Paris 2024 Olympics: How to Qualify

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How to Qualify for Paris

By Anna Rose Johnson

Here we go!

We’re really getting into the swing of things now that the much anticipated 2024 Olympics are less than a year away! Who’s qualified? Who can still go? How does it work? Let’s break down the process! 

Several competitions play a major role in Olympic qualification. But first, we have to go back to the 2022 Worlds and take a look at what happened there.

Team Competition

6: At the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, six teams stamped their tickets to Paris by finishing in the top three in the Team Final – China, Japan, and Great Britain for the men, and the United States, Great Britain, and Canada for the women. So, we know that these countries will have full teams at the 2024 Olympics!

9: At the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, the top nine countries in both the men’s and women’s Team Finals have an opportunity to qualify as a full team to Paris. (Except, of course, for previously qualified teams from Liverpool!)

Individual Competition

• The 3 top-ranking countries at 2023 Worlds who did not qualify previously will obtain 1 individual slot for their nation. The order of ranking in the All-Around qualifications is critical.
• The top 8 men and 14 women will advance to the Olympics based on their standings in Antwerp. (These are non-nominative slots, which means the berths belong to the athletes instead of being potentially open to other athletes from their country.) And it’s important to note that athletes who previously qualified to the Olympics with their teams will be ineligible to receive one of these slots.
• Then we move onto apparatus finals, where 6 men and 4 women have a chance to qualify. Excluding athletes who already qualified via other paths, the highest-finishing athletes on each apparatus (in the finals, or if necessary, qualifications) will receive a berth for Paris.

Beyond the 2023 Worlds…

There are opportunities for specialists – 12 men and 8 women – to qualify via the 2024 Apparatus World Cup series:

• Cairo, Egypt February 15-18, 2024
• Cottbus, Germany February 22-25, 2024
• Doha,Qatar February 28 – March 3, 2024
• Baku, Azerbaijan March 7-10, 2024

Each country can send up to two athletes per apparatus to compete in these World Cups. The highest-ranking 2 athletes on each event are guaranteed a slot to Paris! (And again, only those who have not previously qualified are eligible for these slots.) As usual, World Cup points – built up over the series – count toward securing those berths. The FIG states that the “maximum three best competitions out of four will be considered,” and athletes with the highest point totals will qualify via this path. 

Another route to qualify for Paris is via the 2024 Continental Championships (for example, the European Championships), where there are slots available for 5 men and 5 women. As long as they – or their country – haven’t already qualified slots by other methods, the highest-ranked athletes in either the All-Around qualifications or finals have the chance to obtain a berth. 

As the Olympic host country, France is guaranteed 2 athletes (1 man and 1 woman) via any of these methods if they do not qualify a full team or any individuals. If they do, the slot will be reallocated to eligible All-Arounders at 2023 Worlds. 

In addition, a Universality Place quota – 1 man and 1 woman – will be selected by the Tripartite Commission of the IOC.

And that’s it! There are so many vital competitions ahead of us over the next year, with plenty of opportunities for dreams to come true for many nations and individuals. It’s going to be exciting to see what unfolds on every path to Paris!

Photo by Ricardo Bufolin for Inside Gymnastics 

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