Enter competition No. 3 and win a nice prize,
such as a Worlds fan scarf

The 2010 Worlds are slowly drawing nearer, and gymnastics fans all over the world are getting excited about the opportunity to see their favourite athletes perform live in the biggest podium meet of the year. If you’re as excited about the upcoming Worlds as the Dutch fans, why not enter our third competition? Submit the correct answer to our special World Championships question and you may win one of our promotional prizes: two T-shirts featuring the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation’s mascot, Gymmie; two Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation rucksacks; and twenty-five fan scarves. In addition, all winners will receive a Rotterdam 2010 sticker.

2010 marks the second time the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are held in the Netherlands. Some six hundred gymnasts from over seventy countries are expected to compete in Rotterdam – considerably more than the first time the world championships were held in the Netherlands, 23 years ago. The 1987 event was a huge success, both in terms of organisation and in terms of athletic achievements. Fans who attended the event still cherish their memories of the high-level competition.

Back in 1987, the then Soviet Union, China, East Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria battled it out for medals in the men’s competition. It was the age of legendary heroes like Dimitri Bilozerchev and Yuri Korolev (Soviet Union) and Li Ning and Lou Yun (China). Canada’s Curtis Hibbert surprised friend and foe alike by taking the silver on high bar, the only ‘Westerner’ to win a medal in those Asian- and Eastern European-dominated days. The ladies’ competition saw Romania hold off arch rivals the Soviet Union and East Germany for the title. Unforgettable champions like Aurelia Dobre, Daniela Silivaş and Ecaterina Szabo (all representing Romania) and Elena Shushunova, Oksana Omelianchik and Svetlana Baitova (all of the Soviet Union) made gymnastics history that week. Hopefully, the 2010 edition of the championships will be equally memorable.

You can now win one of the prizes listed above by submitting the right answer (A, B, C or D) to the following question:

Where were the 1987 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships held?
A. Ahoy, Rotterdam
B. Topsportcentum (High-Performance Centre), Rotterdam
C. RAI, Amsterdam
D. Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam

E-mail the correct answer, your name and your address to prijsvraag@WKturnen2010.nl, entering ‘prijsvraag’ in the subject line. Please submit your answer by 28 February 2010. If you submit more than one e-mail, the answer given in your first e-mail will be the one that counts. Prize winners will be announced on this site. Judges’ decisions are final.