The decision was made by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) on the opening day of its 80th Congress in Tashkent today. 

Acceptance of the bid, a joint effort of Gymnastics Canada, Gymnastique Quebec and the City of Montreal, is conditional on a site visit by FIG officials next month.

Montreal also hosted the only previous World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Canada in 1985, when the Soviet Union finished top with a total of 16 medals, including 11 gold. 

Montreal is the scene of arguably the most famous moment in gymnastics history when, at the 1976 Olympics, Romania's Nadia Comăneci won three gold medals and became first female gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event.

Gymnastics were hosted at the Montreal Forum during the Olympics but the 2017 World Championships will be staged at the Olympic Stadium built for the Games and will take place in conjunction with other festivities to honour the city's 375th  and Canada's 150th anniversaries respectively.

Nadia Comăneci made history at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal when she scored a perfect 10 as she won three gold medals ©Getty Images

"We're thrilled to bring back the world championships to Canada," said Gymnastics Canada consultant Jean-Paul Caron, a member of the Canadian Bid Committee who made the World Championship presentation to the FIG Executive Committee in the Uzbekistani capital. 

"It's a great opportunity to showcase Canada's and Montreal's ability to stage one of the world's major sports event and it will give a great boost to all of our athletes and competitive programmes."

This year's Championships were held in Nanning, China. 

The next Artistic Gymnastics World Championships are scheduled to be held in Glasgow in 2015.

There is no event scheduled for 2016 due to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 

Earlier this year, Doha were awarded the 2018 Championships. 

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