Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu served two-year suspension for violating anti-doping rules

The Anti-Doping Division within the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Wednesday, November 4, that it has partially upheld the request for disciplinary proceedings filed by World Gymnastics against gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu and handed her two years of ineligibility, starting on May 5, 2026, the date on which her provisional suspension came into effect.

Athletes such as Ana Maria Bărbosu are required to provide daily whereabouts and a specific 60-minute time slot each day when they will be available for testing. The purpose is to allow anti-doping organisations to locate athletes for unannounced out-of-competition testing.

In the spring of 2026, the ITA notified Bărbosu of an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV), as three whereabouts failures had been recorded between September and December 2025, within 12 months.

Bărbosu was sanctioned with the standard applicable period of ineligibility of two years and provisionally suspended starting on May 5, 2026. The Romanian athlete contested the proposed consequences and requested a hearing before CAS’s Anti-Doping Division. A hearing was held on August 20, 2026, during which a sole arbitrator heard the arguments of both parties.

The arbitrator considered that all three whereabouts failures had been correctly recorded against the athlete within 12 months, constituting an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV). Consequently, Bărbosu was sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility, from which the period of provisional suspension already served is deducted. However, it was decided that all of Ana Bărbosu's competition results obtained since December 2025 would not be disqualified. Therefore, the request was partially upheld.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD) was established in 2019 as a first-instance authority to examine and decide on anti-doping cases in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC).

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and IOC-recognized international federations, as well as WADC signatories, have delegated to CAS ADD the authority to determine whether an anti-doping rule violation has occurred and to impose sanctions. CAS ADD operates year-round, and its sole arbitrators specialize in anti-doping regulations. CAS ADD proceedings are confidential, and decisions are not made public.

Ana Maria Bărbosu won the title of Gymnast of the Year 2025 in the campaign launched by European Gymnastics. In 2025, she won four medals at the European Championship in Leipzig. She is currently a student at Stanford University.