Abbreviation FIG Location Lausanne, Switzerland President Morinari Watanabe (ja) | Headquarters Avenue de la Gare 12 Region served Worldwide | |
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Formation 23 July 1881; 135 years ago (1881-07-23) | ||
The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), or International Federation of Gymnastics (IFG), is the governing body of competitive gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on July 23, 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.
Contents
The federation sets the rules, known as the Code of Points, that regulate how gymnasts' performances are evaluated. Seven gymnastics disciplines are governed by the FIG: artistic gymnastics, further classified as men's artistic gymnastics (MAG) and women's artistic gymnastics (WAG); rhythmic gymnastics (RG); aerobic gymnastics (AER); acrobatic gymnastics (ACRO); trampolining (TRA) and tumbling (TUM).
Additionally, the federation is responsible for determining whether gymnasts are old enough to participate in the Olympics.
Organization
The main governing bodies of the federation are the president and vice presidents; the Congress, held every two years; the Executive Committee; the Council; and technical committees for each of the disciplines.
As of 2015, there were 144 federations affiliated with the FIG and four associated federations, as well as four Continental Unions:
An Italian, Bruno Grandi, has been the elected president since 1996.
Competitions
The competitions officially organized by FIG are:
Other tournaments approved by the FIG include:
Age eligibility rules
The FIG regulates the age at which gymnasts are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions. The purpose is to protect young gymnasts, but it has caused some controversy, and there have been cases of age falsification.