World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships[1][2] are the world championships for artistic gymnastics governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). The first edition of the championships was held in 1903, exclusively for male gymnasts. Since the tenth edition of the tournament, in 1934, women's events are held together with men's events.

The FIG was founded in 1881 and was originally entitled FEG (Fédération Européenne de Gymnastique), but changed its name in 1921, becoming the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG)[3]; this name change roughly correlates with the actual naming of the World Championships. Although the first such games were held in 1903, they were not initially entitled the 'World Championships'. The first competition actually referred to at the time as a 'World Championships' was not until the 1930s, although sources differ on whether the first Worlds were those held in 1930 or those held in 1934.[3][4] The championships prior to the 1930s, beginning back in 1903, would eventually be recognized, retroactively, as the World Championships.[3]

Although the FIG had changed its name from the FEG back in 1921, the true transcontinental nature of the sport would not start to change at the World Championship level until Egypt sent athletes (a full male team) to the 1950 World Championships. By the time of these World Championships, a total of 60 male athletes from 6 different countries and 53 female athletes from 7 different countries comprised the competitive field.[5] By the 2013 World Championships, the competition had grown to include 264 men from 71 different countries and 134 women from 57 different countries.[5] As of 2019, over sixty different editions of the championships have been staged, and over forty different countries have earned medals in both men's and women's artistic gymnastics events.

The most successful nation, both in gold medal results and total number of medals, is the former Soviet Union. China is the second most successful country in total medals earned, and Japan is the third. Since the fall of the Soviet block, the traditional powerhouses in men's and women's individual and team events have been Russia, Ukraine, China, United States, Japan, and Romania with increasing results from Great Britain and Brazil and a recent decrease in results from the delegation from Romania. Currently, the championships are held annually in non-Olympic years, and all individual events (event and all-around) are held at every championships. However, the team event is omitted in the year after an Olympic Games.

Editions

See also: Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships

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	FIG 50th Anniversary	Paris	France	n/a	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	Copenhagen	Denmark[6]	7 / 5	Future event[7]
2022	51	Liverpool	Great Britain	8 / 6	Future event[8]
2023	52	Antwerp	Belgium	8 / 6	Future event[9]

Note

In 1931, an unofficial edition of the World Championships took place in Paris, France, with the participation of 10 different national federations.[10]

All-time medal table

Last updated after the 2019 World Championships.

Men's events

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	62	32	26	120
2	Soviet Union	61	46	31	138
3	Japan	46	47	58	151
4	France	25	29	20	74
5	Switzerland	19	15	14	48
6	Czechoslovakia	18	16	14	48
7	Yugoslavia	17	9	8	34
8	Russia	13	21	14	48
9	Italy	13	8	22	43
10	Romania	12	9	5	26
11	Belarus	12	7	11	30
12	Bohemia ^[a]	10	8	10	28
13	Hungary	9	10	5	24
14	United States	8	10	13	31
15	Greece	7	2	2	11
16	East Germany	6	6	14	26
17	South Korea	6	2	3	11
18	North Korea	6	0	2	8
19	Germany	5	8	12	25
20	Netherlands	5	5	2	12
21	CIS ^[c]	5	2	3	10
22	Great Britain	4	10	4	18
23	Ukraine	4	8	11	23
24	Bulgaria	4	6	11	21
25	Brazil	4	4	2	10
26	Slovenia	3	4	0	7
27	Finland	2	5	1	8
	West Germany	2	5	1	8
29	Spain	2	3	1	6
30	Australia	1	2	2	5
	Poland	1	2	2	5
32	Croatia	1	2	1	4
33	Turkey	1	1	0	2
34	Luxembourg	1	0	4	5
35	Philippines	1	0	1	2
36	Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1
37	Belgium	0	4	4	8
38	Canada	0	3	4	7
39	Cuba	0	2	2	4
	Israel	0	2	2	4
41	Chinese Taipei	0	2	1	3
	Latvia	0	2	1	3
43	Austria-Hungary ^[b]	0	1	1	2
44	Mexico	0	1	0	1
45	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
	Ireland	0	0	1	1
	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
	Sweden	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
–	Unattached athlete ^[d]	0	0	1	1
Total		397	361	353	1111

