Date | 17 – 20 July 1924 | |
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Status | Olympic | |
Location | Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes | |
Participants | 72 from 9 countries | |
Format | There were 11 exercises as follows: Compulsory and optional exercises performed on the horizontal bar, parallel bars, rings, and pommelled horse. Optional exercises performed on the long horse vault, side horse vault, and rope climbing. |
The last three gold medals in this event had been won by Italians, but in 1924 gold went to Yugoslav Leon Štukelj, who was actually Slovenian. He narrowly edged out Czechoslovak Robert Pražak. Štukelj had the best performance on the horizontal bar and was steady in the other events to win the title. He also competed at the Olympics in 1928 and 1936, winning a bronze medal in this event in 1928 and a silver on the rings in 1936. At the age of 97, Štukelj was honored at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He had proudly been able to watch Slovenia first compete as an independent nation at Barcelona in 1992.