The 14th World Gymnaestrada, the world’s biggest gymnastics event, opened at Pontaise Stadium in Lausanne on Sunday.
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Staged every four years, the 2011 event brings together some 19,000 gymnasts from 55 countries for a week of non-competition gymnastics demonstrations.
Draped with flags, the centre of Lausanne has been transformed to welcome the event, with some 800 stickers plastered around the city to form a “Magic Road” to help participants find their way to demonstrations.
Some 4,300 volunteers have also been recruited to assist staging the SFr24 million ($28.7 million) event.
It is the third time Switzerland has hosted World Gymnaestrada, after Basel in 1969 and Zurich in 1982.
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