Artistic Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 25 July 1980
Medal Events 14

The 1980 gymnastics competition was held at the Dvorets Sporta, or Palace of Sports, in the Central Lenin Stadium area. The venue also hosted judo during the 1980 Olympics. It was later renamed the Luzhniki Palace of Sports.

The USA-led boycott did have some effect on the gymnastics competition in 1980, mainly on the men’s side. Japan had won the men’s team all-around at every Olympics since 1960. They had won the 1978 World Championships and were second at the 1979 Worlds to the Soviet Union. The Soviets might still have won team gold, but it would have been a good contest had Japan competed. It would seem odd in this era, but two USA gymnasts could have affected the medal results, most notably Kurt Thomas. Thomas had been second at the 1979 World in all-around to Soviet Aleksandr Dityatin, and had won three apparatus medals including gold on the high bar. It is unlikely he would have beaten Dityatin in Moskva, particularly with Soviet crowds and judging, but a medal was likely. Bart Conner would also likely have won an apparatus medal, particularly on parallel bars, on which he won the 1979 Worlds, adding another apparatus bronze on vault.

One record broken in Moskva was by Dityatin, who won medals in all eight of the men’s events, breaking the record of seven for a single Olympics that had been done by seven previous Olympians. Dityatin’s record remains intact through 2012, although it was equalled in 2004 and 2008 by Michael Phelps. Dityatin also became the first man to score a perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics, which he did on the vault.

There was no significant effect on the women’s competition by the American boycott. Only three nations won medals in the women’s events, with the Soviet Union, Romania, and East Germany splitting them quite evenly, winning 8, 7, and 6 medals, respectively, although the Soviets won 4 gold medals, Romania 2, and East Germany 1.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Individual All-Around, Men Olympic 20 – 24 July 1980 65 14
Team All-Around, Men Olympic 20 – 22 July 1980 54 9
Floor Exercise, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 65 14
Horse Vault, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 64 14
Parallel Bars, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 65 14
Horizontal Bar, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 65 14
Rings, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 65 14
Pommelled Horse, Men Olympic 20 – 25 July 1980 65 14
Individual All-Around, Women Olympic 21 – 24 July 1980 62 16
Team All-Around, Women Olympic 21 – 23 July 1980 48 8
Floor Exercise, Women Olympic 21 – 25 July 1980 62 16
Horse Vault, Women Olympic 21 – 25 July 1980 62 16
Uneven Bars, Women Olympic 21 – 25 July 1980 62 16
Balance Beam, Women Olympic 21 – 25 July 1980 62 16
127 (65/62) 18 (14/16)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual All-Around, Men Aleksandr DityatinURS Nikolay AndrianovURS Stoyan DelchevBUL
Team All-Around, Men Soviet UnionURS East GermanyGDR HungaryHUN
Floor Exercise, Men Roland BrücknerGDR Nikolay AndrianovURS Aleksandr DityatinURS
Horse Vault, Men Nikolay AndrianovURS Aleksandr DityatinURS Roland BrücknerGDR
Parallel Bars, Men Aleksandr TkachovURS Aleksandr DityatinURS Roland BrücknerGDR
Horizontal Bar, Men Stoyan DelchevBUL Aleksandr DityatinURS Nikolay AndrianovURS
Rings, Men Aleksandr DityatinURS Aleksandr TkachovURS Jiří TabákTCH
Pommelled Horse, Men Zoltán MagyarHUN Aleksandr DityatinURS Michael NikolayGDR
Individual All-Around, Women Yelena DavydovaURS Maxi Gnauck
Nadia Comăneci
GDR
ROU
Team All-Around, Women Soviet UnionURS RomaniaROU East GermanyGDR
Floor Exercise, Women Nadia Comăneci
Nelli Kim
ROU
URS
Maxi Gnauck
Nataliya Shaposhnikova
GDR
URS
Horse Vault, Women Nataliya ShaposhnikovaURS Steffi KräkerGDR Melita RuhnROU
Uneven Bars, Women Maxi GnauckGDR Emilia EberleROU Steffi Kräker
Melita Ruhn
Mariya Filatova
GDR
ROU
URS
Balance Beam, Women Nadia ComăneciROU Yelena DavydovaURS Nataliya ShaposhnikovaURS

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 9 8 5 22
East Germany GDR 2 3 6 11
Romania ROU 2 3 2 7
Bulgaria BUL 1 0 1 2
Hungary HUN 1 0 1 2
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 0 1 1