FIG pushing Acrobatic Gymnastics into Youth Olympics

FIG is trying to push acrobatic gymnastics to become part of Youth Olympics, president Bruno Grandi told Xinhua on Saturday at the 25th Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships in Putian, China.

There are five categories in acrobatic gymnastics, namely women's pairs, men's pairs, mixed pairs, women's trios and men's quaternion.

"Not all the categories, but we are trying to make at least one of them become Youth Olympic sport," said Grandi, "Acrobatic will immediately change and will have a beautiful future if we achieve it this September."

"I couldn' t say the percentage of the possibility; it does not depend on me. I' ve done lots of work, and hopefully the Youth Olympics will become 100% educative carnival where the acrobatic fits very much."

Grandi believes acrobatic could be an important part of education. It is very professional and trains people into good body shape with good physical condition, telling people fair play, how to work together and offering opportunities to make friends.

According to the president, the philosophy of acrobatics is not to win, but to participate, to promote and to educate, which have so much in common with Youth Olympics. To join the Olympics will change the statues quo of this sport in many countries.

"Olympics make many sports successful and also kill many others," said Grandi, "Some countries do not put many efforts in non-Olympic sports. The media reports and sponsors are far from enough."

However, it' s not easy to join the Olympic family. FIG has to handle the relations between acrobatics and other gymnastics sports. Following track and field, swimming, gymnastics has become the third big sport in Olympics. IOC will not permit it to grow giant. There are also limits in the period, participants' population and sports categories of Olympic Games.

Grandi told Xinhua many factors, such as national interests, tendency, tradition and commercial interests, might influence the changes of Olympic sports. "Maybe, people will realize gymnastics need new forms in the future."

Grandi refuses to predict the performance of Chinese national gym team in Rio Olympic Games. "China is definitely first class, both men and women, but it is not right for me to say how many medals China will win before the event."

Facing the questions for judge' s score in international competition, Grand said the judges' mentality is very important. "The gap between the gold and silver might be very tiny, so it is stupid for the judges to think which country I come from, which continent I come from or which language I speak."

"The judges for Olympics should have good records and reputation which prove they are competent." said Grandi. Endit