The President's Note N° 8 - August 2025

The first month of the summer holidays belonged to the multi sports events! Our future stars shone bright at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Osijek (CRO) while our student-athletes competed at the World University Games in Essen (GER).

The European Youth Olympic Festival is the highlight for junior gymnasts as they get to experience a multi sports event for the first time. While the main event was held in Skopje (MKD) and gymnastics in Osijek (CRO), the organisers ensured the familiar feeling remained present, hosting a unifying Opening Ceremony. Known as a stepping stone for our continent’s talented youngsters, several reigning junior European Champions were on the roster for EYOF this time, and they did not disappoint! France’s Elena Colas lived up to her reputation by winning an astounding 5 gold medals. In the boys’ competition, Evan McPhillips led Great Britain to more EYOF success. The level of skills on display, and the variety of nations making it into the finals and onto the podium, show that Artistic Gymnastics continues to grow throughout Europe and that our member federations have excellent development programmes in place.

The World University Games are a biennial event that unites student-athletes from all over the world in many different sports, including Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics. These disciplines attracted the attention of the audience in the German city of Essen, with long queues of enthusiastic spectators forming on the final days. This event underlines the importance of higher education, and it impresses me to see the world’s best gymnasts taking part, including many European and Olympic Champions, finding the ultimate balance.

Summer also means … training camps! Each summer, the European Gymnastics Technical Committees offer young gymnasts the opportunity to train with experts, learning from the best, in a pleasant and encouraging setting. So far, the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics camp was held in Kuortane (FIN), Aerobics in Loutraki (GRE) and Trampoline in Baku (AZE). Still to come: ACRO in Bulgaria and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics in Greece! In TeamGym, two judges courses delivered nearly 60 judges, ready to correctly score our gymnasts in the upcoming events.

A few weeks ago, I travelled to Lausanne (SUI) where the FIG Executive Committee met to update several rules, to take decisions on proposals from the commissions and working groups and to allocate the 2026 World Cup and World Challenge Cup events. Furthermore, we decided the format of the Mixed Team final for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games which will take place in the Senegalese capital Dakar and will test the format in light of its introduction at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (USA).

August is traditionally a holiday month in many European countries. While people relax at the beach, our gymnasts prepare to compete in the first World Championships of the year: the Rhythmic Worlds in Rio de Janeiro, from 20 to 24 August!

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With my warmest regards

Dr. Farid Gayibov

European Gymnastics President