Women's events

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	50	40	28	118
2	United States	50	37	26	113
3	Romania	36	36	37	109
4	Russia	23	22	22	67
5	China	20	22	17	59
6	Czechoslovakia	16	13	6	35
7	East Germany	11	7	15	33
8	Poland	4	0	7	11
9	Ukraine	3	4	5	12
10	Great Britain	3	1	5	9
11	Sweden	3	1	1	5
12	Hungary	2	5	3	10
13	Japan	2	3	9	14
14	North Korea	2	3	1	6
15	Belgium	2	0	1	3
16	Belarus	2	0	0	2
17	Italy	1	2	6	9
18	Australia	1	2	2	5
	Uzbekistan	1	2	2	5
20	Germany	1	1	4	6
21	Brazil	1	1	2	4
22	Austria	1	1	1	3
23	Bulgaria	1	0	2	3
24	Spain	1	0	1	2
25	Canada	0	3	1	4
	Netherlands	0	3	1	4
27	Yugoslavia	0	2	0	2
28	France	0	1	5	6
29	CIS ^[c]	0	1	2	3
30	Switzerland	0	1	1	2
31	Cuba	0	0	1	1
	Mexico	0	0	1	1
	Vietnam	0	0	1	1
Total		237	214	216	667

Overall

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	111	86	59	256
2	China	82	54	44	180
3	United States	58	47	39	144
4	Japan	48	50	67	165
5	Romania	48	45	42	135
6	Russia	36	43	36	115
7	Czechoslovakia	34	29	20	83
8	France	25	30	25	80
9	Switzerland	19	16	15	50
10	East Germany	17	13	29	59
11	Yugoslavia	17	11	8	36
12	Italy	14	10	28	52
13	Belarus	14	7	11	32
14	Hungary	11	15	8	34
15	Bohemia ^[a]	10	8	10	28
16	North Korea	8	3	3	14
17	Ukraine	7	12	16	35
18	Great Britain	7	11	9	27
19	Greece	7	2	2	11
20	Germany	6	9	16	31
21	South Korea	6	2	3	11
22	Netherlands	5	8	3	16
23	Bulgaria	5	6	13	24
24	Brazil	5	5	4	14
25	CIS ^[c]	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	1	8
	West Germany	2	5	1	8
32	Belgium	2	4	5	11
33	Australia	2	4	4	10
34	Uzbekistan	1	2	3	6
35	Croatia	1	2	1	4
36	Austria	1	1	1	3
37	Turkey	1	1	0	2
38	Luxembourg	1	0	4	5
39	Philippines	1	0	1	2
40	Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1
41	Canada	0	6	5	11
42	Cuba	0	2	3	5
43	Israel	0	2	2	4
44	Chinese Taipei	0	2	1	3
	Latvia	0	2	1	3
46	Austria-Hungary ^[b]	0	1	1	2
	Mexico	0	1	1	2
48	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
	Ireland	0	0	1	1
	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
	Vietnam	0	0	1	1
–	Unattached athlete ^[d]	0	0	1	1
Totals (52 nations)		634	575	569	1778

Notes

• ^[a] Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Bohemia as medals for Czechoslovakia.
• ^[b] Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Austria-Hungary as medals for Yugoslavia.
• ^[c] Official documents from the International Gymnastics Federation credit medals earned by athletes from former Soviet Union at the 1992 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Paris, France as medals for CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).[11][12]
• ^[d] At the 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, Great Britain, Azerbaijani-born gymnast Valery Belenky earned a bronze medal competing as an unattached athlete (UNA) because Azerbaijan did not have a gymnastics federation for him to compete. Later, official documents from the International Gymnastics Federation credit his medal as a medal for Germany.[11][12]

Statistics

Multiple gold medalists

Boldface denotes active artistic gymnasts and highest medal count among all artistic gymnasts (including those not included in these tables) per type.

Men

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
	Akinori Nakayama	Japan	1966	1970	7	2	3	12

Individual events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Vitaly Scherbo	Soviet Union  CIS  Belarus	1991	1996	11	7	4	22
2	Kōhei Uchimura	Japan	2009	2015	9	3	4	16
3	Marian Drăgulescu	Romania	2001	2015	8	2	–	10
4	Dmitry Bilozerchev	Soviet Union	1983	1987	7	3	–	10
5	Joseph Martinez	France	1903	1909	7	1	–	8
6	Yuri Korolyov	Soviet Union	1981	1987	6	2	1	9
7	Eugen Mack	Switzerland	1934	1938	5	3	1	9
8	Marco Torrès	France	1909	1913	5	3	–	8
9	Akinori Nakayama	Japan	1966	1970	5	2	3	10
	Alexei Nemov	Russia	1995	2003	5	2	3	10

