Double representation for gymnastics!

Lausanne (SUI) / FIG / Office, June 7, 2013: Recently elected to the head of the French Gymnastics Federation (FFG), Mr James Blateau (56) has just been given a seat on the Administrative Council of the French National and Sport Olympic Committee (CNOSF).

The election bolsters the new President’s reform policy and activities with regard to clubs and their members by placing gymnastics at the core of a collective project. In his inaugural speech, he expressed his commitment to exchange, transparency, and openness to improving FFG reach.

Facing the camera of French Television: Isabelle Severino, President James Blateau and World CHampion Thomas Bouhail. (photo FRA)

At the same time, Isabelle Severino was re-elected as a French athlete delegate to the CNOSF, having participated in the Olympic Games. The 2005 Artistic Gymnastics European Champion on Floor, and Bronze medallist at the 2003 Aerobic Worlds was also named Co-President of the Commission of High-Level Sports, jointly with Tony Estanguet (canoeing-kayaking).

The double election is an apotheosis of gymnastics’ integration into the French national sport movement.

Tribute and new authorities

Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, June 6, 2013: On March 16, in the chambers of Kuala Lumpur’s Olympic Council of Malaysia, the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation statutorily convened its annual General Assembly. First on the order of the day was the election of national authorities for the 2013 and 2014 fiscal years.

Outgoing President Dr Zakaria Hj Ahmad had informed the Assembly of his decision to take his leave, explaining that the time had come to step down after 35 years of service.

Dr Ahmad was a key player in the development of gymnastics in Malaysia and throughout Asia. He has held numerous posts and is active on various commissions and working groups that pursue awareness among political and sport authorities in the areas of physical education, health and wellness.

Throughout his career he has been active in the Asian Gymnastics Union as an authority member. At the Congress in Marrakech (MAR) in 2000, he was elected to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Council, a position he would hold until his retirement in 2008.

An advocate for education and training, he helped to spearhead the first FIG Gymnastics Academy in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur. Because of his success, the project – initiated by President Prof. Bruno Grandi – continues to develop rapidly at the international level.

In June 2004, Dr Ahmad was decorated with the Order of Merit by the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City (USA). Bart Conner awarded the distinction at a traditional and prestigious ceremony that has seen multiple legendary champions go down in history since its founding in 1988.

In 2006, he organised the 6th FIG Council at home in Kuala Lumpur and invited members to a prestigious Gymnastics Gala held parallel to the festivities marking the 125th anniversary of the FIG.

At the most recent FIG Congress in October 2012, Cancun (MEX), Ahmad ran again for the FIG Council as a representative of the Asian Gymnastics Union; he was re-elected.

The FIG and the entire international gymnastics community pay tribute to one of the sport’s most devoted servants.
The new Executive Board for the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation is as follows: President Mr Haji A. Razak Bin Mat Amin, assisted by Mr Kau Git Kaur. Vice-Presidents: YB Dato’Tan Gin Soon, Mr Azmi Bin Hassan, Ms Petrina Low Lai Hun; Hon. Secretary, Mr N. Shanmugarajah.

Gymnasts show solidarity

Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, May 31, 2013: The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has adopted the Declaration of Brighton, a charter written in 1994 by the International Working Group Women and Sport (IWG), created to promote women in sport and all physical activity.

For the FIG, a federation made up primarily of female athletes, the act is proof of its resolve to support the movement and contribute to the development of an athletic culture that works to advocate woman in every area of her athletic activity.

In June 2014, IWG will organise its 6th Conference in Helsinki (FIN) under the high patronage of former Republic President, Ms Tarja Halonen. Among the issues to be discussed at the international event are sport policy, excellence in management and athlete support, physical activities, creativity, innovation and culture in sport - the guardian of human rights.

As the oldest of international sport federations (1881), the FIG invited young women to participate for the first time in its Artistic World Championships in 1934. Since then, women’s events have extended to include Rhythmic Gymnastics (1963), Trampoline, Aerobic and Acrobatic (1999). Today, of 13,000 gymnasts participating in World and Olympic Games and holding international licences, 8,000 are women. In all, the FIG is 65% female, from athletes to authorities.

