Five months before the start of the 77th Federal Gymnastics Festival in Lausanne (FFG), preparations are well underway. The Vaud capital will welcome 70,000 gymnasts and 300,000 visitors from June 12 to 22.
“We can see the progress of the preparations with serenity,” rejoices the president of Lausanne 2025, Cédric Bovey, interviewed by Keystone-ATS.
“It’s an event that we only organize once, so without being able to rely on the previous edition,” adds the general director of the event, Gaël Lasserre. “In some aspects, we are doing well. In others, we are certainly behind. But there is no red light coming on,” he says.
Accommodation and travel
Housing represents one of the organization’s biggest challenges. The idea is to find a flat surface that can accommodate a campsite of approximately 100,000 square meters, explains Cédric Bovey.
For a celebration spread over 48 sites across the four corners of the Olympic capital, the organization of transport is also essential to be able to move the 70,000 gymnasts to the various competition, ceremony and celebration sites.
Food is also one of the major issues in the preparations. “We don’t talk about sport here even though ultimately, it’s the center of the event,” observes, laughing, the president of Lausanne 2025.
This 2025 edition of the FFG, which takes place every six years, promises to be grandiose: “It is one of the biggest sporting events, at least in Europe, in terms of participants. There is also almost a hundred different disciplines, so much so that we can draw a parallel with an event like the Olympic Games”, continues Cédric Bovey.
-More than 4,000 volunteers needed
The opening ceremony, which will take place on Thursday June 12 on the Montbenon esplanade, represents an “important” moment which marks the start of the festival. “We can bring together people from all over the country and show the diversity of gymnastics,” comments Gaël Lasserre. “There is also a desire to stage the journey between the previous edition of Aarau and that of Lausanne,” he adds.
In addition to the 4,000 judges who will be present, between 4,000 and 5,000 volunteers are needed. The organizing committee is in the process of recruiting. “We are at approximately 10% of the number of volunteers needed,” specifies the director. The work of these many people will correspond to around 13,000 days and around 100,000 hours of volunteering.
Regarding the total budget, amounting to 25 million francs, it is currently respected. “We have estimates that are starting to be refined and we see a trend that is heading a little higher than what we had budgeted. This allows us to give ourselves a little security,” says the director.
The “Gymotion” gala show, which took place last Saturday at the Vaudoise arena in Prilly-Malley, truly launched gymnastics this year in the canton of Vaud. The aim of the two performances, which attracted more than 11,000 spectators, was to introduce people to gymnastics and show them the values of this sport, indicates Gaël Lasserre.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
