[1] The first edition of the South American Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in 1957 in Buenos Aires.
One of the sports contested at the tournament was artistic gymnastics, and this served as the continental championships for that year.
However, that same year, another edition of the South American Championships was held in Peru only ten days after the conclusion of the gymnastics events at the 1978 Southern Cross Games.
[2][6][7] However, in recent years, the gymnastics competitions at the South American Games seem to have been retroactively considered independent events by CONSUGI, since the 2021 South American Artistic Gymnastics Championships are officially considered the 18th edition of the championships.
[9] The first known event in rhythmic gymnastics where athletes represented their nations was held in 1988 in Rosario, Argentina.