FIG actions and their effects on the age group of Women's Artistic Gymnastics

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) manages and regulates gymnastics worldwide, in addition to being the oldest International Federation of an Olympic sport, having been present since the first edition of the modern Olympic Games, in 1896 (FIG, 2022) . The Code of Points (CoP) is a document established by the FIG that aims to establish a method of evaluating gymnastics exercises at the international level. From it and depending on the level of development of each country, the national federations can elaborate adaptations for the different objectives, levels of competition and age groups. In general, the CoP foresees expected aspects in the current Olympic cycle, judgment in competitions and all the criteria that must be met by gymnasts and coaches within the routines and, therefore, we can associate the code changes over the years with the transformations that occurred with the Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG). In this way, the present research, derived from a scientific initiation research, aims to reflect and analyze the influences of the FIG actions and their reflections in the age group and in the different types of bodies that seek to benefit in the WAG. For that, a systematic literature review was carried out. The studies were analyzed in three stages: reading the title, abstract and full text. This relationship between read and excluded articles was built based on the “PRISMA statement” model (MOHER et al., 2009). The findings emphasize that many controversial attitudes and postures can be pointed out in relation to FIG. A feature that emerged with the presence of diminutive bodies was the acrobatization of the WAG, which resulted in bulletins by the federation harassing the elements considered to be “at risk”, as explained by Cervin (2016). However, it did not take attitudes that were really unfavorable to the new style of WAG and quite the contrary, it began to approve more risk elements, value them in CoP updates and make several technological improvements in the devices, which made possible more acrobatic elements (CERVIN, 2016). These aspects were facilitators for the modality to move in an acrobatic direction and for innovations of risk elements within the modality. In view of the analyzed literature, we observed that apparently, the FIG was initially more concerned with the loss of femininity standards, which were traditional to the modality, since children's bodies, androgens and acrobatic elements did not transmit female characteristics and behaviors (CERVIN, 2017 ), than with health, with the protection of childhood and youth of gymnasts and with the acrobatic process itself that took place at WAG. The changes approved by the FIG at each Olympic cycle directly influence how the modality is presented and apparently what type of body it seeks to benefit. Although the FIG has warned about the presence of prepubescent girls over the years and has increased the minimum age for participation in official competitions, there is still an appreciation of the small and sexually immature body in the WAG environment, characteristics that are fit children, justified by the high difficulty acrobatic elements that were and are highly valued in CoP over the years.