Nuno MERINO (POR) - new member of FIG athletes Commission

* fig --: Nuno MERINO of Portugal, 33, will represent the Trampoline and Tumbling gymnasts within the Athletes’ Commission of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for the period 2014 – 2017. It was thus decided on November 6 by the gymnasts who are currently participating in the 29th Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships, taking place in Sofia (BUL). Absent in Sofia at the 2013 Trampoline Worlds, the sole candidate Merino, who participated in all World Championships between 1998 and 2011 and ranked 6th at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, was elected with 13 votes and one abstention by the attending athletes. A certified coach, Merino currently works as Trampoline and Tumbling Programme Co-Director at The Matrix Gym in Huntsville (USA). Nuno Merino of Portugal, 33, will represent the Trampoline and Tumbling gymnasts within the Athletes’ Commission of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for the period 2014 – 2017. It was thus decided on November 6 by the gymnasts who are currently participating in the 29th Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships, taking place in Sofia (BUL).
The new Commission Merino joins the recently elected representatives from Men’s and Women’s Artistic, Rhythmic, Aerobic and Acrobatic Gymnastics respectively, incumbent Commission President Jani Tanskanen (FIN), Elizabeth Tweddle (GBR), Lioubou Charkashina (BLR), Aldrin Rodriguez (MEX) and Ayla Ahmadova (AZE), who together form the FIG Athletes’ Commission.
The new Commission will meet in January 2014 to elect its President. The members of the Athletes’ Commission are also members of their respective Technical Committees, with voting rights. The same applies for the President who serves on the Executive Committee and the FIG Board. This body was created in 1999, during the Extraordinary Congress of the Federation in Tianjin (CHN). Trampoline was the first Gymnastics discipline to introduce an athletes’ representative in 1992. At the time the discipline was still under the governance of the former International Trampoline Federation (FIT).