1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships

1974 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Location	Varna, Bulgaria
←  1970 1978  →

The 18th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Varna, Bulgaria, in 1974. This was the first world championships at which the individual all-around titles were contested in a separate session of competition, rather than being decided after the team competition.

Controversies

The World Championships were originally awarded to Varna. However, there were significant concerns over whether all athletes would be able to obtain visas, which the Bulgarian federation could not guarantee, particularly those from Apartheid-era South Africa, as Bulgaria did not have diplomatic relations with South Africa at the time. In April 1974, the World Championships were moved to Munich, but at another International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) meeting in July, they were returned to Varna in a vote of 26 to 24. Neither Bulgaria nor West Germany was pleased by the series of decisions, with accusations coming from Bulgaria that the FIG was trying to force them to accommodate "South African racists", while the vice president of the West German Gymnastics Federation criticized the FIG for not upholding its statute that all FIG members must be granted visas to compete and wrote, "Gymnastics became illegitimate in Varna." ^[1]

Several parties alleged corruption in the scoring during the competition. Frank Endo of the United States, writing for Gymnastics magazine, said that both the Japanese and American delegations had heard that Yuri Titov had told Soviet judges to underscore their teams. ^[2] Olga Korbut also alleged that two of the event final golds were arranged in advance; when she saw her scores for the uneven bars in the event final, which gave the gold to East German Annelore Zinke, she asked Titov to file a protest, and he refused so that Ludmilla Tourischeva would receive gold on the floor final in exchange. ^[3] Titov, on his part, complained that the head judge, Walter Lehmann, and the FIG president, Arthur Gander, intervened to ensure that Shigeru Kasamatsu won the individual all-around title over Nikolai Andrianov. ^[4] Minot Simons II, also writing for Gymnast magazine, alleged that judges were told to raise scores in several instances during the women's event, especially for the Hungarian gymnasts, as the head of the women's technical committee was from Hungary. ^[5] During the women's vault final, the crowd protested for around twenty minutes after Ann Carr was given a score they thought was too low. ^{[5] [6]}

After the 1972 Summer Olympics, the starting score for a common women's vault was lowered, and the rules for qualifying for vault finals were changed, leading to more difficult vaults being seen at the World Championships compared to two years earlier. ^[5]

Results

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men
Team all-around details	Japan Shigeru Kasamatsu Eizo Kenmotsu Mitsuo Tsukahara Hiroshi Kajiyama Fumio Honma Sawao Kato	Soviet Union Nikolai Andrianov Edvard Mikaelian Vladimir Marchenko Paata Shamugiya Vladimir Safronov Viktor Klimenko	East Germany Wolfgang Thüne Bernd Jäger Wolfgang Klotz Rainer Hanschke Lutz Mack Olaf Grosse
Individual all-around details	Shigeru Kasamatsu	Nikolai Andrianov	Eizo Kenmotsu
Floor details	Shigeru Kasamatsu	Hiroshi Kajiyama	Andrey Keranov
Pommel horse details	Zoltán Magyar	Nikolai Andrianov	Eizo Kenmotsu
Rings details	Dănuț Grecu Nikolai Andrianov	none awarded	Andrzej Szajna
Vault details	Shigeru Kasamatsu	Nikolai Andrianov	Hiroshi Kajiyama
Parallel bars details	Eizo Kenmotsu	Nikolai Andrianov	Vladimir Marchenko
Horizontal bar details	Eberhard Gienger	Wolfgang Thüne	Eizo Kenmotsu Andrzej Szajna
Women
Team all-around details	Soviet Union Ludmilla Tourischeva Olga Korbut Elvira Saadi Rusudan Sikharulidze Nina Dronova Nelli Kim	East Germany Angelika Hellmann Annelore Zinke Richarda Schmeißer Bärbel Röhrich Heike Gerisch Irene Abel	Hungary Krisztina Medveczky Mónika Császár Zsuzsa Nagy Marta Egervari Zsuzsa Matulai Ágnes Bánfai
Individual all-around details	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Olga Korbut	Angelika Hellmann
Vault details	Olga Korbut	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Božena Perdykulová
Uneven bars details	Annelore Zinke	Olga Korbut	Ludmilla Tourischeva
Balance beam details	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Olga Korbut	Nellie Kim
Floor details	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Olga Korbut	Elvira Saadi Rusudan Siharulidze

