Bărbosu’s performance was a highlight of the championships, coming after a demanding competition schedule. Earlier in the event, she also earned a bronze medal in the all-around competition, ending Romania’s 12-year absence from the podium in this category. Despite a setback on the balance beam, where she scored 11.633, Bărbosu’s resilience shone through with a superb floor routine that earned her 13.700 points and secured her place among the medalists.

Previous Career Highlights and Growth

Ana Bărbosu’s journey to European gold has been marked by steady progress and notable achievements. She transitioned to senior competition in 2022, making an immediate impact by winning gold on floor and bronze on balance beam at the Osijek World Challenge Cup. At the 2022 European Championships, she placed seventh in the all-around and narrowly missed the podium on floor, finishing fourth.

In 2023, Bărbosu continued to demonstrate her growing prowess by helping Romania secure a fifth-place team finish at the European Championships and winning multiple medals at the RomGym Trophy and Romanian National Championships. Her participation at the 2023 World Championships helped Romania qualify a team for the 2024 Olympic Games for the first time since 2012.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Bărbosu delivered a strong performance, qualifying for the all-around and floor exercise finals. She was initially placed fourth in the floor final but was later awarded the bronze medal after a successful appeal regarding a scoring dispute. This Olympic bronze marked a significant milestone in her career, highlighting her determination and integrity amid challenging circumstances.

Looking Ahead

Ana Bărbosu’s commitment to excellence continues as she prepares to join Stanford University’s gymnastics program in the fall of 2025, where she aims to develop her skills further and compete at the collegiate level in the United States.

Her gold medal at the 2025 European Championships not only celebrates her talent but also symbolises the revival of Romanian gymnastics on the European stage. As she continues to build on her impressive track record, Bărbosu remains a beacon of hope and inspiration for young gymnasts in Romania and beyond.

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The 17-year-old, already recognised as one of Romania’s most promising talents, confirmed her top status by winning her first World Cup gold of the season.

Voinea entered the floor exercise as the top qualifier and impressed both judges and fans with her high-difficulty tumbling passes and confident execution. Her routine showcased her trademark complexity and power, earning her the highest score in the event final and placing her ahead of a competitive field. This victory marks a significant achievement in her senior career, particularly following her strong performances at the European Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games.

This gold medal in Doha adds to Voinea’s growing list of international accolades. Notably, she had previously made her senior debut at the same venue in 2023, where she won two gold medals on balance beam and floor exercise. However, in the 2025 edition, she captured a single gold, underscoring her continued presence at the top of women’s artistic gymnastics.

Sabrina Voinea is coached by her mother, Camelia Voinea, who is also a former Olympic medalist. Together, they represent a legacy of Romanian gymnastics excellence, with Sabrina now leading a new generation of athletes on the world stage.

Her win in Doha is seen as a promising sign for Romania’s future in international gymnastics competitions.

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The Press Release comes after Ana-Maria Barbosu and the Romanian Gymnastics Federation were accused of discrimination for having the guts to contest the bronze medal awarded to American gymnast Jordan Chiles. The accusations are still flooding the US’s official communication channels and social media, even though the issue of the Bronze Medal was settled by TAS and awarded to the Romanian gymnast.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation emphasized that his lawyers launched the proposal to award bronze medals to all three gymnasts who fought for them in the floor final, Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Bărbosu, and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, at the Olympic Games in Paris.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation has taken note of the existing accusations at the international level and wishes to clarify certain critical aspects through this press release. The initiative to award bronze medals to all three athletes, Jordan Chiles, Ana-Maria Bărbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was launched by the lawyers of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, with the prior approval of the Federation. The leadership of the FRG, through the conventional representatives, submitted all the necessary diligence for this consensus to be reached. We emphasize that there were specific requests from the American side for this desire to be fulfilled, requests that our side accepted every time, an aspect appreciated by the conventional representative of the American side.

Romanian Gymnastics Federation

Throughout this period, the FRG was also supported by Nadia Comăneci to reach a fair consensus for all the athletes about the technical difficulties that proved to be encountered by the International Gymnastics Federation. FRG and its partners have always sought to resolve this dispute in a way that gives respect and gratitude to the athletes involved.

The FRG also appealed to the gymnastics community to end the attacks targeting the three gymnasts and Nadia Comăneci.

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The TAS Sports Tribunal’s decision for Ana Maria Barbosu

The request registered by Ana Maria Bărbosu is partially admitted. ⁠⁠⁠Jordan Chiles’s appeal was filed beyond the one-minute deadline provided by Art. 8.5 of the International Federation of Gymnastics’ Technical Regulations is determined to have no effect. ⁠⁠The original score of 13.666 awarded to athlete Jordan Chiles in the final is reinstated. The International Gymnastics Federation will determine the ranking of the final and award the medals following the decision above

The TAS Sports Tribunal decision for Sabrina Voinea

The application registered by FRG and Sabrina Maneca Voinea is rejected.

This decision resulted in Ana Maria Bărbosu receiving the bronze medal, while Sabrina Maneca Voinea finished the competition in fourth place.

The case of the two Romanian gymnasts captured the world’s attention, and official protests and complaints were made. Nadia Comaneci herself showed Sabrina never touched out with her heel, while the Romanian Gymnastics Federation filed official cases at TAS.

