World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 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); 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' at the time was a competition held in 1931 that, while referred to in an official FIG publication as the "First Artistic Men's World Championships", 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.

Although the FEG did not change its name into the FIG until 1921, and although what appears to have been the first non-European delegation to participate at a World Championships wasn't until Mexico sent a men's team that travelled all the way to compete at the 1934 Worlds in Budapest, a trans-Atlantic endeavor they repeated at the 1948 London Summer Olympics (a rare non-European delegation appearance even 14 years later), technically speaking, the transcontinental nature of the World Championships was present at the very first Worlds in 1903, as the all-around champion from those first Worlds was Joseph Martinez, a French-Algerian born in Oran. Additionally, repeat World All-Around Champion from 1909 and 1913, Marco Torres was also French-Algerian as he was born in Sidi Bel Abbès.

It was at those same 1934 World Championships in Budapest, which seems to have been the first World Championships with a non-European delegation, that there was finally the first-ever women's competitionTemplate:Rp at a world championships, despite women having participated in various world championships since the first such international competition in 1903.

Perhaps the first African delegation 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. By the 2013 World Championships, the competition had grown to include 264 men from 71 countries and 134 women from 57 countries. 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 and August 2021, the World Championships was allocated to the end of the same year.

Editions

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
1905	2	Bordeaux	France	5 / 0
1907	3	Prague	Austria-Hungary	5 / 0
1909	4	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	5 / 0		Italy
1911	5	Turin	Italy	6 / 0		Italy
1913	6	Paris	France	6 / 0	Italy
1922	7	Ljubljana	Template:Flagcountry	6 / 0	Template:Flagcountry
1926	8	Lyon	France	6 / 0		Template:Flagcountry
1930	9	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	7 / 0	Template:Flagcountry		Template:Flagcountry
1931	Unnumbered†	Paris	France	6 / 0	—	—	—
1934	10	Budapest	Hungary	8 / 2			Germany
1938	11	Prague	Czechoslovakia	8 / 6			Template:Flagcountry
1950	12	Basel	Switzerland	8 / 6		Poland
1954	13	Rome	Italy	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan
1958	14	Moscow	Soviet Union	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan
1962	15	Prague	Czechoslovakia	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan
1966	16	Dortmund	West Germany	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Japan
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
1979	20	Fort Worth	United States	8 / 6	Soviet Union		Romania
1981	21	Moscow	Soviet Union	8 / 6	Soviet Union	East Germany
1983	22	Budapest	Hungary	8 / 6	Soviet Union		Romania
1985	23	Montreal	Canada	8 / 6	Soviet Union		East Germany
1987	24	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Romania
1989	25	Stuttgart	West Germany	8 / 6	Soviet Union	Romania
1991	26	Indianapolis	United States	8 / 6	Soviet Union
1992	27	Paris	France	6 / 4	CIS
1993	28	Birmingham	Great Britain	7 / 5	Belarus
1994	29	Brisbane	Australia	7 / 5	Belarus
1994	30	Dortmund	Germany	1 / 1		—
1995	31	Sabae	Japan	8 / 6
1996	32	San Juan	Puerto Rico	6 / 4			Belarus
1997	33	Lausanne	Switzerland	8 / 6
1999	34	Tianjin	China	8 / 6
2001	35	Ghent	Belgium	8 / 6
2002	36	Debrecen	Hungary	6 / 4
2003	37	Anaheim	United States	8 / 6
2005	38	Melbourne	Australia	7 / 5
2006	39	Aarhus	Denmark	8 / 6
2007	40	Stuttgart	Germany	8 / 6
2009	41	London	Great Britain	7 / 5
2010	42	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6
2011	43	Tokyo	Japan	8 / 6
2013	44	Antwerp	Belgium	7 / 5
2014	45	Nanning	China	8 / 6
2015	46	Glasgow	Great Britain	8 / 6
2017	47	Montreal	Canada	7 / 5
2018	48	Doha	Qatar	8 / 6
2019	49	Stuttgart	Germany	8 / 6			Template:GBR2
2021	50	Kitakyushu	Japan	7 / 5
2022	51	Liverpool	Great Britain	8 / 6
2023	52	Antwerp	Belgium	8 / 6
2025	53	Jakarta	Indonesia	7 / 5	Future event
2026	54	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8 / 6	Future event
2027	55	Chengdu	China	8 / 6	Future event

† 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",Template:Rp 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".Template:Rp 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",Template:Rp yet they were referred to as "unofficial"Template:Rp and their results were omitted from the results section of that book.Template:Rp 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."

