Dear FIG, really?!?

From Bruno Grandi:


N° 55 - Lausanne (SUI), November 2011  BGR/phs/az
Unprecedented!

Tokyo.  The 43rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
Before time erases from memory what was likely, with Rotterdam last year, one of the most resplendent world championships in FIG history, I would like to recall urbi and orbi that this event was unprecedented for more than one reason.

For starters, its emotional context.

I am grateful to have fellow authorities who were willing to follow me at a time when others would sow doubt and dissonance in the hearts of a wounded and writhing people, afflicted with the tragic events that wracked Japan. The FIG kept its word.

Next, from the sports angle.

Never before, and I speak from no small amount of experience, have the scores given by judges so accurately reflected athlete performances. With few exceptions, easily identifiable cases that were swiftly corrected, judging today is of a rare calibre. This result is the fruit of our judges’ labour, and for that they have my utmost respect. Because of their commitment the product gymnastics has to offer has been enhanced and perfected.
After the close of the Championships in Tokyo, I had an opportunity to visit the impressive Nippon Sport Science Institute, located on the campus of the prestigious Nittaidai University, where, incidentally, our Vice-President Sensei Koji Takizawa is a professor.

The institute trains Japanese champions in every discipline. For gymnastics, two exceptional medallists of our day emerged from the institute: Rie Tanaka, recipient of the Longines Prize for Elegance 2010 and the prodigious national hero Kohei Uchimura.

I had the honour of addressing these gymnasts as well as some two-hundred students of gymnastics. I expressed my pride over having officiated at such a high-calibre world championship event and encouraged them to remember that “in Tokyo, you the gymnasts, not the judges, are the winners!”
With my compliments.


FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE
Prof Bruno Grandi, President


The emphasis on the text is mine. I know Grandi needs to keep us believing that this code works and it is making our sport better, but THIS IS JUST RIDICULOUS!


The man needs to get a grip... Whomever reads this please share with other gymnastic fans as this is the only way to break this fantasy world that FIG and Bruno Grandi wants to keep us in.


In my last opinion post I talked about the code of points and the problems with it and this speech by Grandi just reaffirms what I have discussed here, that the FIG is working very hard to manipulate us into believing that this code of points is not just an empty system that has let us down.

Things need to change, NOW!