# The Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU / UPAG) Explained

> The Pan American Gymnastics Union explained: the FIG's continental union for the Americas, founded in Cali in 1971, its members, regions and committees.

Canonical: https://upag-gymnastics.com/pan-american-gymnastics-union
Updated: 2026-11-01

The Pan American Gymnastics Union — Unión Panamericana de Gimnasia (UPAG), or PAGU — is the FIG's continental union for the Americas. Its 33 members are the region's national federations, and it runs the Pan American Championships. Pan Am Gymnastics Guide explains it from the outside.

## What the union is

The FIG groups its member federations into continental unions; the Pan American union covers North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The FIG's published milestones date its founding to 1971, in Cali, Colombia — the city that hosted the Pan American Games that year. It is an autonomous body that speaks for gymnastics in the Americas and its member federations within the FIG, and it describes itself as working with the national federations, the FIG and Panam Sports, the body behind the Pan American Games.

**The union and its competitions, a short timeline**

| Year | Event |
| --- | --- |
| 1951 | Gymnastics at the first Pan American Games, Buenos Aires |
| 1971 | Union founded in Cali, Colombia |
| 1987 | First continental tournament, for juniors, in Barquisimeto, Venezuela |
| 1997 | First senior event under the name Pan American Gymnastics Championships, Medellín |
| 1999 | First Pan American Aerobic Gymnastics Championships, Mérida, Venezuela |
| 2004 | First Pan American Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, Tampa |
| 2014 | Mississauga championships decide the places for Toronto 2015 |
| 2015 | First Pan American Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships, Caguas |

## Members and regions

The union's website counts 33 affiliated national federations and divides the Americas into five regions. The regions are more than geography: each has its own vice-president on the executive committee, and the technical committees have drawn their members region by region.

**The union's five regions and their federations, as its website lists them**

| Region | Federations | Number |
| --- | --- | --- |
| North America | The Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and the United States | 6 |
| Caribbean | Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 6 |
| Central America | Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama | 7 |
| Northern South America | Aruba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela | 6 |
| Southern South America | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay | 6 |

The directory of federations also lists Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti, which the regional list does not place. Note that Trinidad and Tobago and Aruba belong to northern South America in the union's scheme, not to the Caribbean.

## What it does

- **Championships.** Senior and junior [Pan American Championships](/pan-american-gymnastics-championships) in artistic, rhythmic, trampoline and tumbling, aerobic and acrobatic gymnastics.
- **Qualification.** Turning championship results into places at the Pan American Games, as in the four lists of September 2014 behind [Toronto 2015 gymnastics qualification](/toronto-2015-gymnastics-qualification).
- **Technical committees.** Committees for the disciplines draw up entry rules and allocate places; the president of the women's artistic committee signed the 2014 women's list.
- **Judges and development.** Courses, development camps and FIG academies in the region, which the union's old site used to announce.
- **Disciplines.** Men's and women's artistic, rhythmic, trampoline and tumbling, acrobatic and aerobic gymnastics, plus parkour and gymnastics for all — the FIG's disciplines, as listed on the union's own site.

Among the objectives the union lists for itself: organising and supervising competitions in all its disciplines; holding meetings and conferences where members, gymnasts, coaches, judges and officials exchange information; discussing the agenda of the FIG Congress with its members to reach common positions; keeping the region's representatives in FIG posts informed of its members' shared interests; and publishing information and technical bulletins.

## How it is run

The executive committee has a president, a secretary general, a treasurer and a vice-president for each of the five regions. Today the presidents of the technical committees, the president of the athletes' commission and two auditors are listed alongside them. The union's 2011–2015 site had the same core of officers and 7 technical committees; parkour, now a committee of its own, was not among them.

**Executive committee posts by the holder's nation, 2011–2015 and in 2026**

| Post | 2011–2015 | 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| President | Venezuela | Nicaragua |
| Secretary general | Venezuela | Guatemala |
| Treasurer | United States | Puerto Rico |
| Vice-president, North America | United States | Canada |
| Vice-president, Caribbean | Trinidad and Tobago | Dominican Republic |
| Vice-president, Central America | Guatemala | Panama |
| Vice-president, northern South America | Colombia | Venezuela |
| Vice-president, southern South America | Brazil | Brazil |

**Technical committees by the nation of their president (— where none was listed)**

| Committee | 2011–2015 | 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Women's artistic | Mexico | Puerto Rico |
| Men's artistic | Colombia | Brazil |
| Rhythmic | Argentina | Brazil |
| Trampoline | Canada | Mexico |
| Aerobic | Brazil | Argentina |
| Acrobatic | — | Puerto Rico |
| Gymnastics for all | Mexico | Argentina |
| Parkour | — | Colombia |

Officers are elected by the union's congress for four-year terms. The [call to the 2011 congress](https://web.archive.org/web/20111120000536/http://upag-gymnastics.com:80/es/documentos/Congreso%20Espanol/Congreso%20Upag%202011%20Espanol.pdf), sent from Caracas in April 2011 — the union's office was then at the Venezuelan Olympic Committee — asked member federations to nominate candidates for president and for the presidencies of the technical committees by 19 July, and to send proposals, in English or Spanish, by the same date. It scheduled meetings of the executive and technical committees for 18 October 2011 and the assembly, with elections for 2011–2015, for the next day. In 2015 the union posted the list for its 2015–2019 elections.

## The union's old site on this domain

From about 2011 until the mid-2010s the union's website ran here, at upag-gymnastics.com, in English under /en/ and Spanish under /es/. Its archived pages show what it carried: the statutes, the 2011 congress, the 2015–2019 elections, the officers and committees for 2011–2015, codes of points and technical regulations, competition calls and programmes, results, and notices of camps and academies. Wikipedia still cites several of its documents, which is why their addresses now lead to this guide.

One item shows the union's reach at the time: after the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, [a letter to the federations' presidents](https://web.archive.org/web/20131019103154/http://www.upag-gymnastics.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71:presidents-of-federations&catid=27:news&Itemid=38) congratulated the gymnasts of the 14 Pan American nations that had competed there — Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Venezuela.

> **Looking for the union today?** Its official website is [upag-pagu.com](https://upag-pagu.com). For entries, rules and official results, contact the union, the FIG or your national federation; this guide cannot help with them.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does UPAG stand for?

Unión Panamericana de Gimnasia, the Spanish name of the Pan American Gymnastics Union. In English it is often abbreviated PAGU.

### When was the Pan American Gymnastics Union founded?

In 1971, in Cali, Colombia, according to the FIG's published history.

### How many federations belong to the Pan American Gymnastics Union?

33 national federations, according to the union's website, grouped into five regions: North America, the Caribbean, Central America, northern South America and southern South America.

### How does the union relate to the FIG?

It is one of the FIG's continental unions. The FIG sets the rules and runs world events; the union organises the continental championships of the Americas and represents the region's federations.

### Is upag-gymnastics.com the union's website?

Not any more. The union used this domain until the mid-2010s; it now publishes at upag-pagu.com. This domain carries Pan Am Gymnastics Guide, an independent site.