All-time medal table

Last updated after the 2023 World Championships. Please note that early events such as the 1913 and 1911 championships were purely team events without any individual awards, individual scores were only introduced in 1922, with the first all-round individual men's champion being recognised in that year. Similarly the first women's championship in 1934 only had medals being awarded to teams, not individuals. Individual "medals" for these events were therefore only recognised retrospectively and weren't awarded at the time. Similarly, until 1921 FIG was known as the European Gymnastics Federation (FEG) and its events were not world championships as such.

Men's events

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1		69	37	30	136
2		61	46	31	138
3	Template:Flagicon Japan	50	56	61	167
4		25	29	20	74
5		19	15	14	48
6		18	16	14	48
7		17	9	8	34
8		14	9	23	46
9		13	21	14	48
10		12	9	5	26
11		12	7	11	30
12		10	12	16	38
13	[a]	10	8	10	28
14		9	10	5	24
15		7	3	2	12
16	Template:GBR2	6	10	6	22
17		6	9	12	27
18	Template:GDR	6	6	14	26
19		6	2	3	11
20		6	0	2	8
21		5	5	2	12
22	CIS [c]	5	2	3	10
23		4	9	14	27
24		4	6	11	21
25		4	4	3	11
26		3	4	0	7
27		2	5	2	9
28		2	5	1	8
29		2	3	1	6
30		2	2	2	6
31		2	1	0	3
32		2	0	1	3
33		1	3	1	5
34		1	2	3	6
35		1	2	2	5
		1	2	2	5
37		1	0	4	5
38		1	0	2	3
39		1	0	1	2
40		0	4	4	8
41		0	3	4	7
42		0	2	2	4
43		0	2	1	3
		0	2	1	3
45	Austria-Hungary [b]	0	1	1	2
		0	1	1	2
47		0	1	0	1
48		0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
	Russian Gymnastics Federation [e]	0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
–	Unattached athlete [d]	0	0	1	1
Total		420	385	376	1181

Women's events

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1		56	43	31	130
2		50	40	28	118
3		36	36	37	109
4		23	23	18	64
5		23	22	22	67
6		16	13	6	35
7	Template:GDR	11	7	15	33
8		5	3	11	19
9		4	5	5	14
10	Template:GBR2	4	2	6	12
11		4	0	7	11
12		3	4	5	12
13		3	1	1	5
14		2	5	3	10
14		2	3	1	6
16		2	0	2	4
17		2	0	0	2
18		1	3	6	10
19		1	2	4	7
20		1	2	2	5
		1	2	2	5
22		1	1	1	3
	Russian Gymnastics Federation [e]	1	1	1	3
24		1	0	2	3
25		1	0	1	2
26		0	4	2	6
27		0	3	1	4
28		0	2	0	2
29		0	1	7	8
30	CIS [c]	0	1	2	3
31		0	1	1	2
32		0	1	0	1
33		0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
		0	0	1	1
Total		254	231	234	719

Overall

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 FIG documents 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).
• ^[d] At the 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, Great Britain, Azerbaijani-born athlete 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 FIG documents credit his medal as a medal for Germany.
• ^[e] At the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, in accordance with a ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), athletes from Russia were not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem. They instead participated under name and flag of the RGF (Russian Gymnastics Federation).