The Declaration of Brighton was signed by the FIG President and his Secretary General, respectively Prof. Bruno Grandi and André F. Gueisbuhler, as well as IWG President Ms Raija Mattila (FIN).The ceremony was held on May 28 parallel to the SportAccord 2013 Convention in St Petersburg (RUS).
 

Gymnastics in the spotlight

Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, May 24, 2013: The Bulgarian National Olympic Committee (NOC) has designated its college for the 2013 – 2017 Cycle. Convened in Sofia on May 9 after having re-elected Ms Stefka Kostadinova to the presidency, the General Assembly elected Ms Iordanka Blagoeva, President of Bulgaria’s Aerobic Gymnastics Union as Vice-President.

The election is a testimony to the Bulgarian sports community of Blagoeva’s commitment as a respected and recognized individual in sports in general and Aerobic Gymnastics in particular. Aerobic is indebted to her for the national and international growth that led to its hosting world championships in both 2004 and 2012.

From the left: Iordanka Blagoeva, Iordan Iovtchev, Stefka Kostadinova (FIG)

The NOC also took this assembly as an opportunity to elect as a member Mr Krassimir Dunev, icon in Bulgarian Artistic Gymnastics who took the Silver medal at the 1996 worlds in Puerto Rico (PUR) and the Bronze in Sabae (JPN) in 1995 at the Horizontal Bar. He is also provisionally elected acting President of the National Gymnastics Federation, the exclusive body affiliated to the FIG, during the absence of incumbent President Iordan Iovtchev, recently promoted to the rank of Deputy Minister for Physical Education and Sports in the Bulgarian Republic.

It is of interest to note that both President Kostadinova and her new Vice-President, are specialists at the high jump; the former having mounted an Olympic podium on two occasions. In Seoul (KOR) in 1998, she took home Silver, pocketing Gold at the Olympic Games Atlanta (USA) just eight years later. She still holds the world record in the discipline with a 2.09m jump at the worlds in Rome (ITA) as far back as 1987! As for Iordanka Blagoeva, she was a Silver medallist at the Olympic Games in Munich (GER) in 1972, Bronze in Montreal (CAN) in 1976 in the same specialty.

What role models!

FIG Artistic Gymnastics Age Group Camp
Manila (PHI), May 15 – 19, 2013

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, May 23, 2013: The Philippines hosted and completed the 22nd of the five-day FIG Age Group camps in the capital city of Manila at the Philippines National Training Centre. It was the last of this first series of Age Group Program Camps that were offered by the FIG over the past six months to those countries that had indicated an interest and willingness to adopt and implement the FIG Age Group Program.

A total of 35 coaches from every part of the country attended – 17 for MAG and 18 for WAG. A large number of well prepared demonstrator gymnasts of all levels were present throughout the camp. As in all five of the South-East Asian countries that we have visited with these camps, the quality and talent of the gymnasts and their future potential was very high. It bodes well or a very successful gymnastics future the entire region. The FIG Age Group Program is expected to help in that process.

The FIG expert and course leader for this camp was Jeff Thomson, the former Men’s Program Director of Canada and Education Director of New Zealand. He was joined Carol-Angela Orchard who was many time Olympic-coach and is currently a consultant to the British Team and other countries. Both came directly from a similar camp in Vietnam.

These camps are intended to expose as many coaches as possible from the host country to the FIG Age Group Program so that it will be implemented and understood uniformly.

These twenty-two training camps that were held within a 6-month period offered 110 days of coach education and development to the developing gymnastics countries of the world. Over five-hundred different coaches and an equal number of gymnasts with citizenships from 60 countries attended. If we include also the five regional introductory camps and the two expert training seminars, the FIG Academy Program has conducted 29 Age Group events that were attended by 629 different coaches. It has been a remarkable effort in a very short time.

The Age Group program includes a testing and monitoring program for MAG and WAG physical abilities and technical skills as well as a complete competition program with modified optional rules for age-group gymnasts and compulsory exercises for all ages. It also includes a variety of additional information related to developing a systematic gymnastics program that can lead to high performance. The program was developed by Hardy Fink for the competition program, Dieter Hofmann for the testing program and Carol-Angela Orchard for the dance and choreographic content. The recently completed second edition of the published program and manual was used at this camp.

