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 ever actually referred to as a 'World Championships' was a competition held in 1931 that, while referred to in an official FIG publication as the "First Artistic Men's World Championships",[4] often seems to go ignored by various authorities in the sport. 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 a substantially later time. Perhaps the first non-European delegation to participate at a World Championships was Mexico, which sent a men's team who travelled all the way to compete at the 1934 Worlds in Budapest,[5] a trans-Atlantic endeavor they repeated at the 1948 London Summer Olympics - a rare non-European delegation appearance even 14 years later.
It was at those same 1934 World Championships in Budapest that there was finally the first-ever women's competition[6]: 45 [7] at a world championships, despite women having participated in various world championships since the first such international competition in 1903.[8]
Perhaps the first African contingent was the Egyptian one which offered forth a full male team at the 1950 World Championships in Basel. By the time of these World Championships, a total of 60 male athletes from 6 countries and 53 female athletes from 7 countries comprised the competitive field.[9] By the 2013 World Championships, the competition had grown to include 264 men from 71 countries and 134 women from 57 countries.[9] As of 2023, over fifty editions of the championships have been staged, and over fifty countries have earned medals in artistic gymnastics events.
The most successful nation, both in gold medal results and total number of medals, is the former Soviet Union (not including medals from its successor states), and China is the second. The United States is the third most successful country in gold medal results while Japan is the third in total number of medals. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the traditional powerhouses in men's and women's individual still had expressive results: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, China, United States, Japan, and Romania. The last two decades were marked by increasing results from two emerging powers: Great Britain and Brazil and at the same period a big decrease in results from Belarus, Romania and Ukraine. After a busy schedule and some tests which led to the holding of two separate world championships in 1994 (one for individual events and one for teams), it was decided that in each Olympic year the championship would not be held and that the edition held in the subsequent year of the Games, only the competition individual would be held. However, this cycle was broken in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the 2020 Summer Olympics to be delayed by one year, the edition scheduled for that year was not cancelled. While the Games were held between July to August 2021, the World Championships was allocated to the end of the same year.
† There seems to be a history of inconsistency from the FIG's publications regarding whether these 1931 games are considered to be a World Championships. About these games, it is written in a 100-year Anniversary publication from 1981, that Following "agreements, objections, and discussions" this manifestation was called "World Championships",[6]: 84 however on the following page of that same publication, it is stated "Logically, the manifestations of the 50th anniversary of the FIG cannot be placed among the official competitions".[6]: 85 Additionally, in a 125-year Anniversary Publication from 2006, it is said about these games "Premiers concours sous l’appellation Championnats du Monde de Gymnastique artistique masculine a Paris",[11]: 13 yet they were referred to as "unofficial"[11]: 35 and their results were omitted from the results section of that book.[11]: 64 As it currently stands (as of as recently as 2021), about these games in 1931, the FIG states “1931 First Artistic Men's World Championships held in Paris.”[3]
Last updated after the 2023 World Championships.
Boldface denotes active artistic gymnasts and highest medal count among all artistic gymnasts (including those not included in these tables) per type.
* Alois Hudec of Czechoslovakia won 3 individual gold medals at the commemorative competition which was held in Paris, France, in 1931 and referred to as the "First Artistic Men's World Championships". However, as stated before there has been a history of inconsistency from the FIG's publications as to the recognition of the official or unofficial status of this event. [6]: 84–85 [11]: 13, 35, 64 [3] Without the medals he won at this competition, Hudec would not occupy a place on this Top 10 list.
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]
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.
Only nations with medals in three or more events are listed. Positions below eighth place are not taken into account. Results for Germany and West Germany have been combined.
