The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships are currently scheduled for December in Baku. The WAG and MAG competitions that were supposed to take place in April in Paris and May in Baku respectively were rescheduled due to the pandemic. The UEG will make the official decision on whether the championships will proceed at the end of September. Meanwhile, judging by the definitive registration, most member countries plan on sending their gymnasts to these competitions. One of the reasons for this is that the championships are currently designated as one of the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. Other continental federations opted to cancel the 2020 continental championships altogether and thus, distribute the last Olympic spots at their 2021 continentals. However, not all countries are happy with this decision. Many European gymnasts could not return to training for a long time due to lockdowns and their options to gain competition experience this year are also very limited, especially with travel restrictions. With COVID-19 infections on the rise in multiple countries, there is a threat of renewed restrictions on training. Another problem is that the gymnasts who will turn senior in 2021 and will be eligible to compete at the Tokyo Olympics are unable to attempt qualifying at the 2020 Euros since they are still juniors.
Vasily Titov, the president of the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation and an FIG vice-president told R-Sport that the FIG will discuss on September 17th whether to keep the Olympic qualifier status of the 2020 Euros:
“Currently, the whole competition calendar is gone. The only competitions that can still take place this year are continental championships. So, the organizers are holding on to the idea of making them qualifying competitions. When it was talked about before, the assumption was that they would take place in the designated time, that was supposed to be May. But the situation changed and we moved closer to the dates of the Olympics. The FIG Executive Committee is meeting on September 17th, this will be one for the questions – in what format to hold these competitions.”
Titov said that Russia is ok with any decision regarding the format, which is understandable. Russian gymnasts will be able to win non-nominative spots and they have eligible gymnasts that have resumed regular training back in May, so they will be ready to compete in December and stay ready for the 2021 Euros. For countries with more limited gymnast pools and for those whose return to training has been delayed the decision is very important:
“Other countries are experiencing difficulties. Indeed, they’re trying to strip it of a qualifier status because you can’t preserve the concept mechanically. After all, [countries] agreed to it in one set of circumstances, but the circumstances are different now, no one canceled the coronavirus. Other countries are objecting because little time has passed since they were allowed to train and because there’s too little time until the Olympic Games. This means that they will have to send different teams, it’s not an easy thing. So, coaches have normal, natural objections, they really don’t want to do it.”
Titov also commented on Russia’s potential participation in the invitational competition in Japan in November. Earlier, Valentina Rodionenko said that Russia, Japan, and China will participate and that the USA is also joining them. She added that Russia already has a roster in mind but they are deliberating whether to test their young gymnasts:
“The team’s numbers will be the same as the Olympics – four men and four women. We are now thinking about whether to send our best athletes who will compete at the Olympics or to try out someone young. We more or less know the teams [for this competition]. Before the competition, there might be joint training sessions, but we haven’t gotten the full schedule yet. So, we can fly to Japan on November 6th or a bit earlier.”
However, the USAG hasn’t decided yet whether US gymnasts will participate, according to Olympic Channel. And, turns out, Russia hasn’t reached an official decision either. Titov said that the decision will depend on how the situation with the virus is proceeding:
“This is still being worked on, it’s still not ready. The final competition format is not ready yet, so there’s nothing to comment on. Our team’s participation is in question and one reason for it is that we still don’t know how the situation with the coronavirus will develop. We only have an invitation to discuss the idea and we’re discussing it and working on it. There are many questions that need to be solved. Will we decide on our gymnasts’ participation by the end of September? I think it’ll happen even later.”
One of the potential issues to solve will be travel restrictions. At the moment, China, Russia and US citizens are all banned from entering Japan. The country is considering easing the entry restrictions in September but the 14-day quarantine will still be required. Thus, the organizers will need to find a way for gymnasts to entry without being quarantined.
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