The five-day camp focused primarily on practical work in the gymnasium with coaches and their gymnasts on the various technical and physical tests, the compulsory exercises and the modified optional rules. Some theory background was provided to promote the FIG philosophy of protecting gymnasts during the growth years.

Thanks go to the enormous efforts of Bettina Pou, the Secretary General of the Philippines Gymnastics Federation. She and her staff of volunteers did all of the advance and on-site planning and organization to make this camp the big success that it was.

Future plans for the FIG Age Group Program include the conducting of several 5-day camps that had been postponed and additional introductory camps and then 3-day follow-up camps over the next two years for all of the committed countries. The learning from the many camps and input and observations from the many coaches will be used to make some adjustments. That version will then be presented to the FIG Women’s and Men’s Technical Committees for ratification later this year.

The financial assistance of the IOC has been instrumental in the production and implementation of this program. It is hoped that such future assistance will help produce and implement similar programs for the other Olympic disciplines of Rhythmic Gymnastics and Trampoline Gymnastics during this quadrennial.

The Council held a vote to elect the members of the Disciplinary Commission. The members, in order of the number of votes received, are: Paul Engelmann (SUI); Marc Schoenmakers (BEL); Rached Gharbi (TUN); Mehman Aliyev (AZE); Snezana Lakicevic (SRB); Youssef Altabbaa (SYR).

Moreover, the Council duly recognised the lawyers recently appointed by the Executive Committee, namely: Andreas Zagklis (GRE), Michelle Duncan (NZL), Karin Meseck (SUI), Daniele Moro (SUI), Matthias Scherer (SUI) and Bernhard Welten (SUI).

The proposed modifications and updates to the FIG Technical Regulations were accepted without qualification.

The Council approved the six principles which must be applied to the reworking of the competition calendar and the new criteria for qualification for the Olympic Games.  These are as follows:

• To keep the team competitions;
• To include the best individual athletes in competition II;
• To ensure the participation of the best specialists;
• To guarantee the participation of all of the Continental Unions;
• To take into account World Cup rankings;
• To respect the principle of universality.

The 2012 accounts and the revised budget for 2013 were approved.

The competition fees are to be maintained at their current levels.

The national federations of Bahrain (BRN), Cape Verde (CPV), Honduras (HON), Macedonia (MKD), Nepal (NEP) and Turkmenistan (TKM) have been suspended due to their repeated failure to meet their financial obligations. To recap, the federation of Botswana (BOT) was also suspended in 2012.

Further to the proposal by the Statutes Commission and the Executive Committee, the Council accepted the provisional admission to the FIG of the national federations of Afghanistan (AFG) and the Cayman Islands (CAY).

The 37th edition of the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in 2019 were awarded to Azerbaijan (AZE) and will take place in the city of Baku.

The Council approved the proposal of the Executive Committee with regard to the deadline for the registration of candidates to host competitions, which shall henceforth be four years for world championships and five years for the World Gymnaestrada.

The Council approved the proposal of the Executive Committee with regard to the deadline for the registration of candidates to host competitions, which shall henceforth be four years for world championships and five years for the World Gymnaestrada.

+++

New elected members

Liverpool (GBR) / FIG Council Office, May 09, 2013: The six members of the new FIG Disciplinary Commission have been elected. The vote designated Mr Paul Engelmann (SUI), Mr Marc Schoenmaekers (BEL), Mr Rached Gharbi (TUN), Mr Mehman Aliyev (AZE), Ms Snezana Lakicevic Stojacic (SRB) and Mr Mohamad Youssef Altabaa (SYR). This election took place on May 9 -10, in Liverpool (GBR), at the occasion of the 13th FIG Council.

In the future and for each open case submitted, the FIG will designate a panel of 3 persons, one member appointed from among the 6 elected above and 2 lawyers from the 6 newly designated by the Executive Committee: Atty. Andreas Zagklis (GRE), Michelle Duncan (NZL), Karin Meseck (SUI), Daniele Moro (SUI), Matthias Scherer (SUI) and Bernhard Welten (SUI).

These elections come into force with immediate effect.

