In March 2020 the European gymnastics calendar stopped. Within a few weeks, championships, World Cups, training camps, courses and festivals were postponed or cancelled. Our update at the time listed the first changes; this retrospective looks at what the shutdown meant for the sport.
What was affected
Every discipline lost events. The women's artistic European Championships planned for Paris, the men's planned for Baku, the rhythmic championships in Kyiv and the trampoline championships in Gothenburg were all disrupted. Coaches' courses, judges' courses and Gymnastics for All festivals were hit as well, including the Golden Age Gym Festival planned for Rethymno.
The Olympic question
The Tokyo Olympics were postponed to 2021. For gymnasts, this meant another year of training in a sport where careers can be short, especially in women's artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. Some athletes who had planned to retire after Tokyo faced a difficult decision; others gained time to recover from injuries.
Training under lockdown
Gymnastics depends on specialist equipment and safe training environments. During lockdowns many gymnasts trained at home with improvised conditioning programmes. Elite programmes reopened earlier than community clubs in most countries, but even they worked under restrictions.
The return
Competition gradually returned in late 2020, often in reduced form, and the 2021 European Championships in Basel became the first big continental event of the restart.
What the sport learned
- Federations improved their online communication with clubs and athletes. - Remote judging and video-based competitions were tested for the first time at scale. - Mental health support for athletes received more attention, a change that has lasted.
See our archive entries for the 2020 Paris championships and the 2020 Golden Age Gym Festival.
