The current obligatory sports are: archery, athletics, boxing, chess, fencing, gymnastics, judo, karate, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, and wrestling.
At the edition held in 2018, the organizing committee chose as optional sports: petanque, road cycling, surfing, and golf.
[2][3] First held in 1974 the ISF World Gymnasiade is a multi-sport games organised by the International School Sport Federation for athletes in the under 18 age group.
[3][4][5][6][7][8] The 2020 Gymnasiade was scheduled to host in Jinjiang, China during 17–24 October, but after several postponements due to COVID-19 pandemic, ISF decided to cancel this event.
[9] The 2023 Winter Gymnasiade was scheduled to host in Erzurum, Turkey during 11–18 February, but after the earthquake near the Syria–Turkey border regions, ISF decided to cancel the event.