FIG All-Around World Cup series cancelled, +1 Olympic berths awarded to four nations
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced Wednesday that the FIG All-Around World Cup series – Criteria 6 of the qualification system for gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics – has officially been cancelled.
The announcement came immediately following British Gymnastics confirmation that the 2021 Birmingham World Cup will not go on due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the reinforcement of entry bans in Europe.
As outlined in the FIG’s official qualification document for the Tokyo Games, a minimum of three All-Around World Cups (out of four total) needed to take place for the series to count toward Olympic qualification, with the four meets being: the 2020 American Cup (complete), the Stuttgart World Cup (cancelled), the Birmingham World Cup (cancelled), and the Tokyo World Cup.
While the first event, the aforementioned 2020 edition of the American Cup, took place last year in Milwaukee, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the three other events until 2021.
As of now, the Tokyo World Cup on May 4 will go on as planned and will serve as a test event for the games.
With the FIG All-Around World Cup series officially being cancelled, the three Olympic places that were to be awarded in both Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics at the end of the series are now reallocated to the “highest-ranked countries in the team ranking results of the qualifications at the 2019 World Championships.”
The following countries have now obtained an additional (+1) non-nominative (for the country to award) berth for Tokyo 2020:
– Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG): Russia, China, and Japan.
– Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG): USA, China, and Russia.
Prior to the cancellation of the series, Team USA led both the men’s and women’s qualification for the series after Sam Mikulak and Morgan Hurd won the MAG and WAG divisions, respectively, at the 2020 American Cup.
Now, while the U.S. women will almost certainly have 6 athletes in Tokyo (having already qualified a team of 4, +1 via this reallocation, and +1 with Jade Carey’s presumptive win via the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup Series), the U.S. men have only one more opportunity to earn a +1 berth via the Pan American Championships, with the potential to have the maximum of 6 athletes no longer an option.
To date, 82 Olympic spots out of 98 in MAG and 84 out of 98 in WAG have already been allocated.
The remaining berths will be awarded through the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup Series, which hosts its final event March 10-13 in Doha, Qatar, and the continental championships.
You can find the full list of Olympic qualifiers here and see the FIG’s Tokyo Olympic qualification system here.
