2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta, Indonesia from October 19–25, 2025.^[1] It was the first world artistic gymnastics championship hosted by any Southeast Asian country.^[2][3] Like other world championships held in the year after the Olympics, there was no team competition.^[4]

  *   Host nation (Indonesia)

  *   Host nation (Indonesia)

  *   Host nation (Indonesia)

^[6]

427 gymnasts (254 men, 173 women) from 75 nations participated in the World Championships in Jakarta.^[7] As is typical for a post-Olympic year world championships, there were no eligibility requirements or qualification criteria set by the FIG; any country with a valid FIG license could elect to send up to six male and four female athletes to the championships.^[8]

Initially, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) set the format that a federation may only send three athletes per gender, with a max of two individuals competing on each apparatus. However, in late 2024, the FIG reversed this decision and announced that they would go back to the previous format of individual World Championships, allowing a federation to bring up to six male gymnasts and four female gymnasts, with a max of three individuals allowed to compete on each apparatus.^[9]

Less than two weeks before the start of the competition, Indonesia's senior minister of law, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, announced that Indonesia would reject the visas for Israeli athletes due to their support of Israel in the Gaza war, adding that this decision is in line with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's condemnation of Israel for its continued attacks on the Gaza Strip.^[11][12][13] This came after Israel's planned participation sparked intense opposition in Indonesia, according to Pramono Anung, governor of Jakarta. He cited the fact that many politicians and Muslim groups called for an Israeli ban for this competition, with Indonesian social media users objecting to the arrival of athletes from a country that is committing genocide.^[11] Furthermore, Indonesia has no diplomatic ties with Israel and has refused to host Israeli sports delegations going back to 1962, when Israel and Taiwan were denied entry to compete in the 1962 Asian Games.^[13] Originally, the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation had submitted a letter to sponsor six Israeli athletes for visas, but the letter had since been withdrawn.^[14] The FIG released a short statement saying that it "recognizes the challenges that the host country has faced in organizing the event" but did not comment on its statutes requiring that visas be issued to competitors.^[15]

In response to the refusal to issue visas, the Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) submitted an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking for their athletes to be allowed to compete, or alternatively that the competition be canceled or moved to an alternative location that will issue visas to all competitors.^[16] In their appeal, the IGF argued that the FIG statutes require the FIG Executive Committee to pass a decision to move or cancel the event if entry visas are not granted to all participating delegations.^[17] On October 14, the CAS rejected the appeal for urgent provisional measures, and therefore the competition would go on as scheduled and without Israeli participation.^[17][18] However, the second appeal, as to whether the FIG is in breach of their statutes, will remain ongoing,^[17] but it will not be heard before the start of the competition.^[13]

On 18 October 2025, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expressed “great concern” over the decision by Indonesia to deny visas to the Israeli delegation for the Championships, emphasising that all eligible athletes must be able to participate without discrimination in line with the Olympic Charter. The IOC stated that it is the direct responsibility of the host country, event organiser and relevant sports bodies to ensure that no athlete will be excluded on discriminatory grounds. The IOC further stated that the specific situation of Indonesia will be discussed at its next Executive Board (EB) meeting.^[19] On October 22, the IOC released a statement stating that EB met remotely and decided to end any form of dialogue with the Indonesian Olympic Committee about hosting future editions of the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, or Olympic events and recommended international sporting federations do the same, until such time as the Indonesian government provides the IOC with adequate guarantees that it will allow access to the country for all participants, regardless of nationality. Additionally the IOC adapted the Qualification Principles for the Olympic Games, requesting that the International Federations include guarantees on access to the respective country for all athletes in their hosting agreements for any Olympic qualification competition around the world.^[20]

• 1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships § Controversies

• 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique