Rhythmic Gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics, together with the Olympic disciplines of artistic gymnastics and trampolining. It evolved from the mass gymnastics popular in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, combined with music and elements from dance. As a sport, it first emerged in the Soviet Union, where the first championships were held in 1948.

The sport is governed worldwide by World Gymnastics (WG), which was founded on 23 July 1881, in Liège, Belgium, with three founding members: Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. It was originally called the Bureau des Fédérations Européennes de Gymnastique (FEG) until 1921, and was rebranded as the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) between 1921-2025. As of January 2026, the organization has 167 member federations. The FIG recognized rhythmic gymnastics as a discipline in 1961, with the first World Championships being held in 1963, in Budapest, Hungary.

The sport has five different attributes: rope, hoop, ball, ribbon, and, previously, clubs. There is also an all-around competition, in which the results of the four apparatuses are combined. In group competitions, teams consist of five members, with two events: 1) five hoops, and 2) three ribbons plus two ropes. Only women are allowed to participate in rhythmic gymnastics internationally, although men do compete in some countries, notably Japan.

The sport was approved for the Olympics in 1980, and first contested in Los Angeles 1984. However, at Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956, a similar event was part of the women’s artistic gymnastics programme: the team event with portable apparatus. In that event, teams were allowed to pick an attribute of their choice, such as balls, hoops, or clubs.

As of 2024, only two events are held at the Olympic Games, the individual all-around and group all-around events, the latter held since Atlanta 1996. Individual events in rhythmic gymnastics have also been contested at the World Games from 2001-2022.

When rhythmic gymnastics made its Olympic début at Los Angeles 1984, the competition suffered from the Soviet boycott, as that country and its successor nations have dominated the sport since the beginning. Russia has won 10 of the 19 gold medals awarded through 2024, and no other nation has won more than one gold.

Only four women, all Russian, have managed to win two gold medals in the discipline: Nataliya Lavrova (2000-2004), Yelena Posevina (2004-2008), and Anastasiya Bliznyuk (2012-2016) all doubled in the group competition, while Yevgeniya Kanayeva won two individual titles (2008-2012).

Rhythmic gymnastics has also been part of the Youth Summer Olympics programme since the competition’s début, at Singapore 2010.