At this point I still don’t have much understanding of where Watanabe wants to lead the International Gymnastics Federation.

His statements are often cryptic. Almost poetic.

He’s enthusiastic. Energetic. Encouraging. I’m still hopefully for great things during his tenure.

Here’s a timeline he presented in the autumn of 2017.

President Watanabe:

Nine months have passed since I assumed the position of FIG President. The matter I have been struggling with most in this period is the FIG Statutes. Although we are aiming to promote various reforms, almost no reforms can be realised before the year 2021 because of the FIG Statutes. …

Times are changing at a speed beyond our imagining. The sports community is not an exception. The IOC has decided to introduce Urban Sports as “the new pillar of the Olympics” from 2020 onward. Even in the case of the Olympics, if they rely only on the existing sports, they will become endangered.

The FIG has been engaged in implementing Parkour, one such Urban Sport as its new discipline …

FIG magazine Oct 2017

… it’s not as easy as people may think. Aimee (Boorman) did such an incredible job in the past 12 years of Simone’s life. …

… “I’m not going to change Simone Biles; I would be a very bad coach if I would do that. I will help her as much as I can with my technical knowledge and my understanding of how to plan and how to produce at the right time. I’m not going to change who she is.” …

Dwight Normile