Programme Director,
President of SAGF, Mrs Elizabeth Cameron-Smith,
Project Manager, Mr Anton Jordaan,
Members of the Executive of SAGF,
Participating Gymnasts.
It gives me tremendous pride and pleasure to be here today to address you at this function for our Team South Africa that is in Lausanne, Switzerland participating in the week-long 14th World Gymnaestrada event from the 10th to 16th of July 2011.
This will mark the 9th time that South Africa has participated in this international event, which takes place every four years. More than 20 000 international gymnasts of all ages, from 55 countries, are participating at this year’s festival.
This event is the biggest non-competitive mass-participation sports festival in the world, with this year’s theme being “Meet the Magic”.
It is a festival or showcase of gymnastics, which provides the opportunity for both non-elite gymnasts and elite gymnasts to combine, including gymnasts of all ages and fitness levels, who are giving gymnastic displays and performances in the week-long festival.
There are no winners or losers, therefore no prizes will be given out either. You could say that the ultimate prize is having the opportunity to showcase your talent and represent your country at any age, at the same time being exposed to other cultures and meeting people from other countries.
Team South Africa is made up of 530 participants, with representation from all 9 provinces, spreading across urban to rural towns, even including participants from the smallest villages. 70% of the total number of participants has been funded by Provincial Departments of Sport and Sport and Recreation South Africa. It is very pleasing to note that the biggest group of gymnasts and officials is from the Northern Cape, which is represented by 101 participants. I am told that the youngest participant is 11 years of age and the oldest 70 years of age. This is remarkable!
You have just experienced the “National Evening” where 10 countries had the special opportunity to further perform and showcase their own national culture, traditions and heritage through the performance of one national gymnastic display. Your performance tonight has been superb and makes me very proud. I want to congratulate you for showing the world what South Africa is capable of. I want to also thank and congratulate Maureen van Rooyen for her excellent choreography.
I must also acknowledge the elite group of 20 men from the North West Province who have also been selected to represent Africa at the FIG Gala Show on the 15th & 16th July 2011.
In conjunction to the festival, SAGF has also been allowed to exhibit and use this opportunity to market the 2nd World Gym for Life Challenge, which will be hosted by the City of Cape Town in 2013, and which has been endorsed by my Department.
According to Anton Jordaan, the South African Gymnastics Federation (SAGF) Gymnaestrada Project Manager, “We intend to use this opportunity to introduce the World Gym for Life Challenge 2013 as an ice breaker as this will be the first gymnastics for all events to be hosted outside of Europe”. “We hope the participants warm up to the idea of travelling out of Europe to participate in the second edition of this event in South Africa”.
Through SAGF’s National Participation Strategy and Sports and Recreation South Africa’s Mass Participation Programme, your participation at this 14th World Gymnaestrada event in Lausanne appears to be a celebration of the extensive ground work put in place over the past 4 years to send you to Switzerland. I therefore trust that all our participants are immensely proud to represent Team South Africa and to participate at this prestigious event.
This is an outstanding achievement that should be celebrated, and I believe it not only highlights the rise in Gymnaestrada participation in South Africa, but it also heralds a promising future for recreation and sport in South Africa.
It is quite obvious from the demonstrations you have been witnessing this evening that Gymnaestrada continues to make significant strides. This is a product not only of the tireless efforts of the gymnastics family, but also the support of our Government which is committed to the pursuit of recreational activities that offer access to the masses of our people to have fun and keep healthy, and its ongoing contribution towards a healthy nation, “a winning nation”.
The Department of Sport and Recreation has this year recognised recreation as one of six key priorities in its road map to sporting excellence in South Africa, and this can only bode well for the continued growth of activities such as Gymnaestrada and similar festivals involving the masses in movement activities. Our Government is committed to supporting and working with partners, participants, parents and organisers like you to help our country continue to grow from strength to strength, and events such as this are very important to this process.
South Africa has enjoyed significant success with a number of large international sporting events such as the 2010 Football World Cup, and last week’s 123rd International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Durban, and the success of these events has greatly increased South Africa’s standing in the international sports arena. I have high hopes that the World Gym for Life Challenge in 2013 will follow in this fine tradition and will raise the bar even further.
I wish all of you the very best of luck, a fusion of colourful outfits, magical moves, brilliant choreography, breath taking gymnastic performances, and of course, new friendships. Switzerland is a beautiful country, also rich in culture and history, so please take the time to explore the country as much as you can.
Let us put our hands together and acknowledge our Team SA with a hearty round of applause!
I thank you for your kind attention!
