International Wushu Federation

The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) was founded on 3 October 1990, with the first World Wushu Championships held in Beijing, China, the following year. The 7th edition of the World Championships, staged in 2003 in Macau, China, would be the first to include events for women.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had already recognized the IWUF in 2002, and a demonstration wushu tournament was held in conjunction with the Beijing 2008 Olympics. A youth wushu tournament would later also be held, this time in conjunction with the Nanjing 2014 Youth Summer Olympics.

The IWUF governs wushu in all its forms, holding its first Sanda World Cup in 2002, in Shanghai; its first World Kungfu Championships in 2004, in Zhengzhou; its first World Taijiquan Championships in 2014, in Chengdu; or its first Taolu World Cup in 2016, in Fuzhou (all staged in China).

The IWUF’s headquarters are based in Lausanne, Switzerland, since 2012. A member of the Association of the IOC-recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF), the federation has 162 national/territorial members as of January 2026, and its current president is China’s Gao Zhidan.