As many of the artistic gymnastics fans already know, the 2010 Artistic Gymnastics Worlds are supposed to take place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The organizers have already arranged the official site (http://www.gymnastics2010.com/en) and the huge Ahoy hall in Rotterdam is going to host the Dutch Nationals in the weekend of June 20-21, gathering all gymnastics disciplines. In this way the organizers want to offer a preview of the big event taking place in the period of October 10-24, 2010, where gymnasts from about 70 countries are expected to participate. The 2010 Worlds are important also because they represent the first qualification step for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Unfortunately, the organization of the Worlds by The Netherlands has been lately under question mark. According to the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf and to other Dutch news sites, the budget dedicated for organizing this event is missing 1 million euros. In the context of an ongoing economic crisis, the Dutch government only contributed with 650.000 euros instead of the expected 1.6 millions (representing one third of the total amount). The organizer committee is making now efforts to attract other parties for covering the needed amount. Taking into account that during the Nationals the selling of the tickets for the Worlds has been planned to start, the organizers have now less than a month to take a decision. In the case that they won’t be able to find sponsors until the end of June, The Netherlands will probably have to give up organizing the 2010 Worlds and the International Federation (FIG) will have to find another organizer, in a very short period of time.

We remind the fact that The Netherlands has organized numerous sport events at European and World level,  including the 1987 Artistic Gymnastic Worlds and the 2004 and 2007 Europeans. The Netherlands has also the intention to candidate for organizing the 2028 Olympic Games.