+++

Lausanne (SUI) & Liverpool (GBR), May 08, 2013. AGU/phs

EC Official News

•    The following nationality changes were approved: Aliaksandra Platonova (RG), from RUS to AZE; Anna Svirina (RG) from RUS to ARM; Naoya Tsukahara (MAG) from JPN to AUS; Ruslan Aghamirov (TRA) from RUS to AZE; Katrine Field-Hagelund (RG), from NOR to NZL.

•    The requests for FIG affiliation from the federations of Afghanistan (AFG) and the Cayman Islands (CAY) were approved. A final decision on whether to affiliate them will be taken by the FIG Council.

•    Ali Zaater (ALG), who was elected as head of the African Gymnastics Union (UAG) on 25 April 2013, will henceforth take up the place previously occupied by his predecessor Mohamed Yamani (ALG) on the FIG Executive Council. Additionally, the UAG has announced the creation of a new Gymnastics for All Committee.

•    The proposal to transform World of Gymnastics magazine into a digital publication was approved. However, 1,000 copies of it will continue to be published in the current format.

•    The Executive Committee authorised the FIG Presidential Commission to make the necessary provisions with regards to the publication of the findings of the FIG Disciplinary Commission concerning the Rhythmic Gymnastics judges’ courses in Bucharest (ROU), Moscow (RUS) and Alicante (ESP).

•    The members welcomed the signing of the major partnership agreement between the European Gymnastics Union (UEG) and Kapital Bank of Azerbaijan.

•    The Executive Committee will propose that the Council changes the deadline for the registration of candidates for the organisation of the World Championships and the World Gymnaestrada: for the World Championships, 4 years prior the event, for the World Gymnaestrada, 5 years.

•    The modifications to the World Cup Regulations, as well as the regulations for the Judges’ Evaluation Programme (JEP) and its application were accepted.

 
André F. GUEISBUHLER
Secretary General

NB
The next meeting of the FIG Presidential Commission and Executive Committee will be held in Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, November 18 to 23, 2013.

 

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup
Ljubljana (SLO), April 26 – 28, 2013

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, April 29, 2013: Canada’s Elsabeth Black was the most successful gymnast at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Ljubljana, which concluded on Sunday in Slovenia. Black has been on a roll ever since she first burst onto the international scene a year ago with two Gold medals at her debut World Cup meet.

The seventeen-year old, who played a key role in helping the Canadian women’s team notch a best-ever finish at the 2012 London Olympic Games, won three of the four women’s events, adding Gold medals in the Floor and Balance Beam finals on Sunday to her victory on Vault the previous day. On Floor, Black shared first place with Hungary’s Makra, with both gymnasts scoring 13.250 points.

WAG Vault podium - (c) SLO

“It feels incredible,” said Black, who has now won a total of six medals at three consecutive World Cup meets. “I came here to get more experience and try out some new skills and it turned into a really great trip for me. I’ve never really hit my Beam routine exactly the way I want to in competition and it was great to go out in the final and do it the way I planned,” added the Canadian, whose two best events previously have been Floor and Vault.

Two-time Olympian Kristyna Palesova of the Czech Republic prevailed on Uneven Bars, scoring 13.850.

In the men’s event, 24-year old Paul Ruggeri (USA) shone, winning the Gold medal in both Vault and Horizontal Bar on the second day of the event finals, adding to the one Silver and two Bronze medals that his compatriot Alexander Naddour claimed the day before. On the Horizontal Bar, Ruggeri tied for first with Colombia's Jossimar Orlando Calvo Moreno with a score of 14.975.

Horizontal Bar podium - (c) SLO

Eleftherios Kosmidis and Eleftherios Petrounias won the Gold for Greece in their respective specialty events, Floor Exercise and Still Rings, while Vietnam’s Pham Phuoc Hung posted a massive 15.700 to outscore the field on Parallel Bars and claim his first major international title.

Slovenia’s Sašo Bertoncelj made the host country proud by bringing home the title on Pommel Horse, while his 29-year old team-mate Alen Dimic surprisingly saw off compatriot and veteran Mitja Petkovsek to win the Bronze on Parallel Bars. In total, Slovenian gymnasts secured nine places in the finals in front of their home crowd.

