Sport and Gymnastics for All

LAUSANNE (SUI), November 26, 2009: Next year, the Finnish city of Jyväskylä will host the International Olympic Committee’s 13th Sport for All Congress from June 14 – 17. Several hundred representatives of sport and health from around the globe will travel to Finland to sit in on presentations given by key-note speakers, notably Tatsuo Araki (JPN), Vice-President of the Gymnastics for All Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation and Professor of Gymnastics and Choreography at Tokyo’s Nippon Sport Science University.

Considered an authority on the subject in Japan, Mr Araki’s address will focus on gymnastics in the workplace, at home and as a day to day activity. Using television and magazine columns as a vehicle, he teaches people how to warm up their bodies in preparation for daily work tasks by making use of what they have on hand. The results are spectacular. The Japanese simply love it; they feel better at work and are excited about feeling healthy again.

Passing through the Olympic City of Lausanne, Tatsuo Araki took the opportunity to shake hands with the IOC Director of Sports Christophe Dubi, and to expound on the presentation he will be giving at the Congress in Finland next June.

Margaret Sikkens-Ahlquist (SWE), President of the Gymnastics for All Committee and Member of the IOC Sport for All Committee, will deliver the FIG’s battle cry to Congress participants in Jyväskylä. Hers is a gymnastics that targets both men and women of any age, and it comes in response to an increasingly sedentary way of life, coupled with weight issues, lack of exercise and the subsequent consequences of that on one’s overall health, which go so far as to include obesity and cardiovascular accidents.

According to Tatsuo Araki, gymnastics in the workplace is a source of recreation, motivation and a golden opportunity to cut health costs and stay in Olympic shape!