Longines, Official Timekeeper and Data Handler at the 38th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2005, is pleased to announce it has awarded the 15th Longines Prize for Elegance to Australian Monette Russo and to the Puerto Rican gymnast Luis Rivera. This distinction honours the athlete or team having demonstrated the most remarkable elegance in the course of an international competition at world or continental level. Prizewinners Monette Russo and Luis Rivera were presented the well-known trophy created by the Swiss artist Piero Travaglini, a wrist watch from the Longines evidenza collection and a check for US$ 5,000.

In gymnastics, the challenge of movement demands both flawless execution, as in any sport, and the intangible grace, beauty and harmony of movement known as “elegance”. At the 38th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, all participants in the individual all-round competition held on Thursday November 24, 2005 and Friday November 25, 2005 were nominated for the Longines Prize for Elegance.





The athletes under consideration for the prize are evaluated according to a number of complementary criteria. In addition to technical considerations, each athlete’s performance is evaluated with respect to emotional appeal, beauty, charm, charisma, and grace and harmony of movement. Clearly, each juror interprets these criteria individually, yet the result is often entirely unanimous, as it was again on this occasion.

The jury of the 15th Longines Prize for Elegance brought together Cindy Sargon, television presenter, celebrity cook and Longines ambassadress; Tara Moss, renowned author of best-selling crime novels and Longines ambassadress; Paul Salmon, famous Australian football player and television presenter; Dr. Bruno Grandi, President of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG); Mark Watson, Managing Director of Swatch Group Australia; and Walter von Känel, President of Longines. The jury’s individual assessments were combined to form a collective judgment reflecting a perceptive and balanced evaluation of the athletes’ performances.


Source: Longines

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