Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics

Gymnastics

at the Games of the XIX Olympiad

Venue| National Auditorium
Dates| 21 October – 26 October 1968

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Gymnastics at the
1968 Summer Olympics

List of gymnasts
Artistic
Team all-around| men| women
Individual all-around| men| women
Vault| men| women
Floor| men| women
Pommel horse| men|
Rings| men|
Parallel bars| men|
Horizontal bar| men|
Uneven bars| | women
Balance beam| | women

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At the 1968 Summer Olympics, fourteen different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. All events were held at the National Auditorium in Mexico City from October 21 through October 26.[1]

## Format of competition

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The scoring in all the events was similar to that of the gymnastics events at the 1960 Summer Olympics. The six best gymnasts on the apparatus in the team competition (by sum of two scores - for compulsory and optional routine) qualified for that apparatus finals. The new feature of the competition was in women's events: each of them was judged by four judges, like the men's competition. The highest and lowest marks were dropped and an average of two remaining marks constituted the score.

## Results

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### Men's events

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Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

Individual all-around
details | Sawao Kato
Japan | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union | Akinori Nakayama
Japan
Team all-around
details |  Japan (JPN)
Yukio Endo
Sawao Kato
Takeshi Katō
Eizo Kenmotsu
Akinori Nakayama
Mitsuo Tsukahara |  Soviet Union (URS)
Sergei Diomidov
Valery Iljinykh
Valery Karasev
Viktor Klimenko
Victor Lisitsky
Mikhail Voronin |  East Germany (GDR)
Günter Beier
Matthias Brehme
Gerhard Dietrich
Siegfried Fülle
Klaus Köste
Peter Weber
Floor exercise
details | Sawao Kato
Japan | Akinori Nakayama
Japan | Takeshi Katō
Japan
Horizontal bar
details | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union | none awarded | Eizo Kenmotsu
Japan
Akinori Nakayama
Japan
Parallel bars
details | Akinori Nakayama
Japan | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union | Viktor Klimenko
Soviet Union
Pommel horse
details | Miroslav Cerar
Yugoslavia | Olli Laiho
Finland | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union
Rings
details | Akinori Nakayama
Japan | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union | Sawao Kato
Japan
Vault
details | Mikhail Voronin
Soviet Union | Yukio Endo
Japan | Sergei Diomidov
Soviet Union

### Women's events

[edit]

Games  | Gold  | Silver  | Bronze

|
|
|

Individual all-around
details | Věra Čáslavská
Czechoslovakia | Zinaida Voronina
Soviet Union | Natalia Kuchinskaya
Soviet Union
Team all-around
details |  Soviet Union (URS)
Lyubov Burda
Olga Karasyova
Natalia Kuchinskaya
Larisa Petrik
Ludmilla Tourischeva
Zinaida Voronina |  Czechoslovakia (TCH)
Věra Čáslavská
Marianna Krajčírová
Jana Kubičková
Hana Lišková
Bohumila Řimnáčová
Miroslava Skleničková |  East Germany (GDR)
Maritta Bauerschmidt
Karin Janz
Marianne Noack
Magdalena Schmidt
Ute Starke
Erika Zuchold
Balance beam
details | Natalia Kuchinskaya
Soviet Union | Věra Čáslavská
Czechoslovakia | Larisa Petrik
Soviet Union
Floor exercise
details | Larisa Petrik
Soviet Union | none awarded | Natalia Kuchinskaya
Soviet Union
Věra Čáslavská
Czechoslovakia
Uneven bars
details | Věra Čáslavská
Czechoslovakia | Karin Janz
East Germany | Zinaida Voronina
Soviet Union
Vault
details | Věra Čáslavská
Czechoslovakia | Erika Zuchold
East Germany | Zinaida Voronina
Soviet Union

## Medal table

[edit]

Rank| Nation| Gold| Silver| Bronze| Total

|
|
|
|
|

1|  Japan| 6| 2| 4| 12
2|  Soviet Union| 5| 5| 8| 18
3|  Czechoslovakia| 4| 2| 0| 6
4|  Yugoslavia| 1| 0| 0| 1
5|  East Germany| 0| 2| 2| 4
6|  Finland| 0| 1| 0| 1
Totals (6 entries)| 16| 12| 14| 42

## Controversy

[edit]

Larisa Petrik's gold medal on floor was very controversial because originally, Čáslavská won outright. After the competition was concluded, Petrik's prelims scores were changed to let her tie with Čáslavská, an action which caused Čáslavská to publicly defy the Soviets who had recently invaded her home country. A similar controversy occurred in the balance beam, where Čáskavská was denied gold altogether.[2]

## See also

[edit]

* Olympic medalists in gymnastics (men)
* Olympic medalists in gymnastics (women)

## References

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1. ^ "Gymnastics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
2. ^ "'I will sweat blood to defeat invaders' representatives' - 1968's forgotten Olympic protest". BBC Sport. 20 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2023-02-21.

## External links

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* Official Olympic Report
* www.gymnasticsresults.com
* www.gymn-forum.net

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Events at the 1968 Summer Olympics (Mexico City)

* Athletics
* Basketball
* Basque pelota (demonstration)
* Boxing
* Canoeing
* Cycling
* Diving
* Equestrian
* Fencing
* Field hockey
* Football
* Gymnastics
* Modern pentathlon
* Rowing
* Sailing
* Shooting
* Swimming
* Tennis (demonstration)
* Volleyball
* Water polo
* Weightlifting
* Wrestling

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Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics

Editions|

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* gymnasts
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* gymnasts

Gymnasts|

| Artistic|

| Female|

| Africa|

* Algeria
* Egypt
* South Africa

|

Americas|

* Brazil
* Canada
* United States

Asia|

* China
* Japan
* South Korea
* Uzbekistan

Europe|

* Bulgaria
* France
* Germany
* Great Britain
* Hungary
* Italy
* Netherlands
* Romania
* Russia
* Soviet Union
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Ukraine

Oceania|

* Australia
* New Zealand

Male|

* Armenia
* Brazil
* Germany
* Great Britain
* Russia
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United States

Rhythmic|

* Brazil

Artistic events|

* Team all-around
* Individual all-around
* Vault
* Floor
* Pommel horse
* Rings
* Parallel bars
* Horizontal bar
* Uneven bars
* Balance beam

Rhythmic events|

* Individual all-around
* Group

Trampoline events|

* Individual

Discontinued events|

* Team horizontal bar
* Team parallel bars
* Team free system
* Team Swedish system
* Team portable apparatus
* Rope climbing
* Club swinging
* Combined
* Triathlon
* Indian clubs
* Sidehorse vault
* Tumbling

* List of medalists
* men
* women
* List of venues

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