Silvia Vatteroni:
The President of the International Gymnastics Federation, Bruno Grandi, has kindly agreed to meet us to answer, in an exclusive interview, to our questions about the publication of the new qualification system for the 2020 Olympics. …
… we should start from the calendar, that is the key to the whole system of Olympic qualification. The international calendar, substantially, is based on a single competition every year. Newspapers are only interested in the World Championships …
… there are the European Championships for which there’s a television contract, but everything lasts little more than a week, after which the media attention disappears again. …
Sponsors constantly ask us more visibility …
Grandi points out that FIG has problems getting bids for World Championships in some disciplines. There’s not enough sponsorship money to cover the cost.
He wants more of the best gymnasts from smaller nations to qualify for the Olympics.
… Aljaž Pegan, famous Slovenian gymnast, twice world champion on HB (high bar), has never participated at the Olympic Games. Why? Because his country didn’t have a team. …
… The IOC saves one place for the host country and the other one is assigned, following the universality principle, to an Olympic committee of the continent which is not represented. The universality principle states that at the Olympic Games all the five continents should be represented in every sport. …
… The number of places assigned to every discipline is established by the IOC, and only the IOC has the authority to change them. Of course I tried to ask for more athletes. If the IOC had granted us 110 gymnasts I would have maintained the format of 5 team members. 110 women and 110 men would have been enough … but the IOC never agreed. …
The new rules give more importance to the World Cups, that will become qualifying and so will certainly raise more attention from the media.
These new rules, that I strongly wanted, gained an approval of the 83%, certainly not modest if we consider that countries like Russia, China, Japan and Germany endorsed it …
BRUNO GRANDI, FIG PRESIDENT: “THE NEW QUALIFICATION SYSTEM? I MADE IT TO SAVE THE GYMNASTICS”
I like the new system slightly better than what was used in London. There are pros and cons, of course. And there will be unintended consequences.
It sounds terrific that a wonderful specialist from one of the top nations could get there, despite not competing the AA. But, for example, let’s say China qualifies a team of four. And a Bars specialist for Tokyo. In the Bars Final there is still a maximum of two / nation. In prelims we’ll enjoy seeing all 5 Bars routines. But only a maximum of two will make the apparatus final.
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