Women

Main article: List of top female medalists at major artistic gymnastics events

All events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Simone Biles	United States	2013	2019	19	3	3	25
2	Svetlana Khorkina	Russia	1994	2003	9	8	3	20
3	Larisa Latynina (Diriy)	Soviet Union	1954	1966	9	4	1	14
4	Gina Gogean	Romania	1993	1997	9	2	4	15
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
	Yelena Shushunova	Soviet Union	1985	1987	5	4	2	11
10	Lavinia Miloșovici	Romania	1991	1996	5	3	5	13

Individual events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Simone Biles	United States	2013	2019	15	3	3	21
2	Svetlana Khorkina	Russia	1994	2003	9	5	2	16
3	Larisa Latynina	Soviet Union	1958	1962	6	3	1	10
4	Gina Gogean	Romania	1993	1997	6	2	4	12
5	Daniela Silivaș	Romania	1985	1989	6	–	1	7
6	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Soviet Union	1970	1974	5	2	2	9
7	Maxi Gnauck	East Germany	1979	1983	5	1	–	6
	Shannon Miller	United States	1991	1994	5	1	–	6
9	Yelena Shushunova	Soviet Union	1985	1987	4	3	2	9
10	Helena Rakoczy	Poland	1950	1954	4	–	3	7

Note

Few non-primary sources state that at the 1938 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, in Prague, Vlasta Děkanová of Czechoslovakia won 2 or 3 golds on multiple apparatuses. According to some sources, Děkanová and her compatriot Matylda Pálfyová shared gold medals in parallel bars (this event was replaced with uneven bars in the women's program at all subsequent world championships), while others state that Pálfyová shared this victory with Polish gymnast Marta Majowska, not Děkanová. The only primary source on the subject, a book officially released by the International Gymnastics Federation containing the results of the World Championships from 1903 to 2005, informs that medals were distributed only in the team all-around event and in the individual all-around event. Therefore, according to official reports, Děkanová's official number of gold medals is four, two in individual all-round (1934 and 1938) and two in team events (1934 and 1938) - not six or seven.[11]

Best results of top nations by event

Men's results

Only nations with medals in five or more events are listed. Positions below third place are not taken into account. Results for Germany and West Germany have been combined.

Event	BEL	BLR	BOH	BUL	CHN	CIS	FIN	FRA	GBR	GDR	GER	ITA	JPN	ROU	RUS	SUI	TCH	UKR	URS	USA	YUG
Team				–		–
Individual all-around						–								–
Floor exercise	–		–				–
Pommel horse	–	–					–
Still rings									–
Vault	–		–																		–
Parallel bars				–										–
Horizontal bar									–

Women's results

Only nations with medals in three or more events are listed. Positions below eight place are not taken into account. Results for Germany and West Germany have been combined.

Event	AUS	AUT	BRA	CAN	CHN	FRA	GBR	GDR	GER	HUN	ITA	JPN	NED	POL	ROU	RUS	SWE	TCH	UKR	URS	USA
Team		6	5	4					6				5
Individual all-around						5	4		6				–
Vault	–										–	6	6
Uneven bars	6		–	–
Balance beam		–	6			5	–										–
Floor exercise		–		7					–								–

See also

• Junior World Gymnastics Championships
• Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the Youth Olympic Games
• List of gymnastics competitions
• Major achievements in gymnastics by nation
• World Gymnastics Championships

References

1. "47th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships MONTREAL (CAN)". live.fig-gymnastics.com. Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
2. "48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships DOHA (QAT)". www.fig-gymnastics.com. Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
3. "History". Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique.
4. Grossfeld, Abie (June 2014). "Changes during the 110 Years of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships". 6 (2): 5. ISSN 1855-7171. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. Grossfeld, Abie (June 2014). "Changes during the 110 Years of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships". 6 (2): 6. ISSN 1855-7171. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. "Denmark withdraws from hosting the 2021 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships". International Gymnastics Federation. July 7, 2020.
7. https://artisticgymnastics2021.com/
8. https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=21965
9. https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=23798
10. Geocities - Ilia Belov
11. Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (2005). 125th Anniversary - The story goes on... FIG.
12. FIG - Official historical results

External links

• Gymnastics International Federation