All-Around, Individual, Men

The individual all-around consisted of compulsory and freestyle exercises on five apparatuses – horizontal bars, parallel bar, pommelled horse, rings, and horse vault. In Los Angeles, the floor exercises were not included in the all-around as they would later be. The total points on horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommelled horse, and rings were divided by two, with the result of the horse vault divided by four and added to the total, yielding a maximum score of 150.000 points.

The outstanding gymnast was Romeo Neri from Italy, who clearly dominated the competition and won by more than six points ahead of the others. In places 2-5, the gymnasts were separated by only 0.55 points. The silver medal eventually went to the Hungarian István Pelle, slightly ahead of Heikki Savolainen from Finland. All three had also been participants in 1928 at Amsterdam, with Neri placing fourth in the all-around.

Neri and Pelle would also compete in 1936, while Savolainen would have the longest career of any Olympic gymnast, competing through the 1952 Olympics, during which time he would win nine medals and six bronze medals. His six bronzes is still, through 2024, the all-time record for most Olympic bronze medals won, since equaled by four other athletes – Aleksey Nemov (RUS - Gymnastics), Franziska van Almsick (GER - Swimming), Merlene Ottey-Page (JAM - Athletics), and Harri Kirvesniemi (FIN - Cross Country Skiing).