Kitakyushu, Japan selected as host for 2021 World Gymnastics Championships
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced Sunday that the city of Kitakyushu in Japan will host the 2021 World Gymnastics Championships for both artistic and rhythmic disciplines in October 2021.
The FIG’s decision to award Japan with back-to-back World Championships in the same month comes after Denmark withdrew from hosting the 2021 Artistic Worlds back in July.
Artistic Worlds–which will be an individual Worlds with no team competition–will take place from October 17-24, per Olympic Channel, with the rhythmic competition happening from October 26-31. Both events will be marked as “legacy events” of Tokyo 2020, according to FIG President Morinari Watanabe.
The Kitakyushu General Gymnasium will host the artistic event, and the West Japan Exhibition Centre will host the rhythmic event. Use the slider below to see both venues.
It might seem repetitive for Kitakyushu to host these World events mere months after the Tokyo Olympic Games, but this will be the first time the city has hosted World gymnastics events.
A city of almost one million, located on the island of Kyushu, it is most notably the hometown of reigning Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura. Whether the 31-year-old star will hold off on retirement long enough to compete in front of his home crowd–a fitting send-off for a gymnast widely considered the greatest male gymnast of all time–will likely hinge on his performance in Tokyo next summer, and that’s if he is named to the Japan Olympic team.
“It’s special enough to have the Olympics in your home country,” Uchimura said. “But to host the world championships in your hometown gives me even greater joy.”
Kitakyushu is also the birthplace of Watanabe.
“Kitakyushu, the city where I was born, was a prosperous city thanks to steelworks until forty years ago,” Watanabe said. “However, it now has the oldest population of any city in Japan. From a steel city, it has become a top-class city promoting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.”
“This time, we are taking on the challenge of supporting economic activity and promoting the Sustainable Development Goals through sports,” Watanabe continued. “We are happy and proud that our Gymnastics family can take on the challenge of using sport as a tool for urban regeneration.”
The Japan Gymnastics Association is “ready” and looking forward to hosting both events despite the uncertainties involving the current COVID-19 pandemic.
No one knows what the health situation and status of the pandemic will be in a little less than a year’s time, but Japan successfully hosting the FIG Friendship & Solidarity competition this weekend is a positive sign that gymnastics competition can exist and be a beacon of hope for all in these trying times.
