World Gymnastics, formerly the International Gymnastics Federation, is the body governing competition in all disciplines of gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on 23 July 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the world's oldest existing international sports organisation. 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 the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Following other sport governing bodies, the organization took its current name in December 2025.
The federation sets the rules, known as the Code 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 and parkour. Additionally, the federation is responsible for determining gymnasts' age eligibility to participate in the Olympics.
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Organization
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:
European Gymnastics (UEG)
Pan-American Gymnastic Union (PAGU)
Asian Gymnastic Union (AGU)
African Gymnastics Union (UAG)
Oceania Gymnastics Union (OGU)
Across all disciplines, participation in World Gymnastics-sanctioned events exceeds 30,000 athletes, about 70% of whom are female.
Russia and Belarus suspension
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Gymnastics barred Russian athletes and officials, including judges. 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.
On 19 July 2023, World Gymnastics decided to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and support personnels to participant events under individual neutral athletes.
On 18 May 2026, all previously imposed restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes, starting in 2022, have been lifted, allowing them to return as part of full national delegations.
Presidents, and their tenures, of World Gymnastics
Morinari Watanabe has served as president of the organization since his election in 2017.
Tournaments
According to the technical regulations of World Gymnastics, the competitions officially organized are:
World Gymnastics Championships
World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships
Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships
Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
World Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships
Parkour World Championships
World Cup series
Artistic Gymnastics World Cup
Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup
Trampoline World Cup
Acrobatic Gymnastics World Cup
Aerobic Gymnastics World Cup
Parkour World Cup
World Challenge Cup series
Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup
Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup
Other official World Gymnastics competitions include:
Olympic Games
Youth Olympic Games
World Games
Age eligibility rules
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.