“I can’t help but think about Sabrina and Jordan right now.” Eight months ago, when Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu got her Paris Olympics floor exercise bronze medal reinstated, she kept the other two gymnasts concerned with the controversy in her thoughts. Was she extending an olive branch, you’d say? Maybe. But that’s not how cordial things are looking today. Eight months down the lane, Jordan Chiles is fighting for her bronze medal at the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, while things between the Romanian contemporaries– Sabrina Voinea and Ana Barbosu aren’t looking good. Are these the signs of a fallout? Well, the larger picture isn’t looking good.

For a little bit of a recap of what had happened, Jordan Chiles had initially finished fifth on the scoreboard after the Paris Olympics floor exercise final. Her 13.666 points had put her below Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea. However, when Cécile Canqueteau-Landi appealed Chiles’ difficulty score, the review panel increased her points, ahead of the Romanians, coming in third place. But later, the Court of Arbitration for Sports ruled that Chiles’ plea was submitted beyond the allowed time, and the medal was given to Barbosu. Voinea, in her right, also filed an appeal at the Swiss Federal Tribunal for being wrongly docked 0.10 points for going out of bounds during the floor final. But it wasn’t reviewed, as it was a ‘field-of-play’ decision.

Now, months after all this has gone down, it looks like there’s still heat there. On May 27th, 2025, a video surfaced showing that the aftermath of this Paris controversy with Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal may have strained the relations between the two Romanian gymnasts, Ana Barbosu and Sabrina Voinea. The video showed Sabrina walking away from the area where the entire team was standing when Ana Barbosu came down after her bars performance and started celebrating with the rest of her team. The post also said, (translated) “She [Sabrina] stayed isolated in the corner with her mother, while the rest of the team waited for the last score to be released for Romania.”  

Well, this clip showing Sabrina’s retreat was from the 2025 European Gymnastics Championships that are currently underway in Leipzig, Germany. Much like Paris, where they had the whole bronze controversy with Jordan Chiles, the Romanian women’s gymnastics team had to again suffer an unfortunate loss. With a total of 156.231, they just slipped to the fourth spot in the team finals, while France took the bronze spot, being ahead by just 0.497 points. However, Ana Barbosu had a decent outing. She’s second all-around with a 53.933 total and is headed to the individual finals, and is second on the floor too. But Sabrina Voinea had a tough day again. Performing on 3 of 4 apparatuses in the team final, she fell on her forward roll mount on the balance beam. She again had a big stumble while pulling off the tour jete half and took a wide step back when she landed.

But are these tensions new? Well, it might not be the case. Back in August 2024, right after the Paris Olympics bronze medal controversy, Barbosu spoke on a Romanian Un Podcast that there was a rising conflict between her and Sabrina because of the Paris debacle. She said, “I don’t want to say much, because I can’t know what she feels. It’s very difficult, I can’t interpret her feelings myself,” However, Ana Barbosu said, “I felt her a little more distant from me, but I think it’s because of the situation. Maybe she is also thinking…..It will pass, we need the team further.” Guess not much has improved since then.

In all this, Sabrina Voinea hasn’t really said much about Jordan Chiles, Ana Barbosu, or the whole controversy. But her mother recently let out a few details.

Jordan Chiles’ Romanian rival’s mother makes an honest confession

March 27, Sabrina Voinea’s mother, Camelia Voinea, added a Facebook post that started with the words, “The moment Sabrina’s medal was stolen in Paris….” as a caption before footage of Jordan Chiles celebrating with her team started to play. The TikTok video played the song, “Who is she?” in the background, and the overlaying text in it read, “She may have won the..3RD place,” which then changed to, “but we all know who actually WON.” This video said it all, without anyone really having to say anything. There’s still pain there, still some bitterness maybe.

Then Sabrina entered the same video, and her Paris routine was shown. As that happened, the screen flashed, “Watch for heat, does it touch the mat? And I’ll tell you what, it does not.” This looked like a dig at the fact that her deduction wasn’t reviewed. So yes, a lot seems to be happening behind the screens. What do you think? Is the relationship between the two Romanian contemporaries really strained? Let us know below!