GYMNASTICS IN LUXEMBOURG
Sports and gymnastics in particular has always been one of Luxembourg national sports and priorities.
The Luxembourg gymnastics federation was established in 1899 and was the very first sports federation in Luxembourg. The original name was USLG (Union des Sociétés Luxembourgeoises de Gymnastique) and in 1900 it became the 8th member of the FIG. The federation, that in the meantime has changed its name into FLGym – Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Gymnastique, was one of the co-founders of the UEG. Today the Luxembourgish gymnastics federation is the third biggest sports federation in Luxembourg, in terms of number of licence-holders, after football and tennis and has 48 affiliated gymnastics clubs with some 7500 active members in total.
Despite the small size of the country, the Luxembourgish federation has always striven to participate in European and World Championships. The legendary figurehead of gymnastics in Luxembourg was undoubtedly Josy Stoffel (1928-2021) who participated in as many as five Olympic Games (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964).
Luxembourg was last represented in Olympic Games by Sascha Palgen in 2008 in Beijing, who also participated in 9 World and 12 European Championships.
Since many years, the practice of gymnastics has evolved at an impressing speed worldwide, requiring highly specialised infrastructure and equipment together with extensive teams of coaches, therapists and advisers, demanding considerable material and financial resources.
Although Luxembourg is a small country with only some 700.000 inhabitants, many efforts are continuously undertaken to keep pace with the international gymnastics scene. Thanks to the financial support from the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee, and considerable efforts of several clubs working with professional coaches, FLGym is keen to progressively increase the visibility of its gymnasts at national and international levels.
After having mainly concentrated all its efforts on the classic disciplines of gymnastics in the past, FLGym is more and more seeking a higher diversification of its activities to open new perspectives to its members.
In that respect, FLGym is highly motivated to increase its visibility with the organisation of high level international gymnastics events in Luxembourg.
Hosting this major international sporting event provides a perfect opportunity to welcome the celebration of gymnastics in Luxembourg as well as increase the social benefits created by these types of events not forgetting the opportunity to do it alongside with guests from all over the world.