The gymnasts can make up their minds: their international federation, the FIG, will not follow the path traced by World Athletics by distributing bonuses at the Olympic Games. The president of the body, the Japanese Morinari Watanabe (photo above), told the agency Kyodo News that it was not his intention to imitate athletics, neither for the Paris 2024 Games, nor even in the longer term. “ FIG uses revenue (paid by the IOC) to support the development of gymnastics in the world, and in developing countries in particular, he explained. Many of them do not have enough equipment or use obsolete equipment. » No question, therefore, of using part of the money to reward Olympic medalists. “ Beautiful flowers need good soil to bloom, imagined Morinari Watanabe. I believe the job of an international federation is to invest in the soil in which beautiful flowers can grow."
