AGERPRES special correspondent to Paris, France, Adrian Tone reports:
Former gymnast Camelia Voinea, mother and coach of Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, said on Tuesday that she intends to challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) the decision of the judges in Monday's women's floor exercise final that cost her daughter the bronze medal. She was confident that the medal could be recovered.
"Of course, we want to go to the CAS, and to Child Protection, to everything that means justice, because it is about a child who has been wronged. I'm also going to go to the psychologist, because I don't think it's normal to hit a 17-year-old kid who wants to bring results to Romania and Romanian gymnastics and to work for Romania and not be rewarded as such. I have over 100 pictures in my phone that prove that judges had no reason for this 0.1 point penalty. And the same investigation was done by the Americans. Mihai Covaliu and Nadia Comaneci are with us and I thank them for their help, because they are close to Romanian sport, they are worthy people. Last night I thought we had no chance of getting the medal back, but in the morning, I started to hope, because there was expertise on NBC and everywhere. Probably the Romanian Olympic Committee (COSR) will also complain to CAS, we want this medal to go back to Romania, because it belongs there place, around Sabrina's neck. With that tenth of a point the medal would have gone to Sabrina," said Voinea.
The coach also said that the representatives of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation tried on Monday to challenge the grading of American Jordan Chiles, which was denied.
"On the part of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG), several efforts have been made to challenge the American's score, but under no circumstances was that admitted. No challenge can be filed for another athlete. It's not normal. Nobody is talking about the tenth of a point lost by Sabrina, which would have placed her on the podium. And from that I think you understood everything," she said.
COSR Chairman Mihai Covaliu on Monday sent a letter of protest to the International Gymnastics Federation, addressed directly to President Morinari Watanabe, for the reconsideration of the scoring challenge related to the floor exercise final routine of Sabrina Maneca-Voinea at the Olympic Games in Paris, according to a press release of COSR.
COSR says that Sabrina Voinea was penalised a tenth of a point for allegedly going into an acrobatic line with her heel outside the line, but footages dispels that.
Romania's Ana Maria Barbosu ranked fourth on floor on Monday in the artistic gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympic Games, while Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ranked fifth.
Barbosu was a bronze medallist for a few tens of seconds, but American Jordan Chiles challenged her scoring and bumped from 13.666 to 13.766, finishing third.
Maneca-Voinea also challenged her grading of 13.700, but her challenge was denied.
The gold medal went to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade (14.166), and the silver to American Simone Biles (14.133).
Comentează