He is to take early retirement at the end of this month to concentrate on his role as an Executive member of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which he was elected to in April.

 

Alan Somerville, the executive chairman of British Gymnastics, said: "Brian feels that he cannot do full justice to two such demanding roles and that early retirement will allow him to devote his time exclusively to his FIG work and to pursue his personal business interests.

 

"Brian’s retirement will be a loss to British Gymnastics, where he has made an enormous contribution, spanning over 40 years as performer, coach, volunteer, administrator and latterly as a professional in the role of CEO.

 

"Brian has made a significant impact in many areas during this time, in many disciplines, particularly in 'Gymnastics For All', where he has led the development of our World Gymnaestrada delegations for over 20 years."

 

Under Stocks, Britain has enjoyed unprecedented success with Beth Tweddle claiming two world titles, Louis Smith becoming the first Briton for a century to win an individual Olympic medal when he claimed bronze at Beijing last year and Daniel Keatings winning silver in the all-round competition in the World Championships held at the O2 Arena in London in October.

 

Stocks, who was director for sport at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and is a former head of sport at Birmingham City Council, had been the driving force behind bringing the event to Britain and had helped ensure it was so successful.

 

Somerville said: "Brian's particular skills and experience in the field of event management have led not only to the raising of the standard of our domestic Championships, but also to securing and staging a large number of European and World events, culminating in what has been acclaimed one of the finest Artistic World Championships ever, held in October at The O2 Arena."

 

Sommerville will take over from Stocks in the short-term while they try to find a permanent replacement.

 

It will be a return to the hot-seat for Sommerville, a post he had held from 2000 until November 2007 when he was replaced by Stocks, who until then had been serving as British Gymnastics President.

 

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