Gymnastics Australia (GA) is the governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Australia.
History Gymnastics in Australia is thought to have originated in the early 20th century by eastern European immigrants. It wasn't until after World War I, when Australia was in the Great Depression, that people started turning to organisations like the YWCA for support. From these community-based groups, the sport began to flourish. Around the same time, gymnastics was included in the Geelong Grammar, Wesley College and Carey Grammar school curriculum. Australians participated in the sport for the first time at an Olympic Games at the Melbourne Games in Melbourne.
The body was founded on 8 September 1949 as the Australian Gymnastics Union (AGU), with representatives from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. After the formation of this national body, the first Australian National Championships for men were held in Melbourne in 1950, with subsequent competitions held annually in ongoing years.
Affiliation was accepted by the Australian Olympic Federation in 1951 and by the International Federation of Gymnastics in 1954, at which point AGU began conforming to international regulations.
Western Australia became affiliated with the AGU in 1955, followed by South Australia in 1956.
The first international gymnastics competition was held in Melbourne as part of the 1956 Olympic Games, with full teams for both men and women competing in gymnastics for the first time. During this period, negotiations began to standardise gymnastics equipment in Australia, allowing for a better standard of training across the country.
While women represented Australia in gymnastics at the 1956 Olympic Games, women were not included in the Australian Gymnastics Championships until 1959.
In 1961, AGU accepted the idea of including junior gymnastics championships for the first time. The first under 18 men's competition was introduced formally in 1965.
In 1968, the AGU formally changed its name to the Australian Amateur Gymnastic Union (AAGU), seeing the Australian Capital Territory becoming officially affiliated the following year. 1969 also saw the introduction of the first Under 19 Men's competition and the first under 16 Women's competition.
Tasmania became affiliated with the AAGU in 1970.
In 1977, AAGU changed its name again, becoming known as the Australian Gymnastic Federation (AGF). Rhythmic sportive gymnastics was included under the AGF umbrella at this time, which saw Men's and Women's Olympic Gymnastics being renamed to Men's Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) and Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) within Australia as part of its national formation.
AGF was part of the formation of the Commonwealth Gymnastic Federation in 1978.
The first international gymnastics medal for Australia was won by Lindsay Nylund from Western Australia, who placed second in the 1978 Canada Commonwealth Games All-Round, and contributed to the first Australian team medal, a bronze won by the Australian men's team, at the same Games. Further recognition came in 1979 as the Federation International de Gymnstique Elite pin, a recognition by the international governing body for performing at 90% or better on overall scores at a world championship or Olympic games, was awarded to Phil Cheetham, Lindsay Nylund, Kerry Bayliss and Marina Sulicich based on their performance at the 1979 World Championships.
AGF was officially incorporated as a group in 1981, becoming Australian Gymnastic Federation Inc.
Also in 1981, the Australian Institute of Sport was established as a nationally-funded high-performance training centre for Australian athletes. It founding eight sports including gymnastics, which received its own specialised, fully equipped training gym in 1982. The AIS program began including rhythmic sportive gymnastics from 1983 onwards. The AIS gymnastics program was largely based in Canberra from 1981 until 2010, offering residential programs for both male and female athletes. In 2011, AIS gymnastics began being delivered as a camps based program, with all AIS athlete scholarships being discontinued at the end of 2013. Multiple states followed suit in setting up similar high-performance training programs, importing coaches with successful gymnastics program backgrounds from countries such as the Soviet Union, China, Romania and Japan to help run these programs, such as the WAIS program in 1988.
Australia's first international gold medal was won in 1989 by Ken Meredith from Queensland, winning at the Liberation Cup in Czechoslovakia. The first Australian team gold medal was awarded to the women's team at the 1990 Pacific Alliance Championships. The Pacific Alliance Championships also saw the men's team win bronze.
In 1994, Australia's national gymnastics teams competed at the Pacific Alliance in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Games in Canada to immense success. In New Zealand, the men's team won silver and the women's team won bronze, with the men winning 11 medals, women winning 5 medals and rhythmic team winning 6 medals (5 of which were gold) in Canada.
A General Gymnastics Development Director was first appointed in 1986 (Peter Murden), to help develop and establish a new discipline of gymnastics to focus on a more recreational non-competitive participation style of gymnastics. At this time, the kindergym program was also formalised, with its first national coaching accreditation scheme approved.
In 1995, Sports Aerobics was established as a gymnastics discipline, with all Australian finalists at the world's first FIG Sport Aerobic World Championships being awarded FIG Elite Pins, as well as Australia walking away with a silver medal in the individual women's event, 5th in the pairs division and 7th in the trio division.
In 1995, an enquiry was held into the Women's Artistic Gymnastics program at the AIS surrounding abuse allegations, with the coach and program ultimately exonerated at the time.
In 2000, the AGF changed its name once more. Its current name is Gymnastics Australia.
Present day Gymnastics Australia runs a head office in Melbourne, Victoria, acting as Australia's representative body to FIG.
