Athlete of the Week
Gymnast Ana Barbosu has been designated Athlete of the Week by Radio Romania International
Florin Orban, 20.08.2024, 13:45
After an absence of 12 years, Romania has made its comeback among the medalist countries at the Olympic Games in women’s gymnastics. Ana Maria Barbosu came third in the floor finals but had to resort to a high-level legal battle to recuperate a well-earned bronze medal.
Last Friday in a ceremony in Bucharest, she was eventually awarded bronze by the International Olympic Committee. Upon the long-awaited recognition of her performance in Paris, Radio Romania International has designated Ana Maria Barbosu Athlete of the Week.
After the conclusion of the floor contest, the last women’s gymnastics competition in Paris, the gold medal went to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, who got a score of 14.166, while the US gymnast Simone Biles ended in the second position. Romanians Ana Maria Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca Voinea came third and fourth respectively, with a score of 13.700, but Ana’s performance was appreciated better by the judges.
The US gymnast Jordan Chiles initially came fifth with a score of 13.666 but her coach filed an inquiry and the judges revised her score by 0.1 placing her in the third position.
Sabrina also filed an inquiry but it wasn’t accepted. Subsequently Ana and Sabrina filed an official challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Laussane, which eventually upheld Ana’s challenge. The ruling sent Chiles back to the fifth position and Barbosu got the medal.
Ana Maria Bărbosu was born on July 27th 2006 in Focşani, eastern Romania. She first compelled international recognition at the 2020 European Championships in Mersin, Turkey, where she won gold medals in all the juniors contests and also with Team Romania.
Two years later, in the senior competitions of the European Championships in Munich she obtained the best result of the Romanian delegation, a fourth position in the floor event. In 2023 at the European championships in Antalya, Turkey, she was part of Team Romania who ranked fifth and that ensured her qualification for the World Championships in Anvers, that same year. At that competition Team Romania, which also included Ana, managed to occupy the tenth position and qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in the past 12 years.
In the end we remind you that you can revisit this report on the Internet at rri.ro, as well as on Radio Romania International’s Facebook profile.
(bill)
