Gymnastics President says World Champs "Better than the Olympic Games"

(ATR) Technical innovations, gymnasts becoming "actors" pushed gymnastics champs passed Olympics.

The 46th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which witnessed a record 594 athletes from an unprecedented 87 nations competing, concluded Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.

International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) president Bruno Grandi said that organizers of the Glasgow 2015 world championships which ended on Sunday, set a lofty benchmark.

"These World Championships have been wonderful in every aspect," Grandi said at a closing news conference.

"By presenting them this way, the gymnasts became actors in a grand production," Grandi said. "It was even better than the Olympic Games, and for this we owe a lot to the Glasgow 2015 Organizing Committee."

Grandi alluded to several new innovative concepts that enhanced the presentation of the Olympic qualifying event. The use of a giant 20 x 6 meter "Mega Wall" to introduce gymnasts before a backdrop of smoke and flames, in addition to judges being placed above and away from the field of play, were some of the changes Grandi said were a boon to the event.

The ten-day championship was the first qualifying event for Rio 2016. The top eight men’s and women’s teams, in addition to event medalists whose teams did not qualify for the Olympics, punched their tickets to Rio.

Record-breaking performances by Japan's Kohei Uchimura and American Simone Biles highlighted the championships. Uchimura won his sixth, and Biles won her third consecutive, world all-around titles, both establishing new records for winning streaks in men's and women's gymnastics.

Cuban silver medalist Manrique Larduet became the first from his nation to medal in the individual all-around competition, while Great Britain’s Max Whitlock, who took gold in the pommel horse, became his country’s first world champion.

The women’s uneven bars final produced a result never before seen at a major international gymnastics competition. Four ladies posted the exact same score, each being awarded a gold medal. China’s Fan Yilin and the Russian trio of Daria Spiridonova, Viktoria Komova and Madison Kocian all shared the top spot on the podium following the improbable and unprecedented finish.

The next edition of the World Gymnastics Championships will take place in 2017, when Montreal plays host to the world’s elite artistic gymnasts.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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