World Artistic Gymnastics Championships facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are big international competitions for artistic gymnastics. They are organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Think of them as the world championships for this exciting sport!

The very first championships happened in 1903. Back then, only male gymnasts competed. But by 1934, women's events were added. Now, both men and women compete together.

The FIG, which runs the show, started way back in 1881. It was first called the FEG (Fédération Européenne de Gymnastique). This means it was a European gymnastics group. In 1921, it changed its name to FIG. This new name, Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, shows it became a worldwide organization.

Even though the first games were in 1903, they weren't called "World Championships" right away. The first time they were officially called "World Championships" was in 1931. However, the earlier competitions, starting from 1903, were later recognized as World Championships too.

For a long time, most gymnasts came from Europe. But things started to change in 1934. That year, Mexico sent a men's team to compete in Budapest. This was a big trip across the Atlantic Ocean! It showed that gymnastics was becoming truly global.

Also in 1934, the first-ever women's competition was held at the World Championships. This was a big step for women in the sport.

By 1950, more countries were joining in. Egypt, for example, sent a full men's team. In 1950, 60 male athletes from 6 countries competed. There were also 53 female athletes from 7 countries. The championships have grown a lot since then! By 2013, there were 264 men from 71 countries. And 134 women from 57 countries competed. As of 2023, there have been over 50 championships. More than 50 countries have won medals.

The most successful country in artistic gymnastics is the former Soviet Union. They won the most gold medals and the most medals overall. China is the second most successful. The United States is third in gold medals. Japan is third in total medals.

After the Soviet Union broke up, countries like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, China, the United States, Japan, and Romania continued to do well. In recent years, Great Britain and Brazil have become stronger. Meanwhile, Belarus, Romania, and Ukraine have seen fewer top results.

Usually, the World Championships are not held in an Olympic year. And the year after the Olympics, only individual events are held. But this plan changed in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 Summer Olympics to be delayed. So, the World Championships planned for that year were not canceled. The Olympics happened in July-August 2021. The World Championships were held later that same year.

Past Championships
All-Time Medal Winners
Top Gymnasts with Many Medals
- Men's Gymnasts
- Women's Gymnasts
See also

Past Championships

Here's a list of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that have happened:

Year	Edition	Host City	Country	Events (men/women)	First in the Medal Table	Second in the Medal Table	Third in the Medal Table
1903	1	Antwerp	Belgium	6 / 0	France	Luxembourg	Netherlands
1905	2	Bordeaux	France	5 / 0	France	Netherlands	Belgium
1907	3	Prague	Austria-Hungary	5 / 0	Bohemia	France	Belgium
1909	4	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	5 / 0	France	Italy	Bohemia
1911	5	Turin	Italy	6 / 0	Bohemia	Italy	France
1913	6	Paris	France	6 / 0	Italy	France	Bohemia
1922	7	Ljubljana	Yugoslavia	6 / 0	Yugoslavia	Czechoslovakia	France
1926	8	Lyon	France	6 / 0	Czechoslovakia	Yugoslavia	France
1930	9	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	7 / 0	Yugoslavia	Czechoslovakia	Hungary
1931	Unnumbered†	Paris	France	6 / 0	N/A	N/A	N/A
1934	10	Budapest	Hungary	8 / 2	Switzerland	Czechoslovakia	Germany
1938	11	Prague	Czechoslovakia	8 / 6	Czechoslovakia	Switzerland	Yugoslavia
1950	12	Basel	Switzerland	8 / 6	Switzerland	Poland	Sweden
1954	13	Rome	Italy	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	Czechoslovakia
1958	14	Moscow	Soviet Union	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	Czechoslovakia
1962	15	Prague	Czechoslovakia	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	Czechoslovakia
1966	16	Dortmund	West Germany	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	Czechoslovakia
1970	17	Ljubljana	SFR Yugoslavia	8 / 6	Japan	Soviet Union	East Germany
1974	18	Varna	Bulgaria	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	East Germany
1978	19	Strasbourg	France	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan	United States
1979	20	Fort Worth	United States	8 / 6	Soviet Union	United States	Romania
1981	21	Moscow	Soviet Union	8 / 6	Soviet Union	East Germany	China
1983	22	Budapest	Hungary	8 / 6	Soviet Union	China	Romania
1985	23	Montreal	Canada	8 / 6	Soviet Union	China	East Germany
1987	24	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Romania	China
1989	25	Stuttgart	West Germany	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Romania	China
1991	26	Indianapolis	United States	8 / 6	Soviet Union	China	Romania
1992	27	Paris	France	6 / 4	CIS	China	United States
1993	28	Birmingham	Great Britain	7 / 5	Belarus	United States	Romania
1994	29	Brisbane	Australia	7 / 5	Belarus	Romania	China United States
1994	30	Dortmund	Germany	1 / 1	China Romania	N/A	Russia
1995	31	Sabae	Japan	8 / 6	China	Ukraine	Romania
1996	32	San Juan	Puerto Rico	6 / 4	Russia	Romania	Belarus
1997	33	Lausanne	Switzerland	8 / 6	Romania	Russia	China
1999	34	Tianjin	China	8 / 6	Russia	China	Romania
2001	35	Ghent	Belgium	8 / 6	Romania	Russia	Bulgaria
2002	36	Debrecen	Hungary	6 / 4	Romania	China	United States
2003	37	Anaheim	United States	8 / 6	China	United States	Japan
2005	38	Melbourne	Australia	7 / 5	United States	China	Slovenia
2006	39	Aarhus	Denmark	8 / 6	China	Romania	Australia
2007	40	Stuttgart	Germany	8 / 6	China	United States	Germany
2009	41	London	Great Britain	7 / 5	China	United States	Romania
2010	42	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6	China	Russia	United States
2011	43	Tokyo	Japan	8 / 6	China	United States	Russia
2013	44	Antwerp	Belgium	7 / 5	Japan	United States	China
2014	45	Nanning	China	8 / 6	United States	China	North Korea
2015	46	Glasgow	Great Britain	8 / 6	United States	Japan	Russia
2017	47	Montreal	Canada	7 / 5	China	Japan	Russia
2018	48	Doha	Qatar	8 / 6	United States	China	Russia
2019	49	Stuttgart	Germany	8 / 6	United States	Russia	Great Britain
2021	50	Kitakyushu	Japan	7 / 5	China	Japan	Italy
2022	51	Liverpool	Great Britain	8 / 6	United States	China	Japan
2023	52	Antwerp	Belgium	8 / 6	United States	Japan	China
2025	53	Jakarta	Indonesia	7 / 5	Future event
2026	54	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6	Future event
2027	55	Chengdu	China	8 / 6	Future event

