“We are not afraid of American influences. Regardless of how this case ends, we would like one thing”

The case of the bronze medal won by Ana Maria Bărbosu on floor, OJ Paris 2024, returns to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, after the Swiss Federal Court admitted the revision submitted by the lawyers of the American Jordan Chiles. The two sportswomen are still disputing in the courts their third position on the Olympic podium, after a carousel of contradictory decisions.

In the final, Bărbosu received 13,700, while, initially, Chiles had been scored with 13,666. Her coach filed an appeal, she obtained the score increase to 13.766, the athlete from across the Ocean surpassing the Romanian.

Later, Bărbosu challenged the modification of Chiles' grade at TAS, won the Appeal and received the bronze medal. Now, however, the American side returned the case again through the decision of the Swiss Federal Court, and the case will be retried at the CAS, with another panel. Chiles' team relies on footage from a Netflix documentary to prove that, in Paris, the appeal was filed in due time.

Ana Maria Bărbosu had not yet found out about the turn of events, due to California's time zone! Gymnast's mother: “We are still treating this story with patience”

Ana Maria Bărbosu received the bronze medal on the COSR esplanade, in August 2024

“We continue to treat this story calmly and patiently. We want to believe that the official timer will continue to be taken into account, i.e. the test submitted by the International Federation, the only timing valid for absolutely all competitors”, said Pompilia Bărbosu, Ana's mother, in an exclusive statement for GSP.

And he continued: “Ana won't know the decision until very soon, because of California's time zone, where it's morning now. I made sure to send her a message on the phone, so she wouldn't catch the news off guard, but I don't know how long she'll have to watch it. She has to go to classes, she also has a midterm today, and she'll be competing on Friday. It's a tough weekend. But she's doing great there in the college championship, and preserved, of course, Romanian citizenship can still represent his country at the level of the Olympic team at any time”.

“We mentally educated ourselves to overcome this trauma”

Jordan Chiles has currently obtained a retrial at the CAS of the bronze medal case from the Paris 2024 Olympics / PHOTO: Imago

He added: “She will have to go through this trial as well, I am sure that God will strengthen her. After all, life goes on, we will wait with our heads held high for the future decision, whatever it may be. We have realized from the very beginning that the current scenario may also exist, but we want to take everything with calmness, balance and hope. And let us enjoy what God gives us!”

I go back and say that as long as there has been an official timer, I imagine that should count. These are already matters of detail, which I am convinced that our lawyers master very well. We are not afraid of American influences either, we are not afraid of anything, but only not to make a mistake before God”.

“No matter how this case ends, we would like the world to be left with the beauty of Ana's performance on the ground”

No matter how this case ends, we want the world to be left with the beauty of Ana's performance on the ground. He gave that exercise to everyone, from the heart, he gave his best to give a memorable floor, a kind of thanks for all the years spent in gymnastics
Pompilia Barbosuthe mother of gymnast Ana Maria Bărbosu

And he concluded: “We mentally educated ourselves to overcome this trauma, not to stay anchored in the past, because it does not make sense to consume so much energy in a very unclear area. We want to look only to the future, other fulfillments will come. We would like all these happenings to remain, in fact, as a motivational story, from which everyone comes out stronger. It's important to remain human, to be able to look each other in the eye. We have hope that things will end well, though“.