The President's Note N° 8 - 2020

Dear members of the Gymnastics family!

Last month, we moved further with our planning for the post-pandemic period. This was the main topic of the online meeting of the Presidential Board of European Gymnastics.

This meeting was preceded by a video-conference of the Executive Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) held on July 7, 2020. The new dates of the FIG Congress were defined on the basis of consultation with the FIG affiliated Federations. Now, the 38^th edition of the Congress will be held in Antalya (TUR) on October 29-31, 2021.

Along with other decisions, changes in age requirements were approved for Acrobatic Gymnastics Age Groups for the 11^th FIG World Age Group Competitions due to the postponement of this event from 2020. This will allow the gymnasts to compete in the same age group as applied in 2020.  

Unfortunately, FIG has received news from the Danish Gymnastics Federation of their withdrawal to host the 50^th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships scheduled to be held in Copenhagen in 2021. We understand the difficulties caused by the pandemic and the shift of the Olympic year that change the circumstances of hosting this event. We want the best for all our Federations and hope that none of them face such difficulties in planning and budgeting. We trust that FIG will overcome this obstacle and find a new host for this event.  

In July, we lost one of the pioneering gymnastics stars, six-time Olympic medalist from Hungary – Olga Tass. I would like to express my sincere condolences to her family, friends and the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation. I am confident that the successful life and sports career of Ms. Tass has inspired many prominent gymnasts in their achievements and will continue to inspire future generations.

The growing concern for the safety of our gymnasts, boosted by the documentary Athlete A, caught the attention of the gymnastics world and became a frontline issue. And rightly so!

As soon as this issue came to light and after the conviction of Larry Nassar in 2017, the FIG, with at the head its President Morinari Watanabe, took action to fight against such cases, resulting in the establishment of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation at its Congress in 2018. Being comprised of Safeguarding, Disciplinary and Compliance Sections, this is a real mechanism to ensure that each case reported to the Foundation by gymnasts is dealt with ethically. The fully operational foundation is investigating several cases today.

Now, we must do more on the local level to ensure a safe environment for our gymnasts. The fight against abuse should be systematic and regulated. In light of these issues, I invite all member federations to take action in educating their members on proper work ethics and standards. Lead from the bottom up. The steps that FIG took with the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation acts as a guarantor, to make sure that breaches of such ethics are investigated and actioned. Preventing the breaches can be achieved locally.

We have many examples of great relationships between gymnasts, coaches and federations who achieved a lot together as a team. Let them be an example, inspiration and a standard of what Gymnastics really is; the purest form of teamwork striving for excellence. I am hopeful that with our joint efforts we will have only positive stories to be shared with the world.

With my compliments

Dr. Farid Gayibov

European Gymnastics President