From INSIDE GYMNASTICS
How Do Athletes Qualify for Paris 2024?
By Anna Rose Johnson for Inside Gymnastics
The Olympic qualification procedures for artistic gymnastics are always evolving to fit the sport’s current needs, but it can make things confusing for fans who aren’t quite sure what is required of their favorite teams and athletes in order to qualify for the next Olympic Games. So today, let’s break down the paths to qualification ahead of Paris 2024—which start in Liverpool at the 2022 World Championships!
- There are 96 slots available for the men and 96 available for the women.
- Each country who qualifies to the Olympics will be comprised of five athletes. Countries that fail to qualify a full team will be able to send up to three individual athletes to Paris via the methods that will be outlined here.
- Six countries will qualify to the 2024 Olympics at the 2022 World Championships—three men’s teams and three women’s teams. Twenty-four teams will compete in World qualifications, and the top three in the team final are the ones who will qualify full teams to Paris.
- Next year, at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, the same thing will occur: twenty-four teams will be able to compete in qualifications in hopes of advancing a full team to Paris, but only the top nine will qualify.
- The three top-ranking countries at 2023 Worlds who do not qualify via the first two criteria will obtain one individual slot for their nation.
- There will also be opportunities to qualify to Paris via 2023 Worlds by order of ranking in the all-around qualifications. The top eight men and fourteen women will advance to the Olympics based on their standings. (These are non-nominative slots, which means the berths belong to the athletes instead of being potentially open to other athletes from their country.) Athletes who previously qualified to the Olympics with their teams will be ineligible to receive one of these slots.
- Six men and four women have a chance to qualify via apparatus finals at 2023 Worlds. Excluding athletes who already previously qualified via other paths, the highest-finishing athletes on each apparatus (in the finals, or if necessary, qualifications) will receive a berth for Paris.
- There are also opportunities for specialists to qualify via the 2024 Apparatus World Cup series—twelve men and eight women. Each country can send up to two athletes per apparatus to compete in these World Cups, and the highest-ranking two athletes on each event are guaranteed a slot to Paris. Again, only those who have not previously qualified are eligible for these slots. As usual, World Cup points—built up over the series—count toward securing those berths. To sum up, the “maximum three best competitions out of four will be considered,” according to the FIG. Those athletes with the highest point totals will qualify via this path.
- There will also be ways to qualify via the 2024 Continental Championships (such as the European Championships)—five men and five women. The highest-ranked athletes in either the all-around qualifications or finals have the chance to obtain a berth, provided that they or their country haven’t already qualified slots by other methods.
- The Olympic host country (France) is guaranteed two athletes (one man and one woman) via any of these methods if they do not qualify a full team or any individuals. If they do, the slot will be reallocated to eligible All-Arounders at 2023 Worlds.
- There will also be one Universality Place quota for both men and women, to be selected by the Tripartite Commission of the IOC.
Wow, that’s a lot! It will be fascinating to see how the qualifications begin to unfold at this year’s Worlds. It’s hard to believe that we’re already moving onto the first installment of Olympic qualification. What are you most excited for as we launch into all the action in Liverpool?