FIG President Prof. Bruno Grandi (ITA) accepted an invitation from the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation as it celebrated its 125th anniversary. President Grandi travelled to Oslo, where the anniversary celebrations culminated on his 81st birthday, May 9, 2015, with a fantastic gala show.

The show, held at the impressive Oslo Konserthus, moved the 1,100 in the audience to tears and cheers at different parts of the evening. Kristin Gilbert (NOR), President of the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation (NGTF), was overcome with emotion as she spoke for all attendees in expressing how proud and touched she was by the performance of the gymnasts on stage. While using the story of national champion of Marcus Conradi, the reigning Norwegian men’s champion and a 2016 Olympic hopeful as the golden thread that wove the gala together, Artistic director Ellen Berntsen's choreography showed all the activities NGTF offers: Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, TeamGym, Wheel Gymnastics along with various activities for children, youth, adults and veterans.

Facts and figures about the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation:

• The federation was founded on May 25, 1890 in Bergen.
• It has been an affiliated member of the FIG since 1935.
• Gymnastics is the first sport that was organised by a separate federation in Norway.
• Today there are approximately 420 Gymnastics associations in Norway with a total of 94.800 members. This is the highest number of members since the end of the 1980s and makes the Norwegian Gymnastics Federation (NGTF) the 5th largest in national sport federation in the country.
• The Norwegian troupe within Gymnastics won Norway its first-ever Olympic Gold medal ever when they attended the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens.
• Norway fielded a full women's team at the Olympics in 1968 in Mexico and in 1972 in Munich.
• The Norwegian Gymnastics Federation has always participated with large delegations in the World Gymnaestradas, and is well known for their large group performances.

• The 3rd World Gym for Life Challenge will take place nearby Tønsberg, Vestfold in Norway in 2017.
  
  

Enjoy more beautiful images of the show taken by photographer Håkon Jørgensen in this online gallery!

 

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