Morinari Watanabe has revealed a proposal will be put forward to the membership of the governing body to create a new "community" ©FIG

International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Morinari Watanabe has revealed a proposal will be put forward to the membership of the governing body to create a new "community" within the sport.

In a New Year's message to FIG members, Watanabe said the organisation was hoping the community will be ready to launch "from the moment the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games reach an end".

The Japanese, elected to lead the worldwide governing body in October 2016, did not provide further details but said the proposal will be discussed at a FIG Council meeting in May.

Feedback will be given by the Council before the plan is put forward to the FIG Congress, due to be held in Baku in December, where a decision on its implementation could be made.

It comes as part of Watanabe's "innovation" vision for 2018.

Watanabe wrote that the creation of the community was one of the FIG's main targets for the coming year.

He also stressed the need for the organisation to innovate in areas such as ethics, competition formats and education in 2018.

The FIG made a controversial move into parkour last year, sparking a row with the governing body for the sport which will be settled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in a bid to reach a new audience for gymnastics.

Morinari Watanabe called on the FIG to innovate to remain relevant in 2018 ©Getty Images
Morinari Watanabe called on the FIG to innovate to remain relevant in 2018 ©Getty Images

The FIG were accused of "encroachment and misappropriation" of the sport by new body Parkour Earth after they attempted to integrate parkour as a new discipline.

Parkour Earth held meetings with the FIG in Lausanne in an attempt to resolve the dispute over a discipline which the FIG are hoping will be added to the Paris 2024 Olympic programme.

The two organisations were unable to come to a consensus, however.

"We must keep on developing gymnastics so that the sport retains its luster in the eyes of the next generation too," Watanabe wrote.

"To achieve this, there is something we must keep in mind.

"We must know that 'there is no success in the future by simply extending the past'.

"The evolution of technology has drastically changed people's ways of thinking, their values and their behaviour. 

"If we just keep following the precedent of successful experiences from the past, we will not be able to achieve success in the future. 

"We need innovation."