BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 9. I am very pleased with the start of the season, and all of it is due to the hard work and persistence of everyone in the family of European Gymnastics, European Gymnastics President Farid Gayibov said in a note, Trend reports.
"March brought sad news as the Gymnastics community lost the legend of Rhythmic Gymnastics Albina Deriugina. I express my condolences to the Ukrainian Gymnastics community on the loss of this great coach and leader. We are all confident that the ‘Deriugina’s Sports School’ will continue to present many new Rhythmic Gymnastics stars for many years to come, in Albina Deriugina’s honour.
Better news came from Germany were the German Gymnastics Federation celebrated its 175th Anniversary, being established on April 3, 1848. I sincerely congratulate the Federation, whose membership includes nearly five million people. The German Gymnastics Federation is a regular host of the major competitions on both continental level and worldwide.
Another frequent host of Gymnastics events, Baku (AZE) embraced the World Cup events in Artistic Gymnastics on April 9-12 with the participation of 48 countries. We may see a huge increase of number of Federations involved when comparing this event with the first World Cup organised by AGF in 2016, with participation of 18 countries. The popularity and attendance of these events is growing, and I was pleased to see the former president of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, as well as many other representatives and ambassadors of participating countries. The attendance of such guests has a great impact on the popularity of our sport and shows that we are progressively expressing the beauty of Gymnastics. The 2023 series displayed tense content and revealed new names of starring gymnasts. I congratulate all the medallists and participants of this competition and hope that further growth will follow as we move the European Championships in Antalya (April 11-16). April will be full of Artistic Gymnastics, and I wish everyone success in the forthcoming events.
We had a President’s Board meeting in Lausanne (SUI / March 22-23) where many topics and issues were brought up for discussion and settlement. The main topic of the day was our strategy which we should execute by the end of the year. Very interesting discussions took place where all members of Executive Committee played an active role, for which I am very grateful.
Overall, I am very pleased with the start of the season, and all of it is due to the hard work and persistence of everyone in the family of European Gymnastics. As I have always said, the hard training and preparations of our athletes should be reflected in the work that we do at the round table. As we move into the year, I am sure the progress of our events, strategy and management will be more evident to our partners, stakeholders, and our growing fan base. The quality is in the detail, and detailed work requires skill, diligence, and persistence. As each and everyone’s work is aligned with our main goal, the work we put in today, will echo for years to come," the statement said.