Also, following the visible injustice towards the Romanian athletes, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu decided to boycott the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

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A bronze medal ripped off Sabrina, like her colleague, Ana Barbosu, who broke down in tears after an inquiry led to her losing the individual bronze in the women’s floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday. The medal was instead taken by American Jordan Chiles, who had demanded an inquiry into her score.

Nadia Comaneci also mentioned that the FIG president received the same video but that the referees only saw images from above and couldn’t tell if Sabrina’s step was a walkout.

This is the first time a review of an exercise has been requested after the Olympics in gymnastics are over, I think. Everything has to happen at the venue, not after. Luckily, I got some video from NBC, which clearly shows that the walkout was not a walkout. From what I understand, the line judges have an overhead camera. From above, you cannot see the details of touching or not touching. That was a bit of a question mark. Everyone who received these videos, including the FIG president, is trying to see this ground review. I don’t know what will happen, but waves have been made; the world is curious and needs answers and the technicality that was used to make this one-tenth deduction, with which, of course, she climbed to 3rd place.

Nadia Comaneci on the unjustice towards the Romaian gymnast Sabrina Voinea

Sabina’s mother’s disappointment after this unjust decision was even higher, and she announced that her daughter had left Gymanstic for good.

Sabrina didn’t go off the mat on any acrobatic lines; they’re all here. He deserves a medal! We have interrupted gymnastics today, and no one is fighting for our rights! We love all of you endlessly who have supported us. That’s all I could take!

Camelia Voinea on her daughter being sanctioned at Paris Olympics

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation contested the referee’s decision and complained at TAS – The Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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Romanian gymnasts are known worldwide for their outstanding abilities. From Nadia Comaneci, who made history in Montreal in 1976 for the first 10 ever, now Catalina Ponor, the triple Olympic champion and participant in three editions of the Olympic Games, is the latest Romanian gymnast to be included in the Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

On June 4, 2022, Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor will attend the opening ceremony in Oklahoma at the gallery of great athletes who have marked the history of gymnastics.

This performance is counted from an impressive series of victories and records surpassed by Romanians, a sign that the sporting performance of Romanian athletes runs through their veins.

Here is the list of Romanians in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

Nadia Comăneci (1993)

Nadia Comaneci is a Romanian gymnast who won five Olympic gold medals in individual events. At 14, Comaneci became the first gymnast in history to receive a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976.

Bela Karolyi (1997)

Bela Karolyi is a gymnastics coach who is ethnically Hungarian and Romanian. He created the Romanian centralized gymnastics training system early in his coaching career.

Ecaterina Szabo (2000)

Ecaterina Szabo is a former Romanian artistic gymnast who won 20 medals in the Olympics, World Championships, and Continental Championships. Szabo earned gold medals in three individual events (vault, balance beam (tie), and floor exercise) at the 1984 Olympics.

Teodora Ungureanu (2001)

Teodora Ungureanu competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics as a Romanian gymnast. She has won three Olympic medals (two silver and one bronze) and a silver medal at the World Championships.

Daniela Silivas (2002)

Daniela Silivas is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She is best known for earning six medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, when she competed in every event.

Simona Amanar (2007)

Simona Amanar is a former artistic gymnast from Romania. She has won seven Olympic medals and ten World Championship medals. Amanar was a crucial player in Romania’s four straight global team victories (1994–1999) and the Olympic team title in 2000.

Octavian Bellu (2009)

Octavian Bellu was a highly successful coach who guided the Romanian women’s gymnastics team to five worlds and two Olympic titles and guided countless individual gold medalists — Romania has been the most successful women’s gymnastics force since 1990.

Lavinia Miloşovici (2011)

Miloșovici, also known as “Milo” in the gymnastics community, is regarded as one of Romania’s best gymnasts of all time and one of the most prolific female all-around medalists of all time, having won 19 World Championships or Olympic medals in six years.

Gina Gogean (2013)

Gina Gogean is a former Romanian artistic gymnast who competed internationally in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She earned 30 medals at Olympic Games, world championships, and continental championships during her career. She was a three-time world champion in the floor exercise, a two-time world champion in the vault, and a two-time world champion on the balancing beam (1997 world champion).

Aurelia Dobre (2016)

Aurelia Dobre is a former artistic gymnast who won the world all-around title in 1987. She won the world championships on the balance beam in 1987 and bronze medals on the vault and floor exercise, and she scored five perfect tens in these competitions.

Andreea Raducan (2018)

Andreea Raducan is a retired gymnast who was a member of Romania’s national squad in the late 1990s. Răducan was noted for her demanding skillset and her dancing and performance. She won Olympic or World Championship medals in every event except the uneven bars throughout her four-year senior career. She won three individual World Championship titles, on the floor exercise in 1999 and 2001 and the balancing beam in 2001.

However, behind the fantastic sports performances and the medals won, the performance of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation is way beyond what it used to be. This domain is facing historical underfunding, and the Romanian state does not financially encourage Romanian athletes who could perform worldwide. For years, Romania has had poor results at international and world competitions and there is little hope in Romanian gymnastics, although there is exceptional potential. Romania risks disappearing from the Olympic scene if no investment is made in gymnastics.

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