Men

Team Final

1st	Japan	Shigeru Kasamatsu	571.400
		Eizo Kenmotsu
		Mitsuo Tsukahara
		Hiroshi Kajiyama
		Fumio Honma
		Sawao Kato
2nd	Soviet Union	Nikolai Andrianov	567.350
		Edvard Mikaelian
		Vladimir Marchenko
		Paata Shamugiya
		Vladimir Safronov
		Viktor Klimenko
3rd	East Germany	Wolfgang Thüne	562.500
		Bernd Jäger
		Wolfgang Klotz
		Rainer Hanschke
		Lutz Mack
		Olaf Grosse
4th	Hungary	Imre Molnar	552.800
		Zoltán Magyar
		Ferenc Donáth
		István Kiss
		Janos Sivado
		Bela Laufer
5th	West Germany	Eberhard Gienger	552.600
		Walter Mossinger
		Günter Spies
		Edgar Jorek
		Werner Steinmetz
		Reinhard Ritter
6th	Romania	Dănuț Grecu	547.250
		Nicolai Oprescu
		Georghe Paunescu
		Mihai Bors
		Constantin Petrescu
		Stefan Gal
7th	Switzerland	Peter Rohner	547.200
		Robert Bretscher
		Armin Vock
		Michele Arnaboldi
		Reinhold Schnyder
		Renati Giess

All-around

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Shigeru Kasamatsu  (JPN)	115.500
	Nikolai Andrianov  (URS)	115.375
	Eizo Kenmotsu  (JPN)	114.750
4	Hiroshi Kajiyama  (JPN)	114.650
5	Mitsuo Tsukahara  (JPN)	114.600
6	Edvard Mikaelian  (URS)	114.175
7	Wolfgang Thüne  (GDR)	114.000
8	Andrzej Szajna  (POL)	113.725
9	Vladimir Markelov  (URS)	113.700
10	Paata Shamugiya  (URS)	113.375
11	Imre Molnar  (HUN)	112.875
12	Fumio Honma  (JPN)	112.600
13	Vladimir Safronov  (URS)	112.575
14	Eberhard Gienger  (FRG)	111.975
15	Zoltán Magyar  (HUN)	111.750
16	Rainer Hanschke  (GDR)	111.350
17	Dănuţ Grecu  (ROU)	111.200
17	Walter Mössinger  (FRG)	111.200
19	Peter Rohner  (SUI)	111.150
20	Jiri Netusil  (TCH)	111.125
21	Bernd Jäger  (GDR)	111.050
22	Lutz Mack  (GDR)	111.025
23	Ferenc Donáth  (HUN)	110.875
24	Henri Boerio  (FRA)	110.775
25	Wayne Young  (USA)	110.625
26	Steve Hug  (USA)	110.550
27	Olaf Grosse  (GDR)	110.525
28	Edgar Jorek  (FRG)	110.500
29	Robert Bretscher  (SUI)	110.450
30	Günter Spiess  (FRG)	110.025
31	Armin Vock  (SUI)	109.800
32	István Kiss  (HUN)	109.675
33	Gustav Tannenberger  (TCH)	109.650
34	Wolfgang Klotz  (GDR)	108.750
35	Nicolae Oprescu  (ROU)	100.875
36	Michele Arnaboldi  (SUI)	80.700

Floor Exercise

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Shigeru Kasamatsu  (JPN)	19.375
	Hiroshi Kajiyama  (JPN)	19.325
	Andrei Keranov  (BUL)	19.225
4	Vladimir Markelov  (URS)	19.150
5	Rainer Hanschke  (GDR)	18.900
6	Edvard Mikaelian  (URS)	18.800

Pommel Horse

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Zoltán Magyar  (HUN)	19.575
	Nikolai Andrianov  (URS)	19.375
	Eizo Kenmotsu  (JPN)	19.225
4	Shigeru Kasamatsu  (JPN)	18.950
5	Imre Molnar  (HUN)	18.875
6	Wolfgang Thüne  (GDR)	18.500

Rings

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Dănuț Grecu  (ROU)	19.525
	Nikolai Andrianov  (URS)	19.525
	Andrzej Szajna  (POL)	19.225
4	Mitsuo Tsukahara  (JPN)	19.125
5	Mihai Bors  (ROU)	19.000
6	Wolfgang Thüne  (GDR)	18.925

