World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for artistic gymnastics governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. 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, but changed its name in 1921, becoming the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique ; 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 actually referred to at the time as a 'World Championships' was not until the 1930s, although sources differ on whether the first Worlds were those held in 1930 or those held in 1934. The championships prior to the 1930s, beginning back in 1903, would eventually be recognized, retroactively, as the World Championships.
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 Egypt sent athletes to the 1950 World Championships. By the time of these World Championships, a total of 60 male athletes from 6 different countries and 53 female athletes from 7 different countries comprised the competitive field. By the 2013 World Championships, the competition had grown to include 264 men from 71 different countries and 134 women from 57 different countries. As of 2019, over sixty different editions of the championships have been staged, and over forty different countries have earned medals in both men's and women's artistic gymnastics events.
The most successful nation, both in gold medal results and total number of medals, is the former Soviet Union. China is the second most successful country in total medals earned, and Japan is the third. Since the fall of the Soviet block, the traditional powerhouses in men's and women's individual and team events have been Russia, Ukraine, China, United States, Japan, and Romania with increasing results from Great Britain and Brazil and a recent decrease in results from the delegation from Romania. Currently, the championships are held annually in non-Olympic years, and all individual events are held at every championships. However, the team event is omitted in the year after an Olympic Games.
Editions
;NoteIn 1931, an unofficial edition of the World Championships took place in Paris, France, with the participation of 10 different national federations.
All-time medal table
Last updated after the 2019 World Championships.Men's events
Women's events
Overall
;Notes- Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Bohemia as medals for Czechoslovakia.
- Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Austria-Hungary as medals for Yugoslavia.
- Official documents from the International Gymnastics Federation credit medals earned by athletes from former Soviet Union at the 1992 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Paris, France as medals for CIS.
- At the 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, Great Britain, Azerbaijani-born gymnast Valery Belenky earned a bronze medal competing as an unattached athlete because Azerbaijan did not have a gymnastics federation for him to compete. Later, official documents from the International Gymnastics Federation credit his medal as a medal for Germany.
Statistics
Multiple gold medalists
Boldface denotes active artistic gymnasts and highest medal count among all artistic gymnasts per type.Men
All events
Individual events
Women
All events
Individual events
;NoteFew 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, 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 and two in team events - 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 | BEL | BLR | BOH | BUL | CHN | CIS | FIN | FRA | GBR | GDR | GER | ITA | JPN | ROU | RUS | SUI | TCH | UKR | URS | USA | 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 eight place are not taken into account. Results for Germany and West Germany have been combined.| Event | AUS | AUT | BRA | CAN | CHN | FRA | GBR | GDR | GER | HUN | ITA | JPN | NED | POL | ROU | RUS | SWE | TCH | UKR | URS | USA |
| Team | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Individual all-around | 5 | 4 | 6 | - | |||||||||||||||||
| Vault | - | - | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| Uneven bars | 6 | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||
| Balance beam | - | 6 | 5 | - | - | ||||||||||||||||
| Floor exercise | - | 7 | - | - |