Paris 2024 quotas all to play for as artistic gymnastics FIG Apparatus World Cup series begins
Cairo is the first stop of four in one of the final chances for artistic gymnasts to qualify quota places for Paris 2024, which starts in less than six months' time.
Artistic Gymnastics
Okay, deep breath. There is so much going on in the 2024 FIG Apparatus World Cup, it's difficult to know where to begin.
Put it this way, the number of entrants in the first competition of four in the artistic gymnastics' series, which takes place in Cairo from 15-18 February, has nearly doubled since last year's edition, to almost 300.
Much is at stake. Multiple big names who have yet to qualify for the artistic gymnastics' competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, starting in less than six months' time, are getting twitchy.
For gymnasts whose nations have already qualified a full five-person team for the Games in France, or secured a berth individually, it's time to sparkle and say to their national federations, 'Pick me, pick me'.
So, ahead of the first competition in Egypt, which is swiftly followed by the Cottbus, Germany edition (22-25 February), then Baku, Azerbaijan (7-10 March), before concluding in Doha, Qatar (17-20 April), Olympics.com highlights a fraction of the main storylines to follow.
What is the FIG Apparatus World Cup 2024 and what does it mean for Paris 2024?
The 2024 edition of the annual FIG Apparatus World Cup serves as a qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
A gymnast's best three results across four competitions secure points for where they finish, so 30 points for gold, 25 for silver, and 20 for bronze, and so on, down to one point for 16th place.
Two gymnasts per apparatus – so a total of eight women's artistic gymnasts and 12 men's – can earn berths for their nation through the series, which concludes 20 April.
The women's apparatus are vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor. The men compete on floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar.
Only one country can secure a spot per apparatus, with a maximum of three overall per National Olympic Committee.
Gymnasts are not eligible if their team has already secured a quota via the 2023 or 2024 World Championships, or if they have already obtained a quota spot for their nation as an individual.
Big name Olympians still trying to qualify for Paris 2024
The defending Olympic champion on uneven bars Nina Derwael is back after returning from a shoulder injury, although, plot twist, she won't be competing on bars in Cairo.
The Belgian is not ready to compete on her favoured apparatus in which she is also a two-time world champion but will try to qualify for Paris via beam or floor.
Any gymnast who secures a spot for the Olympics via the Apparatus World Cup is able to compete on all events in Paris. You're keeping up, right?
Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina is aiming to qualify for her ninth Olympic Games. Yes, NINTH. The 48-year-old mother of one has a gold medal from the 1992 Games and silver from Beijing 2008 but even making it to the XXXIII Olympiad would be an incredible headline-making feat.
The French men are going all out to qualify in as many apparatus disciplines as possible after not securing any spots for their home Games so far.
Should that state of affairs continue after the FIG Apparatus World Cup series, and the conclusion of the European Championships in Rimini, Italy, which offers one additional quota spot, a solitary quota place will be available in Paris, courtesy of being hosts.
It's a tough ask looking at the super-strong startlist but Benjamin Osberger (floor and pommel horse specialist), three-time Olympian Cyril Tommasone (pommel horse), Samir Aït Saïd (rings), Cameron-Lie Bernard (rings and parallel bars), Léo Saladino (vault), and Matthias Philippe (parallel bars and high bar) will be going all out in Egypt to start with the series with a bang.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea also return to World Cup competition for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic with 2023 Asian Games gold medallist An Chang Ok making her debut with vault and uneven bars her key events.
Olympic gymnasts putting themselves in line for selection at Apparatus World Cup
National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, so an athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Therefore, gymnasts whose nations have already obtained quota places for Paris are going all out to show they are in form and ready to rock and roll at the Bercy Arena when the Olympic meet starts Saturday 27 July.
Great Britain have secured two full five-person team quotas in the men's and women's event and now it's a bun fight for places on the squad.
Joe Fraser, the 2019 world champion parallel bars had a storming 2022 with three Commonwealth Games gold medals, three European titles, and a world team bronze in which the squad secured Paris 2024 qualification. But he spent much of 2023 out with injury so he'll be so glad to get back out on the competition floor. Adam Tobin, Alex Yolshin-Cash and Courtney Tulloch, the latter the world bronze medallist on rings, join Fraser in the men's competition.
Becky Downie features alongside Ondine Achampong, the pair both part of the British women's history-making team who won European team gold for the first time ever last year, and who will be looking to defend their title in Rimini, Italy, in May.
The reigning Olympic champion on men's vault, Shin Jeahwan of Republic of Korea, who won gold by the tightest of margins in Japan returns to the World Cup circuit for the first time in three years, while just the pommel horse event showcases the depth of talent on show in Egypt. Competitors in the discipline include Tokyo 2020 pommel horse silver medallist Lee Chih-Kai (TPE), 2008 Olympic silver medallist Filip Ude (CRO), and two-time world champion Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland.
Perennial World Cup star, Ukraine's Illia Kovtun who previously won six consecutive World Cup competitions on parallel bars, also returns as does Netherlands' Eythora Thorsdottir in the women's event, a fan favourite due to her original routines and elegant poise. Talking of which Okamura Mana of Japan, the Asian Games gold medallist on beam in 2023, also features as does rising uneven bars star Huang Zhuofan of People's Republic of China.
From newbies to experienced campaigners, everyone's focus is the same – the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The excitement is now palpable.
- Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.