Mother Of Romanian Gymnast Issues Public Apology Amid Jordan Chiles Controversy
It does not seem like the controversy surrounding U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal win in the individual floor final of the 2024 Olympics is going away anytime soon.
At the moment, the camp of Sabrina Voinea, the Romanian gymnast who was denied a spot on the podium after Chiles’ final score was changed, has filed an official appeal with the International Gymnastics Federation or the FIG regarding what they feel was an erroneous deduction on Voinea’s score due to a supposed violation.
If the appeal is granted, the final standing in the floor final could change, thereby leading to Chiles potentially being forced to give up her bronze medal.
At the center of this whole controversy is Camelia Voinea, who is the mother and the coach of 17-year-old Sabrina. Camelia has been very vocal on social media about how incensed they are about this unfavorable turn of events.
In one of her statements, Camelia, herself an Olympic silver medalist, appeared to have taken a veiled shot at a Romanian referee who was part of the deliberation process during the final in question.
Camelia drew some backlash for supposedly turning on one of her compatriots, which prompted an official apology from the 54-year-old. In a statement posted on Facebook on Thursday, Voinea clarified her remarks, stating that she had no intention of criticizing the Romanian official.
“For all of Sabrina’s fans and to clarify the interpretation made by certain publications and televisions regarding a statement of mine regarding a referee from Romania, I want to mention that I have great respect for all her work, including the fact that she expressed her opinion publicly with regarding the fact that SABRINA did not leave the carpet, and I apologize if some interpretations of this statement are of a different nature,” an excerpt of the post read, per Google translate.
Voinea went on to reiterate that her initial statement was taken out of context and that she is “sorry that other people may give rise to a different interpretation.”
“I repeat, when I said that you will be very surprised, my intention was to highlight the extraordinary contribution of this referee in this contest and not negatively as certain people or publications may interpret,” she continued.
For context, below is her original post wherein Camelia mentioned the Romanian referee.
“We will do an expert on everything, including the score of the Romanian referee on ground qualifications that I will ask for, you will be very surprised, I really want to convince myself and see the pure truth and I hope not to disturb anyone,” she wrote in Romanian.
“The medal clearly belongs to Sabrina
