FIG head a father to family

MANILA, Philippines — Never had a Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) president attended the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games so Morinari Watanabe’s presence to witness the artistic competitions in Manila early this week was unprecedented and exemplified his philosophy of playing father to a family.

“The SEA Games are growing and I saw great effort and great results from the athletes,” said Watanabe. “I was invited by (Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president) Cynthia (Carrion) so I came. My concept of FIG is a family where I’m the father. The strong countries are like the big brothers. The middle countries are like kid brothers. And the developing countries are like babies. I look after everyone with the big brothers supporting the kid brothers and babies. For instance, Japan supports the Philippines and China supports Vietnam. It’s about the strong countries bringing up the developing countries. FIG can’t do everything. We must all work together for each other. The situation in the world is changing. Someday, countries like the Philippines and Singapore in Southeast Asia will become strong and it will be their turn to support other countries.”

Watanabe, 60, recalled that when Japan failed to bring home a single gymnastics medal at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, the honorable thing to do was for the leadership of the Japanese sport to resign. “I was the youngest member of the Executive Board and I joined two years before the 2000 Olympics,” he said. “I noticed during those two years, the Board had no strategy, no plan of action, never spoke with the athletes. It was a very bad situation. We all resigned from the Board. But one night, the president Mr. Tokuda called me to his office. We sat on the floor and he gave me strong alcohol. He asked for my support to turn things around. For several days, he called me, trying to convince me to come back. In the end, I decided to help out for our country and athletes.”

Watanabe said with little money in the coffers, he proposed a 12-year plan where the focus was initially to be competitive only in men’s artistic gymnastics. “With what money we had, we could only support one discipline,” he said. “We reconstituted the Executive Board and brought in young people. We built a staff of young coaches to back up our long-staying coaches with old mentality. We thought of ideas to invite the business sector to sponsor our sport. We spoke with the athletes to find out what we could provide to make them improve. In the 2004 Olympics, Japan was back on the podium in gymnastics with one gold, one silver and two bronzes.”

In 2009, Watanabe became the Japanese federation secretary-general and a priority was to get Tokyo ready to host the 2011 World Championships. When a magnitude 9 earthquake hit Japan, triggering a tsunami and raising fears of a meltdown because of damage to a nuclear power plant’s cooling system in March 2011, Watanabe was faced with the challenge of convincing countries to join the World Championships in October that year. “Our Prime Minister called me to save the World Championships and show everyone there is no danger in Japan and it’s safe to visit,” he said. “I went from one country to another, making sure we would get a good attendance. It turned out to be a big success.” There were 528 gymnasts from 83 countries who participated in the competition.

Watanabe’s managerial ability, business acumen (he is involved in retail with the giant Aeon group) and love of sports are well-known in sports circles. So when he was encouraged to run for FIG president, Watanabe was elected by an overwhelming majority in 2016. “I made 16 promises to FIG to deliver a strategic plan of action with the objective of growing gymnastics all over the world and making FIG financially sound,” he said. “At the last Executive Committee meeting, I reported that I had already fulfilled my 16 promises.”

Watanabe said world floor exercise champion Caloy Yulo is a perfect example of a gymnast from a developing country, supported by a big brother. “Caloy came to Japan three years ago to train,” he said. “It’s not easy training in Japan because our culture and spirit are unique. In countries like China and Russia, gymnasts are not given a choice in training. In Japan, an athlete’s motivation must come from within. Coaches don’t provide the motivation. It’s up to the athletes to find it within themselves to excel. That’s the Japanese way. It was difficult at first for Caloy to adjust. Some athletes go to train in Japan but are not successful because their conviction is not from within.”

Yulo was expected to claim seven gold medals in gymnastics at the ongoing SEA Games but wound up with two golds and five silvers. Carrion said it was difficult for Yulo to focus because he’s used to performing before a silent audience. “He’ll adjust,” she said. “When he performs abroad, it’s total quiet. In Manila, the crowd was super loud. I think he felt the pressure of being expected to win all his events. He didn’t want to disappoint his countrymen. He’s only 19, he’s still learning.”

Watanabe said he saw sadness in Yulo’s eyes when he couldn’t sweep the golds. “I told Caloy he’s the world champion and if he can’t win in the SEA Games, it’s a reality he must face to push himself to work harder, to learn from the experience, to take it step by step and control his inner self,” he said. “I encouraged him to go back to training because he has so much potential. I think after I spoke with him, I saw a little shine in his eyes.”

Yulo will go back to Tokyo tomorrow and return to class at Teikyo University where he is a freshman student and to the gym to resume training. He’ll be back to celebrate the Christmas holidays with his family here. Watanabe left Manila last Thursday night.