The Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo is one of the world’s most futuristic timber-built sports arenas. The architects drew their inspiration from traditional Japanese building techniques. With 2,300 cubic metres of wood being used, the total cost came to EUR 170 million.
Newly completed, it has a capacity of 12,000 spectators and, in addition to its visual appearance, has now also demonstrated its functionality in a large-scale sporting competition. In pre-Olympic 2019, the world’s best trampoline athletes met there at the 34th FIG Trampoline World Championships to compete for medals and Olympic qualification.
For its Japanese hosts, this served as a text event for the Olympic competitions in the following year.
From a total of 336 gymnasts from 37 nations, the Chinese Gao Lei finally reached the top position in the men’s individual rankings and sensationally claimed his fourth World Championship title in a row – a historic record in this discipline.
The women’s event ended in a Japanese double victory by Hikaru Mori and Chiasato Doihate – which was of course enthusiastically acclaimed in their own country. The equipment for the event was supplied by Senoh from Japan and the Southern German companies Spieth and Eurotramp (trampolines), acting in the consortium SES.
photo: Eurotramp
