Ana Barbosu is keeping her head up after losing the bronze medal. The Romanian gymnast, 18, initially was in third place on the women’s gymnastics floor final but lost out to Jordan Chiles after the Team USA member, 23, challenged the judges’ score.
“Thank you to everyone who encouraged me before, during, and after the competition,” Ana wrote across a video of herself via her Instagram Stories on Monday, August 5. She then shared a clip of retired athlete Sandra Izbasa-Bianca’s comment, praising the Romanian team for their efforts.
“I hear more vividly than ever the words that the coaches repeated to us almost daily in the training room,” she wrote in Romanian, which was translated to English. “‘You, as Romanians, must be more than perfect in order not to leave room for interpretations!’ And here, it proves itself once again! Girls, head up and back straight! Keep believing in your dreams! Go Romania!”
🇷🇴 Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu had her Olympic bronze medal taken away after American coaches complained to the jury.
The medal was stripped from Ana and awarded to American gymnast Jordan Chiles.
An earlier complaint by the Romanian team was ignored.pic.twitter.com/x8zVfRhcMI
— Daily Romania (@daily_romania) August 5, 2024
Ana also called her Olympic journey a “dream come true” in a separate Instagram post.
“Competing with the most amazing teammates, and placing 7th at the Olympics is a huge accomplishment!” Ana captioned her post that day. “Being in two individual finals was more than I dreamed of. Going from 8th to 4th in the floor final was exciting! None of this would’ve been possible without the people who were unconditionally supporting me. A big thank you to all of them!”
Although Ana is maintaining a positive attitude about the ordeal, countless social media users expressed outrage over the score change. After it appeared that Ana was the bronze medalist in the event, Jordan challenged the judges’ difficulty score on her floor routine. Following a review, the judges updated Jordan’s score, placing her in third place and bumping Ana to fourth.
Many fans of Ana claimed that she was robbed of the bronze medal, as some commented on her Instagram account.
“As an american, im sorry for what took place. But you’re an olympian medalist in my book,” one commenter wrote under Ana’s most recent post. “Love from Brazil, you were stolen and we will never forget it,” another added, while a third called Ana, “The real bronze medal winner.”