Age requirements in gymnastics

The age requirements in gymnastics are established by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) and regulate the age at which athletes are allowed to participate in senior-level competitions.

In the latter half of the 20th century, a series of controversies arose with regard to gymnast ages, some of them leading to sanctions by FIG, and paving the way for the age requirements to be raised from 14 to 15 in 1981, and then to 16 in 1997.

History of age requirements in artistic gymnastics

Prior to 1981, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the FIG (including the Olympic Games--was 14. The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion while pregnant with her daughter.Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.