More than 30,000 East German youngsters staged a colourful two-hour massed gymnastics display in Leipzig on Saturday (30 July) as climax to a week-long sports festival billed as one of the biggest in the world.

SYNOPSIS: On Thursday (28 July), the young people staged a dress rehearsal for the display, which was to be the high point of the sixth East German Children's and Youth Spartakiad. They filled Leipzig's central stadium with serried ranks of sportsmen and women sweeping multi-coloured flags. On one side of the packed stadium, 12,500 precisely rehearsed Leipzigers raised coloured cloths on command to produce vast mosaic pictures of flowers, flags and slogans in praise of the East German leadership.

During the week, more than 10,000 youngsters aged from eight to 18 had been competing for gold, silver and bronze medals in an Olympic-style contest designed to spotlight East Germany's brightest upcoming sports talent. The competition, the climax of two years' preparation since the last national Spartakiad, came to an official end on Sunday (31 July).

The last such display as part of a national "Sports and Gymnastics Festival" was held in 1972, and this year was the first time that the Spartakiad and the festival has been organised within the same framework.

The displays of precision marching, gymnastics and coordination were carried out by formations of between 1,000 and 1,500 athletes at a time on a football-field sized chequered carpet laid out in the stadium.

Several dozen top foreign sports officials including the President of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Joao Havelange and European Boxing Federation President Johannes Hoffmann visited the Spartakiad together with a series of leading Olympic figures.

More than 100,000 spectators watched the dress rehearsal, with similar numbers watching another two, showings of the display.

At the end of the two-hour display, the young people formed themselves into a representation of the five-ringed Olympic symbol, while sections of the crowd spelt out the city where the next Olympic Games will be held.