The term "The Magnificent Seven" is well known throughout the gymnastics world and beyond, referring to the gold medal US women's team who won at the 1996 Olympics. It's easy to remember that there were seven women on the team that year.

In the year 2000, new rules only allowed for six per team. And in 2012, that number shrank again -- easy to remember from the nickname "The Fierce Five" who won the gold for the US that year.

The team numbers will remain unchanged for the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio; however, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) is voting this week in Melbourne on possible changes for the sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The proposed changes would affect both the women's and men's teams and include a proposal to reduce the number of gymnasts on each team to four. The aim behind the change is to allow for more all-around and event specialists to qualify through additional FIG World Cup events.



USA Today's Nancy Armour argues that this change, while well-intentioned, could ruin the sport. This change could send the message that the team competition is not as important, something clearly not held true for gymnastics fans. 

The changes were initially proposed by Bruno Grandi, the President of the FIG. Grandi has been head of the sport for 19 years now, having been re-elected four times. His tenure will soon come to an end, as he has announced he will not run for re-election in October 2016 and instead plans to retire.

Grandi is no stranger to proposing major changes to the sport of gymnastics. He oversaw the changes to the scoring system in 2006, when the 10.0 scale was abandoned. He also oversaw the rise of the minimum age to 16 for the Olympics and World Championships.

Another big change following the Rio Olympics will be the funding for the FIG. Following the London Olympics in 2012, the sport of gymnastics was promoted to the top tier of Olympic sports, along with aquatics and athletics, indicating a funding boost following Rio in 2016.