06. Januar 2010  
Denmark  
Happy Gymnastics

Passing of Niels Peter Nielsen (DEN)

Niels Peter NIELSEN (DEN)

 * FIG Office: --- On December 26, 2009, the death of Mr Niels Peter Nielsen, Honorary FIG Member, cast a shadow of sadness around the entire international gymnastics community.
At the age of 76, Mr Nielsen passed away as a result of a long and trying illness.
Niels Peter Nielsen was a front-runner in the development and management of gymnastics in Denmark, his homeland.
He chaired the national federation from 1970 – 1992, where his activities bore concrete results not only in his discipline of preference but in sports nationwide.
Niels Peter NIELSEN actively promoted gymnastics alongside Denmark’s neighbouring countries.
This man’s commitment to the sport played an effective role in the development of Gymnastics for All in both Denmark and internationally. It was Nielsen who so successfully headed up organisation of the 8th World Gymnaestrada 1987 in Herning (DEN).
Globally speaking, he was a founding father of the European Gymnastics Union (UEG) in 1982, alongside the late President Pierre Chabloz.
In 1984, Niels Peter Nielsen took his seat within the International Gymnastics Federation on the Gymnastics for All Committee.
Beloved by his colleagues, he was adept at setting a tone that would proliferate the discipline worldwide. Coping with health issues on a daily basis, he retired in 2000 under the title of Honorary Member.
On behalf of Federation authorities and the international gymnastics community as a whole, the FIG offers its most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Niels Peter Nielsen, as well as to the Danish Gymnastics Federation.
* Source: fig press release