FIG kicks off Ageing Society Programme in Jakarta ahead of 53rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

Held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, which will host the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in October this year, the event served as a proof of concept for a health programme targeted specifically at older people. The objective is to demonstrate that when combined with sport, and in particular the organisation of a major world championship event, the FIG Ageing Society Programme can show a measurable positive impact on social security costs in countries with ageing populations.

The FIG Ageing Society Programme is a joint initiative between the FIG, the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation, the National Olympic Committee of Indonesia, the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Indonesia and commercial partner NTT Data.

At this first event, 115 participants took part in a so-called stamp-card rally involving eight stations to measure various health vitals, followed by a presentation of NTT Data Biometrics and gymnastics demonstrations with tips on how to do gymnastics exercises at home. The oldest participant was 93 years of age.

The programme encourages older people to continue to exercise at home using a smartphone application. They will be able to track their progress, their overall health and share their health data with medical institutions to facilitate treatment of any health issues.

"This application will create an entire ecosystem for the benefit of older people with the aim of reducing social security costs. Food companies, retailers, financial institutions and insurance companies would all benefit from integrating with this application," said Watanabe.

The application will be rolled out at scale at the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta in October this year, where the FIG and the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation will designate a model region to launch the "FIG Ageing Society Programme". The impact of this programme will be monitored over several years.

"Many countries face the challenge of an ageing population,” said Watanabe. “This has a significant impact on social security costs, since the smaller, younger population cannot finance the social security costs of the bigger, older population. The FIG Ageing Society Programme addresses this problem and allows countries to work on measures to mitigate the problems of an ageing society using dedicated gymnastics programmes,” he concluded.