Pommel Horse podium - (c) SLO

“I began my Pommel Horse routine really well,” said Bertoncelj, “but then I made a mistake, worth three tenths. I thought it wouldn’t be enough for the victory, but it ended up well. It’s nice to win at home and make spectators and friends happy. I knew it was going to be hard because of the tough competition and that’s why I’m really happy.”

Alen Dimic said: “Today is my happy day and I even beat Mitija Petkovšek, who is actually happy for me. My D score was low, that’s why I expected a worse result, but my routine came out really well, I only had a few deductions, so I managed to get into third place.”

It was the ninth year in a row that a FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Event has been staged in Slovenia, but the first time in Ljubljana. The event, which took place in the city’s Tivoli Hall, featured over 100 competitors from 28 countries, with the finals being broadcast live on Slovenian television.

The full results from the Men’s and Women’s events and the latest MAG and WAG World Rankings can be found on the official FIG website.

About 2013 FIG Individual Apparatus Artistic Gymnastics World Cup and World Challenge Cup Series

The 2013 FIG World Cup and World Challenge Cup season for individual-apparatus tournaments features a total of six events. The series starts with the only Individual Apparatus Finals World Cup of the year in La Roche sur Yon (FRA) on March 16-17, and continues with five World Challenge Cups scheduled as follows: Cottbus (GER) on March 21-24, Doha (QAT) on March 27-29, Ljubljana (SLO) on April 26-28, Anadia (POR) on June 21-23, and Osijek (CRO) on September 12-16.

With separate World Ranking lists being established for this series (six for men and four for women), and the Individual Apparatus rankings including combined lists for the World Cup and World Challenge Cups, the overall winners will be crowned in Osijek.

World Cups with Individual Apparatus qualification rounds and finals are open to the apparatus finalists of the 2012 Olympic Games and the best four gymnasts per apparatus from the 2012 World Cup Ranking list for Individual Apparatus. In addition, the organising member federation can grant wild cards to a maximum of one man and one woman.

The World Challenge Cup series is an open category, with participation limited to two gymnasts per country and apparatus, and invitations addressed at least to the apparatus finalists of the 2012 Olympic Games and the best eight gymnasts per apparatus from the 2012 World Cup Ranking list for Individual Apparatus.

The winners of the 2013 Individual Apparatus World Cup & World Challenge Cup Series will be the gymnasts with the highest number of points for each apparatus and the best four results counting after the last event in Osijek.

Consult the 2013 Rules for the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup and World Challenge Cup Series in Artistic Gymnastics for more details.

A time for reflection and for looking forward

Algiers (ALG) / UAG Head Office, April 25, 2013: The day after the election of the new President of the Union of African Gymnastics (UAG), Ali Zaater (ALG), his predecessor, Mohamed Yamani (ALG), delivered an assessment of his 23 years at the helm of the UAG.

Yamani was one of the signatories of the declaration that gave birth to the Union in Algiers back in October 1990, at the time of the inaugural African Gymnastics Championships. Prior to the official formation of the Union there had been numerous discussions and soundings on the topic, most notably in Tunis in 1988, aided by the enthusiastic support of Prof. Bruno Grandi, who was then FIG Vice-President.

In November 2011, an extraordinary general assembly took place in Gand (BEL), which was at the time hosting the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The assembly ratified the UAG’s statutory and regulatory documents, which were drafted to conform with the recent organisational and structural changes at the FIG.

Since 2005, the presidents of each of the continental unions of the FIG have held a seat on the FIG Executive Committee. This has had significant benefits in terms of information flow and dissemination of the decisions taken by the FIG, and has also improved coordination, in particular with regard to the scheduling of the international event calendar.

The UAG and the South Africa Gymnastics Federation will welcome the 2nd World Gym For Life Challenge, in July 2013.

As new UAG President, Ali Zaater has both the profile and experience to carry out his mandate with calm authority. A former gymnast, who subsequently served as an international judge, President of the Algerian Gymnastics Federation and Vice-President of the Algerian NOC, which he continues to serve as Chief of Staff, he will now be looking to bring his experience and knowledge to bear for the benefit of the entire African continent.

