“Well I did have this dream the other night that I had Michael Buffer announcing the floor competition with the words: ‘Let’s get ready to tumble.’” And with that Barry Hearn announced his arrival into gymnastics.
The exuberant boxing, snooker, darts and crown green bowls promoter launched his latest project, the World Cup of Gymnastics, at the Shard in London on Monday. Sitting alongside him were those responsible for bringing home five of Team GB’s six medals at Rio last summer – Max Whitlock, Amy Tinkler, Nile Wilson as well as the trampolinist Bryony Page. It is Hearn’s intention to make each of them “global superstars”.
Scheduled to take place on 8 April at the O2 Arena in London, the World Cup of Gymnastics will feature eight national teams in an all around competition. The men will compete in six events (floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar), the women four (vault, uneven bars, beam and floor) and there will be other showcase activities, including Page on trampoline. Sky Sports will screen the entire event live.
That similar events already exist in the US and Germany and this one has been held in Glasgow for the past three years did not make it into Hearn’s address. “We’re not messing about,” he said. “We’re going to the 02 and it’s going to be lavish. It’s going to be parties. It’s not just about a provincial domestic event, it’s about taking these guys and making them global superstars. Not just once every four years, but every day.”
When asked whether they were as enthusiastic about becoming superstars, the Olympians – whose apparent normality has been part of their overwhelming appeal – were more ambivalent.
“We do it because we love it,” Whitlock said, “and that’s the main reason we’re sitting here today. Everyone has different directions – for us four the main goal is working towards 2020.”
Fortunately for Hearn, his philanthropic interest in the best of British gymnastics also coincides with a business opportunity. Not only did gymnastics prove to be a ratings winner during the Rio Games (more than 10.4m viewers watched Whitlock claim pommel horse gold on prime-time TV), it is also a sport showing substantial growth in participation.
Jane Allen, the chief executive of British Gymnastics, says the number of Britons who participate in gymnastics has grown by 10-15% every year since 2011. “When you’re having that sort of growth in your numbers, you feel a real benefit,” she says. “Our clubs are expanding too, and we’ve got better business models out there. They’re not just family clubs, they’re business clubs. They’re attracting investment. In terms of spectators, we’ve sold out the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for the past three years. If we could sell 5,000 in Glasgow what could we get in London? So we’ve taken the gamble to go to the 02. We’ve been very fortunate, we’ve got some very good athletes and without them we wouldn’t have the product. But we’re also represented by 1,500 gymnastics clubs across the country.”
The appeal of gymnastics is growing and the audience is youthful, too. “Gymnastics has been around for centuries, since ancient Greece, and continued through the army,” said Allen. “But all of those deviations of the sport, the hip hop and street-running and parkour, all the people who do those sports will probably have learned a base level of skills in gymnastics at a young age. We call ourselves a foundation sport, and I think you can see there’s a synergy there.” Synergy – now she’s talking Hearn’s language.