The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) or International Federation of Gymnastics (IFG) is the governing body of competitive gymnastics. It was founded on July 23, 1881 in Liège, Belgium, making it the oldest international sport federation. 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 was renamed to its current name. The federation draws up the rules, known as the Code of Points, which regulate how gymnast's performance is evaluated. Six 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), Sports aerobics (AER), Sports acrobatics (ACRO), Trampolining (TRA) and General gymnastics (GG).
Organization
As of 2005, 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 seven Technical Committees — for each of the disciplines (WAG and MAG have distinct ones; for GG it's called General Gymnastics Committee). There are 122 federations affiliated to the FIG and 1 associated federation, as well as four Continental Unions:
- European Union of Gymnastics (UEG)
- Pan-American Gymnastic Union (PAGU)
- Asian Gymnastic Union (AGU)
- African Gymnastics Union (UAG)
An Italian Bruno Grandi is the current president.
Major competitions
- Olympic competition
- World Gymnastics Championships
- World Cup