Gymnastics Australia coordinates and provides gymnastics for Australians through eight Association Members, managing a total of 247,073 registered athletes (77.7% female, 22.2% male, 0.03% other, 0.03% non-binary with 93% being under the age of 12), 627 affiliated clubs, 7807 coaches and 3099 judges at the end of 2022: Gymnastics Australian Capital Territory 6454 athlete members 26% male, 74% female 91.75% 12 years and under 247 technical members 136 coaches 11 judges 100 dual coach/judge certified 5 affiliated clubs Gymnastics New South Wales 72,169 registered athlete members 30% of National athlete membership 77% female, 22.5% male, 0.5% non-binary 2379 technical members Largest number involved in Women's Artistic Gymnastics 215 affiliated clubs 46% in Sydney metro 44% in regional NSW 10% mobile providers Gymnastics Northern Territory 2142 athletes 24% male members, 76% female members 92.5% of members aged 12 and under 92 technical members 7 Affiliated clubs Gymnastics Queensland 57,102 registered athletes 2424 Technical members 1,621 coaches 803 judges 118 affiliated member clubs Gymnastics South Australia 16,562 athletes 74.79% female, 25.14% male, 0.06% not disclosed 93% aged 12 years and under 682 technical members 66 member clubs Gymnastics Tasmania 6084 registered athletes 73% female, 27% male 92% aged 12 years and under 227 Technical members 113 coaches 9 judges 105 coach/judge dual certified 12 affiliated clubs (Note - Participation numbers taken from 2021 annual report as 2022 annual report not publicly available) Gymnastics Victoria 63,931 registered athletes 2139 technical members Largest number registered for a single state in 2022 113 affiliated clubs Gymnastics Western Australia 23,237 athlete members 79.17% female, 20.78% male, 0.05% non-binary 93.8% aged 12 years and under 730 technical members 58 clubs and associated members
Gymnastics Australia sets the routines and routine guidelines for the National Levels Program which are used by gymnasts around the country.
Prominent Gymnastics Australia gymnasts Prominent gymnasts from Australia under Gymnastics Australia include:
Lauren Mitchell (WAG) - Retired 2016 as Australia's most decorated gymnast Georgia Godwin (WAG) Ashleigh Brennan (WAG) Daria Joura (WAG) Larissa Miller (WAG) Georgia Bonora (WAG) Hollie Dykes (WAG) Emily Whitehead (WAG) Joshua Jefferis (MAG) Heath Thorpe (MAG) Sam Offord (MAG) Tyson Bull (MAG) Graham Bond (MAG) Belinda Archer (WAG) Philippe Rizzo (MAG) Dominic Clarke (TRA) Ji Wallace (TRA) Australia's ONLY Olympic Medal - Silver won at Sydney 2000 games
Gymsports under Gymnastics Australia Within Australia, there are currently 8 recognised types of gymnastics registered under Gymnastics Australia: Parkour, Gymnastics for All, Acrobatic Gymnastics, Aerobic Gymnastics, Trampoline, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Women's Artistic Gymnastics and Men's Artistic Gymnastics.
Until 2018, Gymnastics Australia was also the governing body for cheerleading within Australia, recognising it as a type of gymsport. However, they stepped down from this role in 2018.
Parkour Parkour is the newest gymsport recognised by the International Federation of Gymnastics, with athletes facing a range of obstacles including bars, ramps and boxes up to 2.5m tall across the space. Within the space, they compete in two events: speed and freestyle. In speed, the goal is to make it through two laps of obstacles within the fastest time. In freestyle, athletes are given 70 seconds to impress the judges with their skills on the obstacles, bars and floor, with points given for difficulty and deducted for execution errors.
Gymnastics for All Gymnastics for All serves as an entry point into gymnastics within Australia, with a range of GfA programs falling under this gymsport banner that serve different purposes. These include:
Launchpad: Launchpad is a school-aged gymnastics program that is delivered in both gymnastics clubs and schools, allowing school students to explore safe and enjoyable gymnastics activities relative to their abilities and stage of development. FreeG: FreeG or Freestyle Gymnastics is similar to parkour in the way that it encourages participants to use traditional gymnastics equipment in new ways, being similar to ninja warrior programs with its focus on coordination, agility, spatial awareness and strength. KinderGym: KinderGym programs are designed for preschool-aged children, providing a safe environment to experience a range of movement activities to develop the skills to think, create, construct and solve problems with their own bodies. TeamGym: TeamGym combines elements of tumbling, mini tramp and dance to create a three apparatus competition event for teams of 6 - 12 members, encouraging individual skill development and teamwork. The program is split into novice, intermediate and advanced levels, with the ability to incorporate harder skills depending on the competency of the athlete and coach. Fitter for Life Gymnastics: Fitter for Life allows for a fundamental movement program and social opportunity for those who wish to improve their mobility, strength and coordination with friends. This program is designed to be tailored to the level of ability and mobility of those within the class to meet their needs, with a focus on everyday activities, with heavy marketing towards older individuals.