Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup

The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition for rhythmic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the three tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the World Championships and the gymnastics competitions at the Olympic Games (in collaboration with the IOC and the federation of the country organising the Games). The current format of the World Cup divides the tournament in a series of events staged annually. In each of the stages, the top three gymnasts or groups in each apparatus, as well as in the all-around competition, are awarded medals and prize money. The World Cup stages usually attract the best rhythmic gymnasts in the world, with a considerable number of medalists at the Olympic Games and the World Championships competing in these stages.

In 1975, the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) sporadically decided to organise a World Cup event in Artistic Gymnastics; the event was staged as an alternative to the World Championships, a tournament held, at the time, every four years. The World Cup aimed to bringing together elite gymnasts in all around competition and in apparatus finals. In 1983, FIG decided to hold a World Cup event also for Rhythmic Gymnastics. From 1983 to 1990 the World Cup was held as a standalone event in three occasions: 1983, 1986 and 1990. In 1997, the FIG Executive Committee made the decision to hold the 2000 World Cup Final event as the last stage of a series of competitions through the 1999–2000 season. The World Cup Final format was kept until 2008. Currently, the World Cup Finals are no longer held for any of the FIG disciplines. Since 2009 the World Cup is staged through a series of events held annually, opposed to the biennial format adopted from 1999 to 2008, or the standalone event format adopted from 1983 to 1990.

The International Gymnastics Federation considers the first three World Cup events as part of the World Cup Final format later adopted from 2000 to 2008. Eight World Cup Final events were contested before the International Gymnastics Federation changed the format to a yearly series of stages competed in different countries, adopted since 2009.

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