FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE
Conclusions
Since the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam, there has been some positive trends in Artistic
Gymnastics:
A higher age limit and a clear improvement in athletes' physiques. Today, female
gymnastics is practised largely by athletes who have already reached physical maturity.
Ethnically diverse podiums: eight athletes from eight different federations competed on one
piece of apparatus. This trend has become commonplace among both male and female
finalists. Personally, I consider both of these developments to be a positive consequence of
our Federation's efforts.
These developments are in line with advances in the sporting culture as well as increased maturity
which, in turn, will stimulate media interest in gymnastics.
This sport is in the process of "growing up", which should also improve fairness. Admittedly, we will
never have complete fairness. In terms of precision, human judgement will never be on a par with
a stopwatch. However, we have actively sought to encourage a level of awareness that will
eventually allow flags and nationality to be ignored.
At the present time, we must prioritise objectives designed to improve the transparency of our
competitions and our ranking system. Gymnastics enthusiasts and the general public at large must
feel fully enfranchised and able to understand how our rankings are created. This must be a team
effort, and will require ideas and suggestions from everyone. We owe it to our athletes and to our
sport to adopt a constructive and proactive approach.
We must endeavour to make our sport more entertaining. The organisational changes that we
need to make in our competitions may well require some sacrifices on our part, but they are
necessary if we are to compete with other sports.
Every four years, gymnastics explodes on to the world stage. At London 2012, we will once again
experience and share intense moments with a worldwide audience. Then, after the Olympic
Games, we will recede into the background again. Some of the reasons for this phenomenon are
natural and inherent in the specifics of our sport, but there are others which we can and must
influence. The difficulty of deciphering results detracts from the spectacular performance of the
gymnasts. The general public and the media are excluded by the rigid and complex criteria of our
scoring system.
It is up to us to do our best to reduce this isolation and to make it easier to appreciate the
performances of our athletes.
That is the challenge facing us in the years to come.
I thank you for your attention and with my best regards.
Bruno GRANDI
FIG President
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FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE