Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984 with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, and rotations along with handling the apparatus.
The International Gymnastics Federation is the body governing competition in all disciplines of gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on 23 July 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the world's oldest existing international sports organisation. Originally called the European Federation of Gymnastics, it had three member countries—Belgium, France and the Netherlands—until 1921, when non-European countries were admitted and it received its current name.
The 37th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Anaheim, California, United States, from 16 to 24 August 2003.
The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Fort Worth, United States, in 1979. In November 1977 the 55th FIG Congress, held in Rome, changed the cycle of world championships: since 1979 they were to be held each two years, and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic tournament. The first 12 teams in the team competition of the 1979 World Championships were invited to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Aerobic gymnastics or sport aerobics is a competitive sport originating from traditional aerobics in which complex, high-intensity movement patterns and elements of varying difficulty are performed to music.
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.
Women's events at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were first held in 1934 at the 10th World Championships. Only the All-Around and Team events were held. In 1950, at the 12th World Championships, the other apparatus events were added.
Women's events at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were first held in 1934 at the 10th World Championships. Only the All-Around and Team events were held. In 1938, at the 11th World Championships, the other apparatus events were added.
Women's events at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were first held in 1934 at the 10th World Championships. Only the All-Around and Team events were held. In 1938, at the 11th World Championships, the other apparatus events were added. Originally women participated at parallel bars competition. Starting from 1950, at the 12th World Championships, it was replaced with uneven bars competition which has been held in every year since its inception.
Women's events at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were first held in 1934, at the 10th World Championships. Only the All-Around and Team events were held. In 1938, at the 11th World Championships, the other apparatus events were added.
Women's events at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were first held in 1934 at the 10th World Championships. Only the All-Around and Team events were held. In 1938, at the 11th World Championships, the other apparatus events were added.
The 10th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Gymnastics Federation, on June 1–2, 1934.
The Gymnasiade, or World Gymnasiade, or World School Sport Games, or ISF World School Sport Games is an international multi-sport event which is organised by the International School Sport Federation (ISF). It is the largest event among many other sport events held by the ISF. Aligned with the philosophy of the organisation, only individuals between the ages of 13 and 18 are eligible to compete.
The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition for rhythmic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the few tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the World Championships, the gymnastics competitions at the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympics, and the rhythmic gymnastics events at the World Games. The World Cup series should not be confused with the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix series, which is neither officially organized nor promoted by FIG.
Aesthetic group gymnastics (AGG) is a discipline of gymnastics developed from Finnish "Women's Gymnastics" (naisvoimistelu). The discipline is reminiscent of rhythmic gymnastics, with some significant differences: in AGG, the emphasis is on big and continuous body movement, and the teams are larger. AGG teams often consist of 4–10 gymnasts, and some children’s teams are bigger. Furthermore, apparatus is not used in international AGG competitions as it is in rhythmic gymnastics where balls, ribbons, hoops and clubs are used on the floor area. The sport requires physical qualities such as flexibility, balance, speed, strength, coordination and sense of rhythm where movements of the body are emphasized in the flow and, expressive and aesthetic appeal. A good performance is characterized by uniformity and simultaneity. The competition program consists of versatile and varied body movements, such as body waves and swings, balances and pivots, jumps and leaps, dance steps, and lifts.
These are four lists of achievements in major international gymnastics events according to first-place, second-place and third-place results obtained by gymnasts representing different nations. The objective is not to create combined medal tables; the focus is on listing the best positions achieved by gymnasts in major international competitions, ranking the nations according to the most number of podiums accomplished by gymnasts of these nations. All seven competitive disciplines currently recognized by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) are covered: 1) acrobatic gymnastics, 2) aerobic gymnastics, 3) men's artistic gymnastics, 4) women's artistic gymnastics, 5) women's rhythmic gymnastics, 6) trampoline and tumbling, and 7) parkour.
The 2015 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, the 34th edition, was held in Stuttgart, Germany, from September 7 to 13, 2015 at the Porsche Arena. It acted as a qualifying competition for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
FIG World Cup refers to a number of events organized by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) across seven competitive gymnastics disciplines: 1) acrobatic gymnastics, 2) aerobic gymnastics, 3) men's artistic gymnastics, 4) women's artistic gymnastics, 5) women's rhythmic gymnastics, 6) trampoline and tumbling, and 7) parkour.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Federation of Gymnastics which was founded in 1881, a commemorative competition was held in Paris, on July 11 & 12, in conjunction with that year's Bastille Day.
Rome, Italy 