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	CIS Belarus	1991	1996	12	7	4	23
2	Kōhei Uchimura		2009	2018	10	6	5	21
3	Joseph Martinez		1903	1909	10	1	–	11
4	Yuri Korolyov		1981	1987	9	3	1	13
5	Dmitry Bilozerchev		1983	1987	8	4	–	12
6	Li Xiaopeng		1997	2005	8	2	1	11
7	Marian Drăgulescu		2001	2015	8	2	–	10
8	Chen Yibing		2006	2011	8	–	–	8
9	Eizō Kenmotsu		1970	1979	7	5	3	15
10	Alexander Dityatin		1978	1981	7	2	3	12
	Akinori Nakayama		1966	1970	7	2	3	12

Individual events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Vitaly Scherbo	CIS Belarus	1991	1996	11	7	4	22
2	Kōhei Uchimura		2009	2018	9	3	4	16
3	Marian Drăgulescu		2001	2015	8	2	–	10
4	Dmitry Bilozerchev		1983	1987	7	3	–	10
5	Joseph Martinez		1903	1909	7	1	–	8
6	Yuri Korolyov		1981	1987	6	2	1	9
7	Eugen Mack		1934	1938	5	3	1	9
8	Alois Hudec *		1931	1938	5	3	–	8
	Marco Torrès		1909	1913	5	3	–	8
10	Akinori Nakayama		1966	1970	5	2	3	10
	Alexei Nemov		1995	2003	5	2	3	10

Note

* 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.Template:RpTemplate:Rp Without the medals he won at this competition, Hudec would not occupy a place on this Top 10 list.

Women

All events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Simone Biles		2013	2023	23	4	3	30
2	Svetlana Khorkina		1994	2003	9	8	3	20
3	Gina Gogean		1993	1997	9	2	4	15
4	Larisa Latynina (Diriy)		1954	1966	9	4	1	14
5	Ludmilla Tourischeva		1970	1974	7	2	2	11
6	Daniela Silivaș	Template:Flagcountry	1985	1989	7	2	1	10
7	Simona Amânar		1994	1999	6	4	–	10
8	Nellie Kim		1974	1979	5	4	2	11
	Yelena Shushunova		1985	1987	5	4	2	11
10	Lavinia Miloșovici		1991	1996	5	3	5	13

Individual events

Rank	Artistic gymnast	Country	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Simone Biles		2013	2023	18	4	3	25
2	Svetlana Khorkina		1994	2003	9	5	2	16
3	Gina Gogean		1993	1997	6	2	4	12
4	Larisa Latynina		1958	1962	6	3	1	10
5	Daniela Silivaș	Template:Flagcountry	1985	1989	6	–	1	7
6	Ludmilla Tourischeva		1970	1974	5	2	2	9
7	Maxi Gnauck	Template:GDR	1979	1983	5	1	–	6
	Shannon Miller		1991	1994	5	1	–	6
9	Yelena Shushunova		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.

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	Template:Flagicon BEL	Template:Flagicon BLR	Template:Flagicon BOH	Template:Flagicon BUL	Template:Flagicon CHN	Template:Flagicon CIS	Template:Flagicon FIN	Template:Flagicon FRA	Template:Flagicon GBR	Template:Flagicon GDR	Template:Flagicon GER	Template:Flagicon ITA	Template:Flagicon JPN	Template:Flagicon ROU	Template:Flagicon RUS	Template:Flagicon SUI	Template:Flagicon TCH	Template:Flagicon UKR	Template:Flagicon URS	Template:Flagicon USA	Template:Flagicon 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 eighth place are not taken into account. Results for Germany and West Germany have been combined.

Event	Template:Flagicon AUS	Template:Flagicon AUT	Template:Flagicon BRA	Template:Flagicon CAN	Template:Flagicon CHN	Template:Flagicon FRA	Template:Flagicon GBR	Template:Flagicon GDR	Template:Flagicon GER	Template:Flagicon HUN	Template:Flagicon ITA	Template:Flagicon JPN	Template:Flagicon NED	Template:Flagicon POL	Template:Flagicon ROU	Template:Flagicon RUS	Template:Flagicon SWE	Template:Flagicon TCH	Template:Flagicon UKR	Template:Flagicon URS	Template:Flagicon USA
Team		6							6				5
Individual all-around						5			6				5
Vault	–											5	6
Uneven bars	6			8
Balance beam		–				4	–										–
Floor exercise		–		5					–								–

See also

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

External links

• Gymnastics International Federation