The President's Note N° 3 - March 2025

February marked an important month in decision making for the gymnastics community. I started this exceptional month of meetings in the Swiss Olympic capital Lausanne with the European Gymnastics Technical Meeting. Here, our Technical Committee Presidents join forces with the President’s Board to discuss changes and improvements to the technical regulations and the event programme. At European Gymnastics we strive to form a well-balanced product that puts our gymnasts first while aligning the needs of our other stakeholders like TV, media, sponsors and fans.

The Technical Meeting was followed by the first Executive Committee meeting of the year. There, we decided to award the 2026 European Championships in Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics to the Croatian capital Zagreb. These events will be held in August and we’ll work closely with European Athletics and European Aquatics to align the competition schedule so TV viewers can enjoy a fabulous show of sports. We also voted to add an Under 21 (U21) category in Trampoline Gymnastics, improving the possibility to successfully transition from the junior to the senior level. Not only individually, we’ll add a mixed synchro competition in this age category too. This will be incorporated into the existing schedule of the European Championships in Trampoline, Tumbling and Double Mini-Trampoline, starting with the 2026 edition. Furthermore, we approved the distribution of the 2025 Develop Programme apparatus donations and project funding.

Last week, the International Gymnastics Federation FIG invited the elected authorities for the 2025 – 2028 cycle to Lausanne for the ceremonial Transfer of Power. Held at the famous Olympic Museum, this is an excellent occasion for people from all over the world to meet and to discuss gymnastics.

Then, I attended the European Olympic Committees EOC electoral Congress in the German city of Frankfurt. It’s a pleasure to connect with my European counterparts and discuss vision, strategy and events. The EOC President Spyros Capralos was reelected. I wish him more great success in leading this organisation, as he has proven in recent years. Representatives of Türkiye signed the host contract for the 2027 European Games, to be held in vibrant Istanbul. And, I’m proud to announce that gymnastics will be part of it once again! We now enter the discussion phase about disciplines, numbers and qualification process. Rest assured, our aim is to include the same 6 disciplines as in the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015 and in Minsk in 2019: Men’s and Women’s Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline, Acrobatic and Aerobic Gymnastics!

February also marked the start of the international competition season. It’s exciting to see our gymnasts out on the Field of Play again. In my home city Baku, the World Cup season kicked off with the Trampoline World Cup. There, an innovative new concept – mixed synchro – was successfully debuted. We hope this will attract more gymnasts and more spectators. In Artistic Gymnastics, the classic opener of the season took place in Cottbus. Talk of the town there was the women’s vault podium. All three medallists aged over 30, and two of them being a mother, that’s an excellent evolution, something we can be extremely proud of.

And for me, I closed February with a surprise visit to the Eintracht Frankfurt club where I met with former Azerbaijan elite gymnast Aliya Garaeva and the gymnasts she is now coaching there. I thoroughly enjoyed the display arranged for me, and I wish these young gymnasts a lot of fun on the carpet.

With my warmest regards,

Dr. Farid Gayibov

European Gymnastics President