, France, Adrian Tone reports:
A teary-eyed Ana Maria Barbosu gave remarks after she missed the bronze medal in the women's floor exercise final of the Olympic Games as a result of a challenge of the US team, saying that "a lot" is happening.
She added, however, that she does not question the decision of the judges.
"I'm ashamed because I climbed up there. I'm sorry, because I could have brought Romania back to the podium in gymnastics. It was... Wait, let me choose my words. It was a final that I didn't expect. First of all, I cried for two days continuously until now because I reached the final and I thought that I better cry before the final... and when I saw that I did the best exercise of this competition, I was very proud of myself. And still am. When I saw that I was on the third place, I thought that I would take Romania back to the podium again at the Olympics in gymnastics. And then it was the judges' decision to change that. A lot is happening," said Barbosu, who was overtaken in the final ranking following American Jordan Chiles challenging her scoring.
"I am disappointed with this decision and I know in my heart that I have done the best I could. I know that the first result was... I don't want to go over the judges' calculations, but what is in my heart is in my heart and you can see that I would have liked Romania to be in third place instead of America again."
Barbosu ranked fourth in the women's floor exercise final on Monday in the artistic gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympic Games, while compatriot Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ranked fifth.
She was a bronze medallist for a few tens of seconds, but American Jordan Chiles filed an inquiry and her score was increased from 13.666 to 13.766, so she finished in third position.
Maneca-Voinea also challenged her scoring (13.700), but lost.
The gold medal went to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade (14.166), while the silver went to American Simone Biles (14.133).
The last time Romania won an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics was at the London 2012 Olympics, when Sanra Izbasa won gold in vault, Catalina Ponor won silver in floor, and the Romanian women's team took bronze.
Comentează