The President's Note N° 2 - April 2026

Dear Gymnastics community

The first quarter of 2026 is already over. It really flew by. Which also means that our competition season is right around the corner!

On 1 January, the new authorities took up their position within European Gymnastics. For the next 4 years, the people elected at last year’s Congress will guide the discussions and make the decisions needed to ensure the growth of our sport, now and in the future. With this in mind, the first Executive Committee meeting of this cycle was held at the office in Lausanne (SUI). Finding the balance between the experience of recurring members and ensuring new members have all information needed, we debated about the Strategy 2030 adopted in the previous cycle, and determined the way forward. We aim to build on the work already delivered over the past years, following the 4 strategic pillars decided: Events, Knowledge & Safeguarding, Marketing & Communication, Organisation & Finance.

One of the exciting projects we’re working on is the 2027 European Games. For this reason, I joined the European Olympic Committees meeting in Istanbul. The host nation Türkiye and the Local Organising Committee are committed to securing the best possible facilities for gymnastics, working hard to finalise the location and programme. At the Winter Olympic Games, I met again with EOC President Spyros Capralos to talk about these European Games. It looks promising so save the date already: 16 to 27 June 2027!

The recently rebranded World Gymnastics met in Las Vegas (USA) for their first Executive Committee meeting of the year where we updated a varied set of rules, allocated the 2028 Aerobic Worlds to Egypt and awarded distinctions for coaches and judges. In Vegas, at the American Cup, the Mixed Team final was introduced. A bit different from our format but a great test before the LA 2028 Olympic Games!

Meanwhile, professionals from our member federations travelled to Slovenia for the 6^th edition of the Communication and Marketing Forum. Led by our Head of Media Tina Gerets, the participants discussed topics like Crisis Communication and Media Relations before visiting the Ski Jumping World Cup finals in Planica to witness the peak of fan engagement at Slovenia’s most popular sports events. Thanks to Spela Hus and the Slovenian Gymnastics Federation for the idea and the organisation!

Great news for Parkour too! As decided by the General Assembly in November 2025, European Gymnastics has established a Parkour working group for 2026 & 2027, which will be chaired by Mr. Michel Boutard (FRA), former Vice-President of European Gymnastics and former FIG Parkour Commission member. He will be joined by 5 members: Mr. Lukas Steiner (AUT), Mr. Francisco de la Riva (BEL), Mr. Simon Richman (ESP), Mr. Mark Van Swieten (NED) and Ms. Ana Serrao Arrais (POR). The working group is tasked with analysing the situation & the potential, defining a proposal to the European Gymnastics Executive Committee for goals, budget and plan for the work 2027 – 2029, with the aim of looking at the Parkour situation in gymnastics from the grassroot level.

Something exciting is coming up soon … we’ve been passionately working on a documentary about the new format introduced at the European Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics: the cross battle. Called ‘Chasing perfection: Inside the Crossbattle’, this documentary follows stars Sofia Raffaeli (ITA) and Sofia Ivanova (BUL) as they train for and perform at the 2025 European Cup in Baku.

While the competition season slowly started in most gymnastics disciplines with World Cup stages, we are keen to start our season too! Up first … the European Championships in Trampoline, Double Mini-Trampoline and Tumbling! The Portuguese city of Portimao will welcome the continent’s best athletes from 8 to 12 April. Juniors, seniors, and for the first time, also the U21 category, will compete for the medals in 5 intense days of competition. We’re all in great hands as the Portuguese Gymnastics Federation is such an experienced organiser. A few weeks later, we move on to Rhythmic Gymnastics. The Azerbaijani capital Baku will host its third consecutive stage of the European Cup, from 30 April to 3 May. Then, at the end of May, it’s time for the European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics. This event will be held in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Varna as was the case in 2021. Luckily this time we won’t face any Covid-19 restrictions, and both athletes and spectators can fully enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of Varna’s Palace of Culture and Sport!

Hope to see you at one of our events soon!

Dr. Farid Gayibov

European Gymnastics President