 | |
| Formation | 23 July 1881; 144 years ago (1881-07-23) |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Liège, Belgium |
| Headquarters | Avenue de la Gare 12 |
| Location |
|
Region served | Worldwide |
President | Morinari Watanabe |
| Affiliations | Longines,VTB,Cirque du Soleil |
| Revenue | US$17.32 million[1] (2019) |
| Expenses | US$16.19 million[1] (2019) |
| Website | Gymnastics.sport |
World Gymnastics, formerly theInternational Gymnastics Federation, is the body governing competition in all disciplines ofgymnastics. Its headquarters is inLausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on 23 July 1881 inLiège, Belgium, making it the world's oldest existing international sports organisation.[2] Originally called the European Federation of Gymnastics, it had three member countries — Belgium, France and the Netherlands — until 1921, when non-European countries were admitted and the organization changed its name to theFédération Internationale de Gymnastique.[3] Following other sport governing bodies, the organization took its current name in December 2025.[4]
The federation sets the rules, known as theCode of Points, that regulate how gymnasts' performances are evaluated. Seven gymnastics disciplines are governed by World Gymnastics:artistic gymnastics, further classified as men's artistic gymnastics and women's artistic gymnastics;rhythmic gymnastics;aerobic gymnastics;acrobatic gymnastics;trampolining;double mini trampoline,tumbling andparkour. Additionally, the federation is responsible for determining gymnasts' age eligibility to participate in theOlympics.
The main governing bodies of the federation are the president and vice presidents, the Congress held every two years, the Executive Committee, the Council, and technical committees for each of the disciplines.
In 2023, there were 161 national federations affiliated with World Gymnastics, one of which have been suspended, as well as one associated federation, one provisional federation and the following five continental unions:[5]
Across all disciplines, participation in World Gymnastics-sanctioned events exceeds 30,000 athletes, about 70% of whom are female.[6]
After the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Gymnastics barred Russian athletes and officials, including judges.[7] It also announced that "all of the World Gymnastics World Cup and World Challenge Cup events planned to take place in Russia ... are cancelled, and no other World Gymnastics events will be allocated to Russia ... until further notice." World Gymnastics also banned the Russian flag at its events.[8] In 19 July 2023, World Gymnastics decided to allow Russian andBelarusian athletes and support personnels to participant events underindividual neutral athletes.[9]
| Period | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1881–1924 | fr:Nicolaas Cupérus |  Belgium |
| 1924–1933 | Charles Cazalet |  France |
| 1933–1946 | Count Adam Zamoyski [ru] |  Poland |
| 1946–1956 | Count Felix Goblet d’Alviella [ru] | Belgium |
| 1956–1966 | Charles Thoeni |  Switzerland |
| 1966–1976 | Arthur Gander | Switzerland |
| 1976–1996 | Yuri Titov |  Soviet Union Russia |
| 1996–2016 | Bruno Grandi |  Italy |
| January 2017 – present | Morinari Watanabe |  Japan |
Morinari Watanabe has served as president of the organization since his election in 2017.[10]
According to the technical regulations of World Gymnastics,[11] the competitions officially organized are:
Other official World Gymnastics competitions include:
Defunct events formerly organized of sanctioned by World Gymnastics:
World Gymnastics regulates the age at which gymnasts are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions. The purpose is to protect young gymnasts. This has caused some controversy, and there have been cases of age falsification.[17]
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