Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská won a total of 22 international titles between 1959 and 1968 including seven Olympic gold medals, four world titles and eleven European championships.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, she took this protest to the world stage by quietly looking down and away while the Soviet national anthem was played during the medal ceremonies for the balance beam and floor exercise event finals.
Aside from the last minute decision of the Indonesian government NOT to allow Israeli passport holders to enter the country, 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was an excellent competition.
I want to thank organizers and all the many, many volunteers for hosting a world class competition.
Without Simone, you might think the women’s competition a bit of a letdown. BUT Bars World ChampionKaylia Nemour has become the headline star already at age-18.
Sugihara Aiko (age-26) is our World Floor champion, not Simone Biles. And everyone is thrilled. She won bronze on Beam, as well, in likely the strongest Beam Final of all time. Only 2 falls.
It’s not all good news. The WAG Vault final was a disaster. And the AA Final was a mess.
Daiki Hashimoto is another Uchimura, winning his 3rd AA World title. The rivalry with Zhang Boheng makes for great sport.
Shinnosuke Oka should be co-equal challenging for the title. But he wasn’t near 100% in Jakarta, finishing fifth.
The singular highlight of Jakarta wasn’t Beam, but Men’s Vault. All agreed that it was the greatest final of all time.
Olympic Champion Carlos Yulo stuck one of the most difficult Vaults in the Code — with excellent form.
Some, including myself, would have preferred Russian gymnast were still banned from Jakarta. Great gymnasts, but more pressure on the murdering dictator-for-life would be worth the cost of leaving them home.
I heard of no direct conflict with the Ukrainian gymnasts, so that’s a positive.
Certainly FIG has made clear that they want the AIN athletes competing. Their argument is that sport should be as separate from politics as possible.
Sadly, Denisa is in the middle of yet another Romanian team drama.
🇷🇴 Denisa Golgotă has filed a complaint against the Romanian fed for bullying and harassment in Jakarta. One of the alledged bullies is Sabrina Voinea who is said to have threaten to punch her until she was disfigured. Camelia Voinea claims false accusations and threatens to sue
… International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), … Fujitsu Limited, and Acer Medical Inc., which provides AI-powered medical image processing and preventive medicine, today announced a collaboration …
I attended the press conference and LIVE, real-time demonstration of the medical package.
Smart phone video ➙ wirelessly sent to a laptop ➙ analysis ➙ wirelessly sent to a monitor.
The DEMO we watched was analysis of gait. Preventive medicine. They want to analyze elderly patients standing, sitting, and walking—turning that into valuable clinical insights for the doctor.
I was impressed.
It seemed quick enough to be used in the Gym by a coach doing analysis. By the time the gymnast gets to the monitor, the data would be ready for display.
In Japan, Fujitsu has their software working for Golf Swing, Archery, Baseball, and other sports. Gymnastics is more complicated, of course.
Watanabe was asked WHEN we might see the Fujitsu software used in FIG competition regularly. He wouldn’t commit.
Personally, I need it more IN THE GYM for coaching analysis.
The software wouldn’t need to be anywhere near as perfected for that use. I’d want to compare my gymnast performance of Tkachev in training against Kate McDonald, for example. 😀
At the Press Conference Oct. 18, 2025, it was clear that both FIG President Watanabe and Secretary General Nicolas Buompanewanted Israel to compete Worlds.
In fact — if it was up to FIG — Russia and Belarus would not have been banned.
Their argument is that sport should be independent of politics.
However, FIG is not in control of many factors. WADA decisions. IOC decisions. And, in this case, the decision of the Indonesian government last minute to disallow individuals from Israel. We were told that the team HAD visas already — but they were cancelled.
Certainly, it’s unlikely Indonesia will be awarded another FIG competition anytime soon. That’s a bit of a shame since organizers in Jakarta are doing a fantastic job.
📌 IOC statement on the rejection of visas for the Israeli delegation for the upcoming Artistic Gymnastics World Championships by the government of Indonesia
However, Israelis were denied visas by the Indonesian government.
This decision is out of the control of FIG and meet organizers.
Indonesia has denied visas to Israeli gymnasts ahead of a world championship in Jakarta, a sports official in the Southeast Asian nation says, amid outcry over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 