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 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.
Alexei Yurievich Nemov is a former artistic gymnast from Russia. During his career, he won five world championships, three European championships and twelve Olympic medals.
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.
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the 2004 Summer Olympics. During her career, Khorkina won seven Olympic medals and twenty World Championship medals. Over time, she medaled in every event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She was also the first gymnast to win three all-around titles at the World Championships and only the second female artistic gymnast ever, after Nadia Comăneci, to win three European All-Around titles. Khorkina is regarded as one of the most successful female gymnasts of all time.
Elizabeth Kimberly Tweddle is a retired British artistic gymnast. Renowned for her uneven bar and floor routines, she was the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the European Championships, World Championships, and Olympic Games. Tweddle, known for her consistency and longevity as an elite gymnast, is regarded as a pioneer of the renaissance of British gymnastics at the beginning of the twenty-first century that saw the country's gymnastics programme progress from 'also ran' to consistent global competitiveness, and along with peers such as Vanessa Ferrari of Italy and Isabelle Severino of France, helped begin a period of significant success for western European gymnasts globally.
The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. The tournament is promoted and organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the three tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup and the gymnastics competitions at the Olympic Games. The first edition of the World Championships was held in 1963, a time when the sport was known as modern gymnastics. The current program of the World Championships contemplates both individual and group performances. In even non-Olympic years and the year before the Olympics, a team event is also contested. Two events are not competed at the World Championships anymore: individual rope and free hands.
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 2nd Individual European Artistic Gymnastics Championships for both men and women took place in Amsterdam in April 2007.
Giulia Steingruber is a Swiss retired artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World bronze medalist on vault. Additionally, she is the 2015 European all-around champion, a four-time European vault champion and the 2016 European floor exercise champion.
The Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships are the main acrobatic gymnastics championships in Europe. The championships are organized by European Gymnastics, formerly known as the European Union of Gymnastics.
The 1st Individual European Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary, on 2 June to 5 June 2005. It included both men's and women's events.
Eleftherios "Lefteris" Kosmidis in Greece is an international elite artistic gymnast and a former world champion on Men's Floor Exercise. He was named the 2010 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.
The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, Germany and Glasgow, United Kingdom between 2 and 12 August. The second edition in 2022 took place in Munich, Germany. A host for the third edition has not been confirmed.
The Russia women's national artistic gymnastics team represents Russia in FIG international competitions. Additionally, they have competed as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF) due to the World Anti-Doping Agency imposing sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of the doping scandal. While competing under the Russian Olympic Committee designation, they won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. They also won the team gold medal at the 2010 World Championships and at the inaugural Junior World Championships in 2019.
The 31st European Championships in Women's Artistic Gymnastics Seniors and Juniors was held from 1 to 5 June 2016, at the PostFinance-Arena in Bern, Switzerland. It was the first time the city had hosted a major female international competition, and was the first time Switzerland hosted the competition in the country.
The 32nd European Championships in Men's Artistic Gymnastics Seniors and Juniors was held from 25 to 29 May 2016 at the PostFinance-Arena in Bern, Switzerland.
The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom from 2 to 12 August 2018. Around 1,500 athletes competed at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, whilst at the same time more than 3,000 took part in the other championships in Glasgow. Each European Championship will be organised by the respective federation and host city.
The 7th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships were held from 19 to 23 April 2017 at the Polyvalent Hall in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. As usual in this format, no team competitions took place.
Illia Yuriiovych Kovtun is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. He is the 2023 World all-around silver medalist and 2021 World all-around bronze medalist. At the European Championships he is the 2023 European champion on parallel bars as well as a one-time silver medalist and a three-time bronze medalist. Additionally he is a two-time junior world championships medalist.
Baku, Azerbaijan 
