Over the past two days, all 50 member federations of European Gymnastics (EG) gathered in the Czech capital Prague to attend the presentations and discussions at the 31st edition of the Congress, hosted by the Czech Gymnastics Federation.
On day 1, the General Assembly listened to reports of the President and the Technical Committee Presidents. Furthermore important proposals were discussed and voted for. This resulted in the General Assembly accepting the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition from 1 January 2026 onwards, following the FIG’s decision taken on 19.07.2023: ‘Athletes and support personnel with Russian and Belarusian sporting nationality are authorised (under certain conditions) to participate from 01.01.2024 onward as individual, neutral athletes in FIG sanctioned events.’ European Gymnastics will follow the FIG rules regarding this topic. The General Assembly did however not allow the return of authorities of these countries to their functions. The creation of a Parkour Working group was approved as well.
On day 2, all eyes were on the election results. Elected in 2017 as the 5th President for European Gymnastics, Dr. Farid Gayibov ran for re-election, being challenged by the Men’s Technical Committee President Mario Vukoja. With a 27 – 23 results, Gayibov will start his third and final term as President.
Joining him in the Presidential Board are Ismail Göktekin (TUR), Tom Thingvold (NOR) and Sabrina Klaesberg (GER) while Marta Pagnini (ITA), Natalja Inno (EST), Ciaran Gallagher (IRL), Alvaro Sousa (POR), Marat Filippov (RUS), Ignacio Marron Moya (ESP) and Carine Charlier (FRA) will assist the discussions and decision-making in the Executive Committee, in addition to the Technical Committee Presidents.
At the head of the Technical Committees, we welcome Andrey Fedarau (BLR) for Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, Mairead Kavanagh (IRL) for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, Eliso Bedoshvili (CYP) for Rhythmic Gymnastics, Babette Van Wetering (NED) for Trampoline Gymnastics, Ricardo Lima (POR) for Gymnastics for All, Melanie Sanders (GBR) for Acrobatic Gymnastics, Alina Dragan (ROU) for Aerobic Gymnastics and Bianca Franzoi (AUT) for TeamGym.
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+ These newly elected authorities will take office on 1 January 2026 until 31 December 2029. Congratulations! Of course, we also want to thank the outgoing authorities for their input and dedication over many years.
+ Important to note that due to the decision of the General Assembly on day 1 the elected officials of Russia and Belarus cannot take up their function until further notice.
+ The host of the next Congress has not been decided yet. The General Assembly voted to leave the decision to the Executive Committee.
* Source: European Gymnastics