Vault

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Shigeru Kasamatsu  (JPN)	19.325
	Nikolai Andrianov  (URS)	19.250
	Hiroshi Kajiyama  (JPN)	19.225
4	Andrzej Szajna  (POL)	19.175
5	Eizo Kenmotsu  (JPN)	19.075
6	Imre Molnar  (HUN)	18.750

Parallel Bars

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Eizo Kenmotsu  (JPN)	19.375
	Nikolai Andrianov  (URS)	19.325
	Vladimir Markelov  (URS)	18.850
4	Hiroshi Kajiyama  (JPN)	18.275
5	Bernd Jäger  (GDR)	18.100
6	Wolfgang Thüne  (GDR)	17.625

Horizontal Bar

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Eberhard Gienger  (FRG)	19.500
	Wolfgang Thüne  (GDR)	19.450
	Andrzej Szajna  (POL)	19.275
	Eizo Kenmotsu  (JPN)	19.275
5	Bernd Jäger  (GDR)	19.250
6	Mitsuo Tsukahara  (JPN)	18.900

Women

Team Final

Rank	Team									Total
		C	O	C	O	C	O	C	O
	Soviet Union	94.950		95.800		95.850		97.600		384.200
	Ludmilla Tourischeva	9.600	9.800	9.650	9.750	9.850	9.900	9.850	9.900	78.300
	Olga Korbut	9.500	9.700	9.750	9.800	9.650	9.800	9.750	9.850	77.800
	Elvira Saadi	9.350	9.400	9.450	9.550	9.000	9.550	9.700	9.800	75.800
	Rusudan Sikharulidze	9.400	9.500	9.250	9.400	9.200	9.450	9.650	9.850	75.700
	Nina Dronova	9.250	9.400	9.350	9.400	9.500	9.500	9.450	9.700	75.550
	Nelli Kim	9.300	8.600	9.500	9.600	9.300	9.600	9.550	9.550	75.000
	East Germany	93.200		95.800		93.200		94.350		376.550
	Angelika Hellmann	9.400	9.500	9.600	9.700	9.450	9.600	9.550	9.650	76.450
	Annelore Zinke	9.300	9.450	9.600	9.900	8.700	9.500	9.400	9.600	75.450
	Richarda Schmeißer	9.200	9.300	9.500	9.700	9.350	9.050	9.350	9.500	74.950
	Bärbel Röhrich	9.200	9.500	9.200	9.650	9.100	9.350	9.200	9.400	74.600
	Heike Gerisch	8.950	9.300	9.300	9.350	9.200	9.500	9.150	9.300	74.050
	Irene Abel	9.050	9.300	9.350	9.500	8.900	9.250	9.200	9.500	74.050
	Hungary	93.200		93.900		90.600		93.050		370.750
	Krisztina Medveczky	9.250	9.450	9.600	9.500	9.500	8.950	9.250	9.550	75.050
	Mónika Császár	9.250	9.450	9.550	9.500	9.400	8.950	9.300	9.550	74.950
	Zsuzsa Nagy	9.200	9.500	9.300	9.300	9.250	9.050	9.000	9.300	73.900
	Márta Egervári	9.050	9.550	9.200	9.600	9.000	8.400	9.050	9.350	73.200
	Zsuzsa Matulai	9.100	9.350	9.100	9.150	8.950	9.050	9.050	9.400	73.150
	Ágnes Bánfai	9.100	9.350	9.000	9.250	9.050	8.350	9.100	9.450	72.650
4	Romania	93.250		92.300		90.700		93.050		369.300
	Alina Goreac	9.250	9.700	9.200	9.700	9.300	9.400	9.100	9.600	75.250
	Anca Grigoraș	9.150	9.600	9.050	9.600	9.050	9.350	9.250	9.600	74.650
	Elena Ceampelea	8.950	9.200	8.950	9.500	8.450	9.200	9.200	9.500	72.950
	Paula Ioan	9.250	9.500	8.850	9.350	8.700	8.950	8.800	9.300	72.700
	Aurelia Dobre	9.000	9.500	8.700	9.200	8.850	8.800	9.050	9.500	72.600
	Rodica Sabău	9.100	9.150	8.900	9.150	8.800	9.100	8.850	9.400	72.450
5	Czechoslovakia	92.750		91.000		91.300		93.400		368.450
	Zdena Dorňáková	9.350	9.300	9.200	9.300	9.150	9.350	9.300	9.600	74.550
	Jana Knopová	9.050	9.350	9.000	8.950	9.100	9.300	9.250	9.450	73.450
	Drahomíra Smolíková	9.000	9.250	9.300	9.200	9.000	9.300	9.150	9.250	73.450
	Václava Soukupová	9.150	9.200	8.700	9.050	9.000	9.050	9.350	9.500	73.000
	Zdena Bujňačková	9.150	9.150	9.050	9.150	8.550	9.150	9.150	9.400	72.750
	Božena Perdykulová	9.400	9.550	8.800	8.900	8.900	8.950	9.050	9.150	72.700
6	Japan	90.450		90.400		89.000		93.050		362.900
	Nobue Yabe	9.000	9.150	9.000	9.050	8.750	9.150	9.100	9.400	72.600
	Miyuki Matsuhisa	9.050	9.000	9.150	9.200	9.100	9.050	9.350	8.550	72.450
	Fusae Hayashida	8.950	9.150	8.900	9.300	8.800	8.550	9.150	9.550	72.350
	Machiko Ichimura	8.800	9.200	8.700	8.950	9.050	8.850	9.200	9.500	72.250
	Chieko Kikkawa	8.950	9.150	8.900	9.100	8.600	8.950	9.250	9.250	72.150
	Kyoko Mano	8.850	8.850	8.800	9.000	8.750	8.400	9.100	9.300	71.050
6	United States	91.000		88.800		88.850		93.350		362.000
	Joan Moore	9.000	9.000	8.850	8.350	8.900	9.200	9.450	9.700	72.450
	Diane Dunbar	9.100	9.250	8.950	8.500	8.950	8.900	9.150	9.600	72.400
	Janette Anderson	8.950	8.950	8.900	9.100	8.900	8.600	9.350	9.100	71.850
	Debbie Fike	9.100	9.150	8.600	9.050	9.000	8.600	9.250	9.100	71.850
	Kathy Howard	8.950	9.100	8.800	8.950	8.900	8.900	9.050	9.250	71.900
	Ann Carr	8.950	9.400	8.750	8.950	8.200	8.500	8.950	9.450	71.150

