© FIG

ST.PETERSBURG (RUS), FIG Office, 5 May, 2019: The FIG Council made several important decisions during its meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia on 2 and 3 May. These included the choice of new formats for the Artistic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, as well as changes to the qualification system for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“Every national federation, even the smallest, must have a chance to host a World Championships,” said FIG President Morinari Watanabe. “One of the most common criticisms was that our World Championships were too long. The format changes that we have adopted will help reduce the length and the costs, help make the competition more thrilling as well as enhance the value of the continental championships.

“It was also crucial for us to implement a qualification system for Paris 2024 that everybody can understand while being fair to the best athletes”, he underlined.

New formats for the World Championships

A qualifying system has been introduced to limit the number of participants in the Artistic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships. This will essentially be based on the results of the Continental Championships and of the Apparatus World Cup Series in Artistic.

Artistic Gymnastics
The new format will come into force at the 2022 and 2023 Worlds, which will limit the number of participants to 208 in the Men’s competition and 201 in the Women’s. This will allow a reduction in the overall duration of the World Championships to 11 days, compared to 15 at the 2018 event, with two training days and two competition days less.

The qualifying system is composed as follows:

Rhythmic Gymnastics
From the 2021 World Championships, participation will be limited to 105 gymnasts in individual events, with quotas distributed between the five continents. The results of the Continental Championships will determine the allocation of places to each federation, with a maximum limit of 3 gymnasts per nation.

For the group competition, participation will remain open to one group per federation in 2021 and 2022, and will be limited to a maximum of 30 groups for the 2023 World Championships. The number of days of competition will therefore be reduced to five, against seven for the 2018 Worlds.

Another change concerns the Team competition. This will take into account both the results of gymnasts in the Individual competition (the two scores on each of the four apparatus during the qualification competitions) and the Group competition (the scores of the two different exercises).

The final of the individual All-Around competition will be reserved for the 18 best qualifiers (maximum of two per country) instead of the best 24 at the moment, while there is no change regarding the finals per apparatus with 8 gymnasts.

Trampoline Gymnastics
Originally featured in the 2018 World Championships, the new Team All-Around Competition will be added to the Worlds. This mixed, multidisciplinary competition for national teams has two stages. Each nation earns points according to the ranking of its best gymnast or pair in each of the eight events (Individual Trampoline, Synchronised Trampoline, Tumbling, and Men’s and Women’s Double Mini-trampoline). The five best teams qualify for the final, where all performances are taken into account to determine the medal winners.

Qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games

The FIG Council has also adopted the qualification system for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. It is aiming to return to simpler and more understandable criteria. The system is subject to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) approval.

Artistic Gymnastics
The main change concerns the number of gymnasts per team. It will mark a return to the formula of a maximum of five gymnasts, compared to four per team and two individuals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The 2022 World Championships will form the first qualifying event, with the three teams who finish on the podium qualifying for the Games. Most of the places for the Olympic team and individual competitions will be at stake one year later, at the 2023 Worlds. The final opportunities for Olympic qualification will come in the 2023-2024 Apparatus World Cup Series and the 2024 Continental Championships.

Rhythmic Gymnastics
There will be a fresh dimension to World Championships starting from 2022, when the medallists in the individual and group competitions will qualify for Paris 2024. A large proportion of the Olympic quotas will be allocated during the 2023 Worlds, where 16 places for the individual competition and five for the group competition will be available.

The 2024 Continental Championships will also have a key role to play. They will offer each continent one place for an individual gymnast and one for the groups.

Trampoline Gymnastics
Half of the qualifying slots will be available during the 2023 World Championships. The eight finalists in the individual Men’s and individual Women’s Trampoline competitions will secure a ticket for their country to the Games, albeit with a limit of one per country.

The 2023-2024 World Cup Series will give the best-placed gymnasts another chance to represent their nation. The remaining places will be allocated in a manner that ensures the representation of all the continents based on the results of the 2023 World Championships.

The World Games 2021

The programme of events for The World Games has been revised for the next edition scheduled in 2021 in Birmingham (USA). It includes:

  • Rhythmic Gymnastics: four events
    Hoop, Ball, Clubs and Ribbon
  • Trampoline Gymnastics: four events
    Men’s and Women’s Individual Tumbling and Double Mini-Trampoline.
  • Acrobatic Gymnastics: five events
    Men’s, Women’s and Mixed pairs; Men’s and Women’s groups.
  • Aerobic Gymnastics: four events
    Mixed Pairs, Trios, Groups and Aerobic Dance
  • Parkour: four events
    Men’s and Women’s Speed-run and Freestyle

About the FIG: The International Gymnastics Federation is the governing body for Gymnastics worldwide. It is the oldest established international federation of an Olympic sport and has participated in the Olympic Games since their revival in 1896. The FIG governs eight sports: Gymnastics for All, Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline – including Double Mini-trampoline and Tumbling -, Aerobics, Acrobatics, and Parkour. It counts 148 national member federations and has its headquarters in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne (SUI).