Gideon Sam, president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), has made a surprise visit to Golden Lions Gymnastics to witness visiting Russian choreographer Ekaterina Kalinina at work.

He was so impressed by the Russian that he called her to aside and had a long discussion with her.

“I asked her to supply me with a programme in order to assist our women gymnasts and also to return in the second half of this year,” he said.

Sam says that he believes this is the way forward for South African gymnastics.

“We need experts here to help with development and Ekaterina is young and enthusiastic and I believe that she should come back on a fulltime basis in the middle of 2011 in order for us to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014.

He was recently quoted as saying: “I can’t find a gymnast and weightlifter for 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“Choreography plays a major role in various aspects of gymnastics,” Kalinina told Sam.