World Gymnaestrada
The World Gymnaestrada is the largest general gymnastics exhibition. It is held every four years much like the Olympics. But the focus of this event is not on winning medals. The Gymnaestrada is about Group Performances – some with hundreds or even thousands of participants. Adults and children of every age and description perform. Countries from around the world come together to showcase their talent and the culture of their various countries. The choreography is designed both to challenge the participants and to delight audiences. Routines are performed at various venues within the host country. Large group routines are known as "mass routines" which involve hundreds of gymnasts. The mass routines are often performed in large stadiums where spectators can take in routines performed by gymnasts from all over the world.
The World Gymnaestrada is the successor to the two Lingiads that were held in Stockholm in 1939 (100 years after Pehr Henrik Ling's death) and 1949.
The name Gymnaestrada is formed from the words gymnastik (international name for all sports relating to gymnastics), estrada (stage) and strada (street). It is believed to have been invented by J H Sommer, chairman of the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation and Mrs J. v.d.Most-Leyerweert, member of the board of DGF. They submitted their request for an international meet at the 1951 FIG conference.[1]
Contents
Host cities
Edition | Date | City | Country | Participating federation[2] | Gymnasts[2] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | 1953 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 14 | 5'000 |
II | 1957 | Zagreb | Yugoslavia | 16 | 6'000 |
III | 26–30 July 1961 | Stuttgart | West Germany | 16 | 10'000 |
IV | 20–24 July 1965 | Vienna | Austria | 28 | 15'600 |
V | 2–6 July 1969 | Basle | Switzerland | 29 | 9'600 |
VI | 1–5 July 1975 | Berlin | East Germany | 23 | 10'500 |
VII | 13–17 July 1982 | Zurich | Switzerland | 23 | 14'200 |
VIII | 7–11 July 1987 | Herning | Denmark | 25 | 17'300 |
IX | 15–20 July 1991 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | 28 | 19'500 |
X | 9–15 July 1995 | Berlin | Germany | 34 | 19'300 |
XI | 2–10 July 1999 | Göteborg | Sweden | 39 | 23'500 |
XII | 20–26 July 2003 | Lisbon | Portugal | 57 | 25'000 |
XIII | 8–14 July 2007 | Dornbirn | Austria | 56[3] | 21'000[3] |
XIV | 10–16 July 2011 | Lausanne | Switzerland | 55[4] | 19'100 |
XV | 12-18 July 2015 | Helsinki | Finland | 55 | 21'000 [5] |
XVI | 7-13 July 2019 | Dornbirn | Austria | [6] |
World Gymnaestrada 2015
The World Gymnaestrada 2015 was held in Helsinki, Finland, from 12 to 18 July.[5] It was the largest event ever held in Finland in terms of number of participants, surpassing even the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.[7]
The World Gymnaestrada Helsinki 2015 in brief:
- 7 days of events
- 55 nations
- 21,000 participants coming from 5 continents
- Average age 30
- Over 600 hours of demonstrations and shows
- More than 1,800 productions
- almost 4,000 volunteers required
Notes and references
- ↑ link to Dutch newspaper article - http://collecties.hetutrechtsarchief.nl/Atlantis5/Mediaviewer-Kranten/imageviewer?InitFactor=6&Datasource=Atlantis5Adapter&Query=AtlantisWebQueryImage&QueryParams=940822275&HighlightQuery=AtlantisWebQueryImage&HighlightQueryParams=940822275~leyerweert
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, Book "The story goes on..." 125 years of the FIG 1881-2006, p. 33 ; FIG Editions, 2006
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.gymnaestrada.fi/uutiset/vuoden-2019-gymnaestradan-isantamaa-on-selvilla/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.