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≡ FIG CONGRESS ≡
It wasn’t close, as Japan’s Morinari Watanabe was elected to a third term as President of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) at its 85th Congress in Doha, Qatar on Friday.
Watanabe, 65, was running again against Farid Gayibov, 45, the head of European Gymnastics since December 2017 and the Azerbaijan Minister of Youth and Sports since September 2021. He won in 2021 by 81-47, but the vote was even more decisive this time: 102-54.
This clears the way for Watanabe to continue his campaign to be President of the International Olympic Committee – and leave gymnastics, of course – with a presentation to the IOC membership in January and the vote at the IOC Session in Greece in March.
Elections were also held for FIG Vice Presidents and Executive Committee members, with current Vice Presidents Ali Al-Hitmi (QAT) and Suat Celen (TUR) re-elected. But Nellie Kim, the former star Soviet gymnast in 1976 and 1980, and now representing Belarus, was defeated after serving on the FIG Executive Committee since 2005, and as a Vice President since 2017. Mexico’s Naomi Valenzo Aoki was elected as a new Vice President.
Seven Executive Committee members were elected, including the re-election of USA Gymnastics chief executive Li Li Leung and Russian federation chief Vassily Titov. Five new members were elected, including Qiurui Zhou (CHN), Edwin Rodriguez (DOM), Jeffrey Thompson (CAN), Eirini Aindili (GRE) and Srayuth Patanasak (THA).
“It is an opportunity to be actively involved in decisions that shape the future of gymnastics and ensure the sport remains athlete-centered. It’s a privilege for us to work with our colleagues internationally to continue advancing gymnastics globally.”
Three other Americans were elected or re-elected. Butch Zunich was re-elected to the Men’s Artistic Technical Committee and Ron Froehlich was re-elected as an Auditor. Lori Laznovsky was elected to the Gymnastics for All Committee, the first time the U.S. has had a representative on that committee.
In the FIG Executive Board meeting which took place on Wednesday, two important proposals on the federation’s competition programming were approved:
● The World Cup and World Challenge Cup programs for all disciplines will be reviewed for the 2025-28 quadrennial.
● A “world ranking list” that incorporates the World Championships, World Cups and World Challenge Cups is to be established.
These are potentially important changes in directions for FIG, which – despite being a first-tier federation in terms of receiving Olympic television money – pays no prize money at any of its competitions, even the World Championships.
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