Rwanda, others approved as Member of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) approved seven nations as members as the governing body’s three-day Congress concluded in Antalya.

Five African nations had sought to secure membership of the organisation at the Turkish resort.

The FIG Congress gave approval to the applications of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Guam and Haiti also saw their memberships approved.

The FIG said the organisation now boasts 156 Federations, with 154 considered affiliated members and two associated members.

The organisation also honoured the service of long-standing members.

Sweden’s Margaret Sikkens Ahlquist, Russia’s Nataliya Kuzmina and Germany’s Horst Kunze were named Honorary vice-presidents of the FIG.

Ahlquist had served as President of the Committee of Gymnastics for All, while Kuzmina led the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee.

Kunze had served as Trampoline Gymnastics Technical Committee President.

Amendments were made to the FIG statutes, with the organisation removing some disciplinary proceedings which are now under the jurisdiction of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation.

The Gymnastics Ethics Foundation was established in 2019, following the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the sport in the United States.

Statue changes also included harmonisation of the time delay conditions for all requests for changes of nationality and a decision to make English the only official language used in presentations at the Congress and the main official documents.

The FIG said a broad revision process to overhaul the structure of the statutes was approved, with the expectation that this will lead to clearer wording.

It is claimed this will make rules easier to understand and enhance governance standards at international and national level.

The Congress was also presented with the new e-learning platform, which will be rolled out at the start of 2022.

The platform aims to modernise the FIG’s education programmes, with Level 1 Academies and foundation courses the initial focus.

Tonsberg was approved as the host of the 2022 FIG Congress, with the event taking place at the Oslofjord Convention Center in the Norwegian city.

The main event of the FIG Congress took place yesterday, with Morinari Watanabe re-elected as the governing body’s President for a second term.

The Japanese official beat Farid Gayibov of Azerbaijan by 81 votes to 47.

Source: INSIDETHEGAMES.BIZ