BENIDORM (ESP) FIG Office, October 4, 2008: Many stories and anecdotes featuring gymnasts, coaches, or leaders are circulating in the microcosm of Rhythmic Gymnastics. One of them has drawn the attention of the insiders because of its uniqueness and the nobility of the initiative. It is a story that may have never been told, if we had not given it a few moments.

It is a beautiful story!

In 1984, Hidenori Futagi (JPN) established the Rhythmic Gymnastics Club "Aeon Club" in Japan and organised the first edition of the Aeon Cup, an international clubs competition.

At the outset, the Cup didn't raise the interest Futagi hoped for, but it did mark the beginning of an extraordinary adventure that would make the headlines of the international press.

Mr. Futagi is a well-known Japanese economic figure. He is at the head of the number 1 supermarket chain Aeon, which he established himself. A shrewd businessman, he created a line of low-cost products, from groceries to electrical appliances, and put them on the market. His success was instant.

However, his approach was not purely commercial. Steeped in the culture of his country and a bit of a visionary, he realised quickly that there is a limit to consumer spending and that sooner or later each individual will turn his attention to other priorities.

He chose sport, particularly Rhythmic Gymnastics for its artistic and choreographic content. In 1984 he established the Aeon Club and the Japanese Rhythmic Gymnastic Federation, bestowing official and national status on his project. His concept consisted in offering gymnasts an infrastructure, a place in which to practise the sport and to further exchange between Japanese clubs. The future would smile on him and his success would be absolute. Twenty years later, the Aeon Club counted 4,000 members in 519 clubs.

But the beginnings were arduous. The Aeon supermarket chain supported the project on its own, without the publicity so easily generated by sports such as soccer, baseball and golf. Invitations sent out across the globe to top gymnasts were costly. Hidenori Futagi began to seek out other partners who would support his project.

In 1984, Mr. Futagi, though a businessman and shrewd sport manager, remained true to his culture and maintained a sense of integrity.

From his home in Japan, he watched as hideous images were broadcasted across the globe, witness to the war ravaging Bosnia Herzegovina, in former Yugoslavia. Television reports showed disaster. He decided to act, wielding the potential, network and influence of "his" Aeon Cup. An act that would bear its own fruit.

The Balkans is a land rich in rhythmic gymnastics. It has a wealth of talent. Despite the war, Mr. Futagi invited gymnasts to Japan to extract them from the chaos, to enable them to practise their art freely and in perfect safety. But to pluck gymnasts from the holds of a country in the throes of war is difficult and dangerous. He alerted his network, activated clubs in the neighbouring countries of former Yugoslavia and succeeded in brining gymnasts out of Bosnia Herzegovina on foot, through the mountains to Hungary, where a plane was waiting for the young women to take them to Japan. They would participate in the first edition of the Aeon Cup.

In his speech delivered at this first opening ceremony, Hidenori Futagi made a call for peace and invited every gymnast there to shake his hand. He decided that the revenue generated by the competition annually would be transferred to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. AS example, the revenue from the 1996 edition was given to help refugee children in the camps of Rwanda.

Today, as in 1984, Hidenori Futagi and his faithful colleague, Morinari Watanabé, fight with the same passion for the development of the Aeon Cup, that it might generate additional funds to assist the victims of conflict, and that gymnasts participating in an Aeon Cup would be able to do so with a smile.

In November of 2006, the 22nd edition of the Aeon Cup took place within the framework of the FIG World Cup Final in Rhythmic Gymnastics, in Mie, Japan, the host City of the 2009 World Championships of the discipline.