The membership of the UAG executive body for the period 2013-2016 is as follows:

The presidents of the UAG’s technical committees for the same period are as follows:

In other news, South Africa has been chosen to host the 2014 African Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup
Ljubljana (SLO), April 26 – 28, 2013

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, April 24, 2013: Organisers of the Slovenian Gymnastics Federation proudly present the 46th edition of the Salamunov Memorial, an annual Artistic Gymnastics tournament run under the FIG banner since 2005. After eight successful events in Maribor, this year’s FIG World Challenge Cup will be held on April 26 – 28 in the country’s capital Ljubljana to support the intended building of the national Gymnastics centre "Cerar, Pegan, Petkovšek".

The history of major international gymnastics events in Slovenia goes back to 1922 when Ljubljana organised the World Championships, an event that was repeated in 1970. The first World Cup competition was organised in 2000 in Ljubljana, which also hosted the 2004 European Championships in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics.

Some 110 gymnasts representing 28 countries are registered to take part in this year’s Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competitions in Ljubljana, which will be rounded off by various activities, amongst which the farewell of Slovenian veteran Aljaz Pegan promises to be a highlight.

Slovenia will be represented by two times World Champion and winner of more than 50 medals from World and European Championship and World Cup events, Mitja Petkovsek. Other major Slovenian participants are Saso Bertoncelj, winner of the 2010 European Championships Bronze medal and two times World Championship finalist. Alen Dimic, Rok Klavora and Gregor Saksida have already won World Cup competitions; they are joined by Luka Kisek, a young and talented gymnast on Pommel Horse.

In the Women’s category, the Slovenian flag will be carried by Sasa Golob, a London 2012 Olympic Games participant who together with her team-mate Teja Belak was in the top three on last year’s FIG World Ranking. They will be joined by another World Cup medallist, Tjaša Kysselelf, and by Carmen Horvat, who at the age of 25 is the veteran of the Slovenian team with four World Championships under her belt.

The complete roster can be consulted here and more information on the tournament is published at the event website www.salamunov-memorial.si. Fans can also connect via the event’s Facebook fan page.

This year, the Organising Committee has liaised with Umanotera, the Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development, which is part of the project Net Wins - Sustainability sporting events, and contributes to change in the organisation of sporting events and thus to a positive legacy of the natural and social environment.

About 2013 FIG Individual Apparatus Artistic Gymnastics World Cup and World Challenge Cup Series

The 2013 FIG World Cup and World Challenge Cup season for individual-apparatus tournaments features a total of six events. The series starts with the only Individual Apparatus Finals World Cup of the year in La Roche sur Yon (FRA) on March 16-17, and continues with five World Challenge Cups scheduled as follows: Cottbus (GER) on March 21-24, Doha (QAT) on March 27-29, Ljubljana (SLO) on April 26-28, Anadia (POR) on June 21-23, and Osijek (CRO) on September 12-16.

With separate World Ranking lists being established for this series (six for men and four for women), and the Individual Apparatus rankings including combined lists for the World Cup and World Challenge Cups, the overall winners will be crowned in Osijek.

World Cups with Individual Apparatus qualification rounds and finals are open to the apparatus finalists of the 2012 Olympic Games and the best four gymnasts per apparatus from the 2012 World Cup Ranking list for Individual Apparatus. In addition, the organising member federation can grant wild cards to a maximum of one man and one woman.

The World Challenge Cup series is an open category, with participation limited to two gymnasts per country and apparatus, and invitations addressed at least to the apparatus finalists of the 2012 Olympic Games and the best eight gymnasts per apparatus from the 2012 World Cup Ranking list for Individual Apparatus.

The winners of the 2013 Individual Apparatus World Cup & World Challenge Cup Series will be the gymnasts with the highest number of points for each apparatus and the best four results counting after the last event in Osijek.

Consult the 2013 Rules for the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup and World Challenge Cup Series in Artistic Gymnastics for more details.

New President for the Union

Algiers (ALG) / Lausanne (SUI) / FIG Office, April 17, 2013: The African Gymnastics Union (UAG) has elected a new President, Ali Zaater (ALG). He succeeds Algerian Mohamed Yamani, who after twenty years in office has stepped down. The new president swept the elections in a large majority win over Faycel Ben Ali Zemni of Tunisia, after Jerry Masia withdrew his candidacy at the last minute.

The former and the new UAG President. From the left: Mohamed Yamani and Ali Zaater.

