Gymnastics and Golf are to join the prestigious line up of leading sports who will compete as part of the 2018 European Sports Championships.
Gymnastics and Golf are to join the prestigious line up of leading sports who will compete as part of the 2018 European Sports Championships.
The two new additions complete the roster alongside Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Rowing and Triathlon, who have decided to come together for the first time for the European Sports Championships which will be staged in the Host Cities of Glasgow and Berlin.
The dates of the inaugural Championships were confirmed today as the 1st to 12th August 2018.
Berlin will host the 2018 European Athletics Championships from the 7th to 12th August, with Glasgow hosting the six other European Championships over the 12 days.
The Presidents of European Athletics (EA), Aquatics (LEN), Cycling (UEC), Rowing (FISA) and Triathlon (ETU) welcomed European Gymnastics (UEG) and Golf Europe into a sporting partnership which will create a strong new multi-sport event on the world stage, attracting a projected television audience of around 850 million and an even wider audience via multiple digital platforms.
Following the decision of the European Sports Championships 2018 Board, the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships will be staged in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro while the brand new European Golf team championships, will take place at Scotland’s prestigious Gleneagles course.
The newly-formed 2018 Board also made the important step of ratifying the organisational rules and decision-making processes, ensuring strong governance going forward.
This innovative new approach by the governing bodies, who announced their plans earlier this year, brings the existing European Championships together from seven sports in a sustainable format once every four years in order to continue building their prestige, profile and media exposure.
Around 1500 athletes will compete in Berlin as part of the European Athletics Championships while approximately 3025 athletes will visit Scotland for the other six events. All seven Championships will be staged within the agreed date window.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the consortium for the continent’s public service free-to-air broadcasters, will be the broadcast partner for the combined championships, which are expected to generate more than 2750 hours of programming across Europe’s biggest broadcasters.
The Golf event will be staged over 5 days and include men’s team, women’s team and mixed team competition. Two male and female athletes per nation will participate, with the top 16 European nations included.
The Gymnastics event will include both the Men’s and Women’s Artistic Championships, with around 600 athletes competing in Glasgow over six days. Adaptations around scheduling and timetabling will be agreed at future meetings.
Ivan Khodabakhsh, Chief Executive of the Ladies European Tour, said:
''We welcome this opportunity to join other premium Olympic sports at the European Sports Championships and are excited about the innovative golf events which will feature matches between national teams of women and men for the glory of being crowned European Champions. The coming together of these great sports and golf’s creative approach in two exciting weeks in August 2018 will truly be a treat for all sport fans.”
