Acro will never be part of the Olympics because it requires 5 medal events. There is however a significant group within the FIG who want to remove RG from the Olympics and replace with men’s and women’s tumbling. GB is unsurprisingly one of the member nations in favour of this. The FIG as a whole though, is quite pro RG which might surprise people but believe it or not, it’s actually the FIG’s revenue sport! Brings in huge corporate sponsorship, is financially self sufficient and doesn’t have the same challenges AG does with finding willing hosts for world championships.
With Russia basically out and Russian assets frozen still (right?), does it have the same money coming in?
There can’t really be diversity in body type in RG, it’s part of the COP. It’s interesting to me that you don’t find it ethnically diverse though. RG has a unique status as an Olympic sport that is dominated by Muslim and Jewish women. Certainly here in Russia it’s a much more ethnically diverse sport than any other branch of gymnastics. I’ve attended RG competitions in Muslim majority cities across Asian Russia and the rest of Central Asia where it’s literally the only sport that’s acceptable for girls to do.