† The 1931 competition in Paris was called the "First Artistic Men's World Championships." But the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has sometimes been unclear about whether it was an official World Championship.

All-Time Medal Winners

This table shows which countries have won the most medals in Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. This information is updated after the 2023 World Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	111	86	59	256
2	China	92	60	48	200
3	United States	66	55	47	168
4	Japan	55	59	72	186
5	Romania	48	45	42	135
6	Russia	36	43	36	115
7	Czechoslovakia	34	29	20	83
8	France	25	30	27	82
9	Switzerland	19	16	15	50
10	East Germany	17	13	29	59
11	Yugoslavia	17	11	8	36
12	Italy	15	12	29	56
13	Belarus	14	7	11	32
14	Hungary	11	15	8	34
15	Great Britain	10	12	12	34
16	Bohemia	10	8	10	28
17	Brazil	8	9	8	25
18	North Korea	8	3	3	14
19	Ukraine	7	13	19	39
20	Germany	7	11	16	34
21	Greece	7	3	2	12
22	South Korea	6	2	4	12
23	Netherlands	5	8	3	16
24	Bulgaria	5	6	13	24
25	CIS	5	3	5	13
26	Poland	5	2	9	16
27	Slovenia	3	4	0	7
28	Spain	3	3	2	8
29	Sweden	3	1	2	6
30	Finland	2	5	2	9
31	West Germany	2	5	1	8
32	Belgium	2	4	6	12
33	Australia	2	4	4	10
34	Philippines	2	2	2	6
35	Turkey	2	1	0	3
36	Ireland	2	0	1	3
37	Croatia	1	3	1	5
38	Israel	1	2	3	6
38	Uzbekistan	1	2	3	6
40	Russian Gymnastics Federation	1	1	2	4
41	Austria	1	1	1	3
42	Luxembourg	1	0	4	5
43	Armenia	1	0	2	3
44	Kazakhstan	1	0	1	2
45	Canada	0	7	6	13
46	Cuba	0	2	3	5
47	Chinese Taipei	0	2	1	3
47	Latvia	0	2	1	3
49	Austria-Hungary	0	1	1	2
	Jordan	0	1	1	2
	Mexico	0	1	1	2
52	Algeria	0	1	0	1
53	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
	Vietnam	0	0	1	1
–	Unattached athlete	0	0	1	1
Totals (55 entries)		674	616	610	1,900

Top Gymnasts with Many Medals

Some gymnasts have won many gold medals at the World Championships. Here are some of the best!

Men's Gymnasts

This table shows male gymnasts who have won many medals in all events.

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Vitaly Scherbo	Soviet Union CIS Belarus	1991	1996	12	7	4	23
2	Kōhei Uchimura	Japan	2009	2018	10	6	5	21
3	Joseph Martinez	France	1903	1909	10	1	–	11
4	Yuri Korolyov	Soviet Union	1981	1987	9	3	1	13
5	Dmitry Bilozerchev	Soviet Union	1983	1987	8	4	–	12
6	Li Xiaopeng	China	1997	2005	8	2	1	11
7	Marian Drăgulescu	Romania	2001	2015	8	2	–	10
8	Chen Yibing	China	2006	2011	8	–	–	8
9	Eizō Kenmotsu	Japan	1970	1979	7	5	3	15
10	Alexander Dityatin	Soviet Union	1978	1981	7	2	3	12
10	Akinori Nakayama	Japan	1966	1970	7	2	3	12

Women's Gymnasts

This table shows female gymnasts who have won many medals in all events.

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Simone Biles	United States	2013	2023	23	4	3	30
2	Svetlana Khorkina	Russia	1994	2003	9	8	3	20
3	Gina Gogean	Romania	1993	1997	9	2	4	15
4	Larisa Latynina (Diriy)	Soviet Union	1954	1966	9	4	1	14
5	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Soviet Union	1970	1974	7	2	2	11
6	Daniela Silivaș	Romania	1985	1989	7	2	1	10
7	Simona Amânar	Romania	1994	1999	6	4	–	10
8	Nellie Kim	Soviet Union	1974	1979	5	4	2	11
8	Yelena Shushunova	Soviet Union	1985	1987	5	4	2	11
10	Lavinia Miloșovici	Romania	1991	1996	5	3	5	13