2020 will likely go down in history as one of the strangest years gymnastics (and sports in general) has ever seen.

The international competition calendar started as usual, with the Melbourne World Cup, February 20-23, where athletes from all nationalities except China were able to attend. There was already news about a new virus that the event organizers called "Coronavirus 2019" in China, but there were no significant concerns yet.

Two weeks after the Melbourne World Cup, the most important events were the American Cup, taking place in Milwaukee, and the International Gymnix, in Montreal, Canada, which took place simultaneously. By then, the virus was starting to spread in Europe and the world, and the news, were starting to worry about it.

The American cup usually brings gymnasts from many different countries together, however, this time not only some of the gymnasts had to go to unusual health checks, but some of them didn't travel to the US as they didn't think it was safe (such as the Russian team). On the plus side, the Milwaukee event saw the return of world champion Morgan Hurd to the top step of the podium at an international competition after not being selected for the world championships in 2019. With new difficult skills on beam and floor, Hurd was strong in all 4 events and she showed that she deserved a spot on the 2020 USA Olympic team.

By mid-March, news about the coronavirus in Italy was alarming and all of the competitions that were scheduled after that had to be cancelled or postponed, including the Baku World Cup, which started the qualification rounds on March 12 but had to cancel the finals a couple of days later.

What followed was really devastating for the gymnasts who had been training for years, some of them with the only goal of making it to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Not only the Games were postponed, but gyms were closed around the world, and we saw many gymnasts taking equipment home trying to keep fit as much as they could while many countries around the world were in lockdowns.

Most gymnasts were able to return to training by the start of the summer holidays and some competitions such as the national Chinese and Japanese championships went ahead from September onwards, most of them without public attending and the organizers enforcing new health and safety measures to keep athletes and everybody attending (coaches, judges, volunteers,...) safe.

In November, the Friendship and Solidarity Competition brought a consolation prize to athletes who had missed the Olympic Games as they got to compete in the same venue that the Olympics would have been held in and that saw the glorious 1964 games. It was a treat for all the gymnastics fans, who could watch the competition on TV and through several streaming platforms.