Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium as it appears today

At the 1980 Summer Olympics, fourteen different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. All events were held at the Sports Palace of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow from July 20 through 25th. Several teams who had qualified to compete were absent as a result of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, including the United States, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and West Germany.

For the first time in Olympic competition, in event finals for the vault an average of two vaults was used as the final score, rather than the best of two vaults.

Due to the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics by the United States and other allied countries, there was an 'Alternate Olympics' held where the USA, China, Japan and other nations competed against each other in Hartford, Connecticut.

Format of competition

The gymnastics competition at the 1980 Summer Olympics was carried out in three stages:

  • Competition I - The team competition/qualification round in which all gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, performed both compulsory and optional exercises. The combined scores of all team members determined the final score of the team. The thirty-six highest scoring gymnasts in the all-around qualified to the individual all-around competition. The six highest scoring gymnasts on each apparatus qualified to the final for that apparatus.
  • Competition II - The individual all-around competition, in which those who qualified from Competition I performed exercises on each apparatus. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her in Competition II.
  • Competition III - The apparatus finals, in which those who qualified during Competition I performed an exercise on the individual apparatus on which he or she had qualified. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast on that particular apparatus during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her on that particular apparatus in Competition III.

Each country was limited to three gymnasts in the all-around final and two gymnasts in each apparatus final.

Medal summary

Men's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Team all-around
 Soviet Union (URS)
Nikolai Andrianov
Eduard Azaryan
Alexander Dityatin
Bogdan Makuts
Vladimir Markelov
Aleksandr Tkachyov
 East Germany (GDR)
Ralf-Peter Hemmann
Lutz Hoffmann
Lutz Mack
Michael Nikolay
Andreas Bronst
Roland Brückner
 Hungary (HUN)
Ferenc Donáth
György Guczoghy
Zoltán Kelemen
Péter Kovács
Zoltán Magyar
István Vámos
Individual all-around
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Nikolai Andrianov
 Soviet Union
Stoyan Deltchev
 Bulgaria
Floor exercise
Roland Brückner
 East Germany
Nikolai Andrianov
 Soviet Union
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Horizontal bar
Stoyan Deltchev
 Bulgaria
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Nikolai Andrianov
 Soviet Union
Parallel bars
Aleksandr Tkachyov
 Soviet Union
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Roland Brückner
 East Germany
Pommel horse
Zoltán Magyar
 Hungary
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Michael Nikolay
 East Germany
Rings
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Aleksandr Tkachyov
 Soviet Union
Jiri Tabak
 Czechoslovakia
Vault
Nikolai Andrianov
 Soviet Union
Alexander Dityatin
 Soviet Union
Roland Brückner
 East Germany

Women's events

The Soviet women's gymnastics team finished the 1980 Summer Olympics with 8 medals, the same as in Montreal but less than they had won at any previous Olympics. In percentage terms they won 38% of the medals awarded, less than at any previous Olympics. The USSR won only 1 AA medal. In each Olympics before that they had always won 2 and 1960 Summer Olympics had won all 3. At Olomouc 84 and 1988 Summer Olympics they would win 2 again. The Soviet team won the team gold medal by 1.4 points. They had won team gold in Montreal by 3.2 points. In bars event final 5 of the 6 gymnasts won medals (2 Romanians, 2 East Germans, 1 Soviet). The unlucky gymnast by 0.05 was a Soviet.

Romania won 7 medals, the same number as they had won in Montreal. For the first time ever at the Olympics a Romanian gymnast medals on each piece of apparatus in event finals. They won 2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze in event finals - only 1 bronze less than the USSR. Of the 7 perfect scores awarded at the 1980 Summer Olympics, 4 went to Romanian gymnasts, 2 to Soviet gymnasts and 1 to an East German gymnast. At Montreal in 1976 between the team competition and AA finals Nadia Comăneci was deducted 1.2 points from her start values. In Moscow 1980 she was also deducted 1.2 points. Or to put it another way - for the 11 routines Comaneci was deducted 1.2 in Montreal she was deducted 0.7 in Moscow (omitting her team optional bars score where she fell).

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Team all-around
 Soviet Union (URS)
Elena Davydova
Maria Filatova
Nellie Kim
Yelena Naimushina
Natalia Shaposhnikova
Stella Zakharova
 Romania (ROU)
Nadia Comăneci
Rodica Dunca
Emilia Eberle
Cristina Elena Grigoraş
Melita Ruhn
Dumitrița Turner
 East Germany (GDR)
Maxi Gnauck
Silvia Hindorff
Steffi Kraker
Katharina Rensch
Karola Sube
Birgit Süss
Individual all-around
Elena Davydova
 Soviet Union
Maxi Gnauck
 East Germany
Nadia Comăneci
 Romania
none awarded
Balance beam
Nadia Comăneci
 Romania
Elena Davydova
 Soviet Union
Natalia Shaposhnikova
 Soviet Union
Floor exercise
Nellie Kim
 Soviet Union
Nadia Comăneci
 Romania
None awarded Natalia Shaposhnikova
 Soviet Union
Maxi Gnauck
 East Germany
Uneven bars
Maxi Gnauck
 East Germany
Emilia Eberle
 Romania
Steffi Kraker
 East Germany
Melita Ruhn
 Romania
Maria Filatova
 Soviet Union
Vault
Natalia Shaposhnikova
 Soviet Union
Steffi Kraker
 East Germany
Melita Ruhn
 Romania

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Soviet Union (URS)98522
2 East Germany (GDR)23611
3 Romania (ROU)2327
4 Bulgaria (BUL)1012
 Hungary (HUN)1012
6 Czechoslovakia (TCH)0011
Totals (6 nations)15141645


See also

References

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