World Gymnastics

The Bureau des Fédérations Européennes de Gymnastique (FEG) was founded on 23 July 1881, in Liège, Belgium, with three founding members: Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Artistic Gymnastics’ events for men were contested at the Olympic Games since its inaugural edition of Athinai 1896, and the first Artistic Gymnastics World Championships would be held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1903.

The organization was renamed to Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) in 1921. Olympic participation for women artistic gymnasts came at the Amsterdam 1928 Games, and their début at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships soon followed in 1934, in Budapest, Hungary.

Rhythmic Gymnastics, one of the other disciplines governed by the federation, is an all-women sport. The inaugural World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary, in 1963, but Olympic début would only come over 20 years later, at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.

Trampolining is the more recent FIG’s discipline to be added to the Olympic Programme. The first Trampoline World Championships were staged in London, England, in 1964, with events for men and women. The discipline was previously overseen by the Fédération Internationale de Trampoline (FIT). When the FIT managed to get its sport on the Olympic Programme for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, this governing body became part of the FIG.

These three disciplines – Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Trampolining – have also been part of the Youth Summer Olympics programme since the competition’s début, at Singapore 2010.

Despite never having appeared on the Olympic Programme, Acrobatic Gymnastics, a discipline also governed by this federation, was contested at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, long after the first World Sports Acrobatics Championships, staged in 1974, in Moskva (then part of the Soviet Union).

In 2025, the organization’s name was changed to World Gymnastics. The federation also governs the non-Olympic disciplines of Tumbling, Aerobic Gymnastics, and Parkour. As of January 2026, World Gymnastics has 167 member federations. Japan’s Morinari Watanabe is the president of World Gymnastics since 2016, and the federation’s headquarters are located in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne, Switzerland.