Category: Gymnastics

… Bruno Grandi will step down as President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) this week at the age of 82 and shift the burden onto the shoulders of either the European Union of Gymnastics President Georges Guelzec or the secretary general of the Japanese Gymnastics Association, Morinari Watanabe, who both seek election at the 81st FIG Congress in Tokyo from October 18. …

… when asked what aspects of his 20 years as FIG President had given him most cause for satisfaction, Grandi responded with the big picture.

“Globally I can note a very positive evolution because the number of member countries has increased from around 90 to 144 in 20 years,” he said. …

“The medals were shared between 16 nations in Rio,” he said. …

“A British gymnast was crowned for the first time Olympic champion, even twice on the same day. And who could have imagined that a Dutch gymnast would be the queen on the balance beam? We can see a very positive evolution in the number of countries represented on the podium. …

Inside the Games – Grandi, departing grandee of world gymnastics, offers his final judgements

Most interesting to me of Grandi’s comments:

“The evaluation system is the biggest challenge in a sport like ours,” he said. “Last year in Tokyo, we have seen the results of studies regarding a 3D replay system able to automatically deliver difficulty scores. These researches are led by the Fujitsu Company and the FIG Executive Committee is very interested by this idea that would allow us to reduce the number of judges needed for competition. …