A key role for the emergence and development of gymnastics was played by the Croatian Sokol societies that began to practice exercises on various gymnastics apparatuses. The appearance of the Croatian Sokol Association members at the 5th World Gymnastics Championships in Turin in 1911 is considered the first appearance of Croatian athletes at an international competition under the Croatian flag. Dragutin Ciotti, a member of the Croatian Sokol from Rijeka, won the team all-around bronze medal at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Despite the rare sporting successes, the Sokol societies did not consider gymnastics a sport but a physical exercise activity. After the Second World War, gymnastics continued to develop as part of the Partizan Physical Education Associations, and from the 1960s and 1970s on, greater attention began to be paid to gymnastics as a competitive and sporting discipline. The Croatian Gymnastics Federation was founded in 1962.
In terms of results, the gymnast who stood out before Croatia gained independence was Ivan Čaklec, who won a medal at the 1957 European Championships in Paris. After that, Robert Seligman, Marijo Možnik and Aurel Benović have won several medals at the European and world championships, and Filip Ude and Tin Srbić also won silver Olympic medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo respectively.