Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu has been handed a two-year period of ineligibility after the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld a disciplinary claim filed by the World Gymnastics (formerly International Gymnastics Federation) against the gymnast, citing three anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs), according to the CAS website in Lausanne.
The suspension period began on May 5, 2026, the date her provisional suspension took effect.
World Gymnastics has delegated the management of its anti-doping program to the International Testing Agency (ITA). In the spring of this year, the ITA informed Barbosu of the ADRVs, following her failure to provide her whereabouts on three occasions between September and December 2025. She faced a standard two-year period of ineligibility and was provisionally suspended on May 5, 2026.
According to the statement, Ana Barbosu informed the ITA that she did not agree with the proposed consequences and requested a hearing before the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A hearing took place on August 20, 2026, during which a sole arbitrator heard arguments from both sides and ruled that the three failures to provide whereabouts information had been correctly recorded within a 12-month period, thereby constituting an ADRV. Consequently, Barbosu has been sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility.
The adjudicator decided that all results achieved by Barbosu from December 2025 onwards should not be annulled, a point reflected in the decision, which was partially upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Barbosu and World Gymnastics are involved in a separate case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, concerning the bronze medal in the floor exercise at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The proceedings - the Romanian Gymnastics Federation & Ana Maria Barbosu v. Jordan Chiles, USA Gymnastics, Donatella Sacchi, and World Gymnastics - were referred back to the CAS by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in February 2026 for re-examination, following the emergence of new evidence. A hearing before the CAS is not expected to take place before May 2027.
On August 5, 2024, during the floor exercise final, Ana Barbosu was, for a few dozen seconds, the bronze medalist; however, the American gymnast Jordan Chiles filed an inquiry, which resulted in her score being increased from 13.666 to 13.766, placing her in third position. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea also filed an inquiry regarding her own score (13.700), but it was rejected. Subsequently, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that the bronze medal should be awarded to gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu, with Sabrina Maneca-Voinea placing 4th and American gymnast Jordan Chiles 5th.
Following this, both the USA Gymnastics federation and Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea filed appeals with the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Romania had not won an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics since 2012 (London), when Sandra Izbasa won gold in the vault, Cătălina Ponor took silver in the floor exercise, and the Romanian women's team secured the bronze.