At the close of the elections, Ali Zaater said he was “very pleased and proud to succeed Yamani, a man who stands as a model for each of us to follow, and whose qualities it will be difficult to match. These past months have been extremely tense, but things have turned out well. I was surrounded by competent people as well as a very crucial spirit of solidarity. Every entity involved extended solidarity and support, the Algerian Gymnastics Federation, the Algerian Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Youth and Sport: it was a national endeavour.”

For twenty years, Ali Zaater held the offices of UAG Secretary General and Chief of the Cabinet with the Algerian NOC. His experience and natural approach to people underpinned his ability to manage twenty-four Union member national federations. Some of the more weighty issues facing the new president include Olympic qualification for African gymnasts, regional support and the training of technicians.

The new UAG panel. From the left: Norbet Bueche (FIG), Ali Zaater (UAG), Mohamed Yamani (ALG), Albertine Goncalvez (SEN), Jerry Masia (RSA).

For this reason, Ali Zaater says he will reinforce contact with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), with whom he shares close ties, for their participation at numerous assemblies and world championship events.

FIG Hon. Vice-President and former Secretary General, Mr Norbert Bueche, representing FIG President Prof. Bruno Grandi in Algiers, thanked the outgoing president for his consistent work, and extended his support and wishes for success to Ali Zaater in his new role.

The new UAG President will officiate for the first time in his term at the 13th FIG Council in Liverpool (GBR) in May.
 

FIG Artistic Gymnastics Age Group Programme
Port of Spain (TRI), April 8 – 12, 2013

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, April 16, 2013: The twentieth of a series of what will be 22 FIG Age Group Development and Competition Program Camps was hosted by the Gymnastics Federation of Trinidad and Tobago in the capital city of Port of Spain. The camp took place on April 8-12 at the Wood Brook Youth Facility. The lectures and the instruction for this camp were provided entirely in the English language.

Thirty-one coaches attended the camp of which thirty were from all parts of Trinidad and Tobago and one was Darius Fields, the President of the Barbados Gymnastics Federation who wanted to participate and learn more about the FIG Age Group Program for his country. Twenty-one were women’s coaches and nine coached men. It was a delight to have forty-nine gymnasts (9 boys and 40 girls) participate as demonstrators and for the coaches to work with. The enthusiasm and the large numbers of participants at the majority of these camps has been astounding, especially so since almost none of the countries to whom these camps were offered have much history in gymnastics.

These camps are intended to expose as many coaches as possible from the host country to the FIG Age Group Program so that it will be implemented and understood uniformly. That was certainly the case during this camp.

The FIG leader and expert for the camp was Andres Llanos Gerardino of Colombia but who now coaches in Panama. He has been a frequent WAG expert for the FIG Academy Program and had served as an expert also at the preceding Age Group Camps in Panama, El Salvador and Dominican Republic. A second expert was not available for this camp so that Andres had to use his past skills as a MAG gymnast and MAG coach to offer both the men’s and women’s part of the program and his organizational skills to keep some 80 gymnasts and coaches busy and interested.

The Age Group program includes a testing and monitoring program for MAG and WAG physical abilities and technical skills as well as a complete competition program with modified optional rules for age-group gymnasts and compulsory exercises for all ages. It also includes a variety of additional information related to developing a systematic gymnastics program that can lead to high performance. The program was developed by Hardy Fink for the competition program, Dieter Hofmann for the testing program and Carol-Angela Orchard for the dance and choreographic content. The second English edition of the published program and manual was used at this camp.

The five-day camp focused primarily on practical work in the gymnasium with coaches and their gymnasts on the various technical and physical tests, the compulsory exercises and the modified optional rules. Some theory background was provided to promote the FIG philosophy of protecting gymnasts during the growth years.

The organization of this camp by the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation was exceptional. Thanks go to President Ricardo Lue Shue for the exceptional effort he made in all aspects of the organization and the personal interest he took in making this training camp a huge success. He also participated in the camp as a coach.

The introduction of the Age Group Program continues in May with the last two of this first series of training camps to be held in Vietnam and Philippines. Then after a very busy season of Age Group Camps, the FIG Academy Program will go into full swing with at least twenty-five academies for all disciplines and levels in the second half of the year.