The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, United States, in 1979. In November 1977 the 55th
FIG
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
Congress, held in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, changed the cycle of world championships: since 1979 they were to be held each two years, and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic tournament. The first 12 teams in the team competition of the 1979 World Championships were invited to participate in the
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
.
These were the first World Championships in artistic gymnastics to be held outside of Europe, and the first that
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
competed at since 1962 following a 1978 vote in which the International Gymnastics Federation voted to accept the People's Republic of China as a member.
Results
Men
Team final
The Soviet Union's first-place finish made them the first team since 1960 to beat Japan at an Olympics or World Championships. The United States' bronze medal was their first team medal and best result yet.
All-around
Floor exercise
Pommel horse
Rings
Vault
Parallel bars
Horizontal bar
Women
Team final
All-around
Vault
Uneven bars
Balance beam
Floor exercise
Medals
References
{{World gym champs
World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1979 in gymnastics
1979 in American sports
International gymnastics competitions hosted by the United States