Two events are not competed at the World Championships anymore: individual rope and free hands.
Historically rhythmic gymnastics has been dominated by Eastern European countries, especially the Soviet Union and Bulgaria.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, there was originally a clear dominance of Bulgaria and post-Soviet countries at the World Championships, namely Russia, Ukraine and Belarus but with other nations emerging, for example Italy and Spain.
Only five individual gymnasts (Sun Duk Jo, Myong Sim Choi, Mitsuru Hiraguchi, Son Yeon-jae, Kaho Minagawa) and three groups (Japan, North Korea and China) from outside Europe have won medals at the World Championships.
[4] Dominant nations include the Soviet Union and subsequent post-Soviet states, namely Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan, and Bulgaria.