One year on from when British Gymnastics set out a long-term ambition for disability gymnastics to become a Paralympic sport from Brisbane 2032 onwards work has already underway on making the dream a reality.

As part of British Gymnastics's "Leap Without Limits" vision, which expressed a "commitment to being relentless in the pursuit of inclusion and accessibility", the organisation last year set out a plan to develop a structured route to overseeing gymnastics introduced in 2032 with a new FIG Para-Gymnastics working group. 

The group working on the project has been led by Patrick Bonner, British Gymnastics Foundation’s Managing Director along with Dr Angela Turner, Chair of British Gymnastics’ Disability Panel. 

“The next three years are critically important to this journey as we develop an FIG Code of Points for Men's and Women's Artistic Para-Gymnastics and a classification structure for the disciplines," said Bonner. "This will involve a complex research programme to develop the scientific basis for our classification system which is required of all Paralympic sports."

“We’ll begin by having many international competitions to deliver, including the first FIG Para-Gymnastics World Championships in 2027," he explained. "With this comes a huge role in involving as many Gymnastic National Federations around the world in a Para-Gymnastics education programme, so that we grow the number of nations competing internationally."

Bonner also shared that in October 2024, the FIG Para-Gymnastics working group will have its first Congress wherein attendees will vote to formally recognise Para-Gymnastics as a new discipline within the family of FIG disciplines." The hope is that with all FIG member nations voting, a resolution will be passed thereby officially putting Para-Gymnastics on the map and pushing plans ahead for 2032.

Right now the highest level of disability gymnastics competition is national level. On 28th September, British Gymnastics will be staging the 2024 Disability British Championships in Cardiff. With this representing the highest level of disability gymnastics competition for athletes, the FIG Para-Gymnastics working group hopes to push competitions beyond their current national limits. 

British Gymnastics will be working to help establish international competitions for disability gymnastics and thus provide Britain’s leading disability gymnasts the opportunity to compete on the world stage.