04. November 2009  
Lausanne, Switzerland  
Artistic Gymnastics

Spieth Gymnastic and the FIG

Ulrich Spieth, Bruno Grandi

FIG President Prof Bruno Grandi recently presented Mr Uli Spieth, Director of Spieth Gymnastic, with a copy of the book prefaced with his De Arte Gymnastica; Spieth has been an official FIG partner and apparatus supplier for nearly 54 years. The gift is a token of the exemplary collaboration that has spanned multiple generations.
From its production site in Esslingen (GER) near Stuttgart, the company was swift to expand its export business beyond its own borders. In 1956, it supplied organisers of the Melbourne Olympic Games with its first apparatus, the wooden Reuther springboard.
From modest beginnings the company steadily grew. In 1960, Spieth launched its premiere double elastic Swingfloor Original Reuther, and it was at the 1965 World Gymnaestrada in Vienna (AUT) that gymnasts would discover the first Spieth uneven bars.
The bars were officially approved at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. In 1974, the upholstered flexible balance beam made its appearance at the worlds in Varna (BEL), with a landing mat close on its heels in 1975. The company began to boom and its collection expand.
By 1975, Spieth would supply for the first time in its history a full set of apparatus at the European Championships in Madrid (ESP), under the aegis of the FIG (the UEG would not see the light of day until 1982!). An identical demand came in 1989, this time for the World Championships in Stuttgart (GER).

Today, Spieth and the FIG have signed upward of 12 official documents and continue to pursue a relationship that is more than just business; it is their unique spirit of cooperation with a mindset for development and assistance to financially challenged federations that best characterises their collaboration.

Theirs is a partnership that is well-known and respected in gymnastic circles worldwide.
* source: fig