11. December 2004  
Birmingham / Great Britain  
Artistic Gymnastics

Birmingham Will Host Gymnastics World Cup

This weekend Birmingham will be jointly hosting the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in December 2004 in partnership with British Gymnastics. The event will be staged at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in the city centre from 11 –12 December. Birmingham was selected as the host city by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG)....
The World Cup is the highlight of the International gymnastics calendar and brings together the world’s best gymnasts. The world’s top eight men and women gymnasts on each piece of apparatus are invited to participate. Competitors will include medallists from this summer’s Olympic Games in Athens along with a number of International World Cup qualifiers from the last two years.

PARTICIPANTS (update: 06-Dec-2004)

>> Participants, MEN // Biographies of male participants


>> Participants, WOMEN // Biographies of female participants

>> GYMmedia Event Reports

Birmingham - City of Sport

Ian Ward, Councillor

Councillor Ian Ward, Cabinet member for Leisure, Sport and Culture said:
“As a National City of Sport we are always looking to stage top international sports events and the Gymnastics World Cup is definitely in this category.
Not only will local people be able to see the world’s best gymnasts perform but also hosting this event will provide yet another opportunity to show what Birmingham can do. A successful event in such a well known Olympic sport would be sure to boost the country’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games in London.”

World Cup in Birmingham

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands will be helping to fund this event and Rosie Paskins, director for Birmingham & Solihull at Advantage West Midlands, said: 'If we are going to create a world class region, we need to stage world class events that will attract visitors from overseas who will see the treasures and savour the hospitality the West Midlands has to offer.'
The event, which was originally due to take place at the London Dome, has an estimated economic impact on the region of ?1 million, with the event attracting competitors, officials and spectators from around the world.

Brian Stocks, British Gymnastics

The city has previously staged several other high profile gymnastic events including the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the European Women’s Championships.
British Gymnastics (BG) is delighted that Birmingham has been selected as the venue and their Chairman, Brian Stocks said:
“Birmingham has such an excellent reputation for staging major sports events so we are delighted that the city has been selected. Following the successful staging of events like the World Indoor Athletics Championships we are confident that Birmingham will host a great Gymnastics World Cup.”
>> The Gymnastics World Cup in December 2004 will round off yet another excellent sporting year for Birmingham which already includes this week’s All England Badminton Championships, the Norwich Union International in July the ICC Champions Trophy in September and the Horse of the Year Show in October.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Sarah Guest sarah_guest@birmingham.gov.uk.

For enquiries relating specifically to gymnastics please contact Vera Atkinson from British Gymnastics on vera@baga.co.uk