All-around

Rank	Gymnast	Score	Prelim score	Total
	Ludmilla Tourischeva  (URS)	39.300	39.150	78.450
	Olga Korbut  (URS)	38.750	38.900	77.650
	Angelika Hellmann  (GDR)	38.650	38.225	76.875
4	Elvira Saadi  (URS)	38.550	37.875	76.425
5	Rusudan Sikharulidze  (URS)	38.550	37.850	76.400
6	Annelore Zinke  (GDR)	38.600	37.725	76.325
7	Nina Dronova  (URS)	38.350	37.775	76.125
8	Alina Goreac  (ROU)	38.300	37.625	75.925
9	Richarda Schmeißer  (GDR)	38.050	37.475	75.525
10	Krisztina Medveczky  (HUN)	37.950	37.525	75.475
11	Bärbel Röhrich  (GDR)	38.150	37.300	75.450
12	Anca Grigoraș  (ROU)	37.800	37.325	75.125
13	Heike Gerisch  (GDR)	37.900	37.025	74.925
14	Irene Abel  (GDR)	37.150	37.025	74.175
14	Jana Knopová  (TCH)	37.450	36.725	74.175
16	Aurelia Dobre (ROU)	37.850	36.300	74.150
16	Zsuzsa Nagy  (HUN)	37.200	36.950	74.150
18	Joan Moore  (USA)	37.900	36.225	74.125
19	Márta Egervári  (HUN)	37.450	36.625	74.075
19	Zdena Dorňáková  (TCH)	36.800	37.275	74.075
21	Drahomíra Smolíková  (TCH)	37.250	36.725	73.975
22	Mónika Császár  (HUN)	36.450	37.375	73.825
23	Uta Schorn  (FRG)	37.050	36.525	73.575
23	Zsuzsa Matulai  (HUN)	37.000	36.575	73.575
25	Fusae Hayashida  (JPN)	37.300	36.175	73.475
26	Diane Dunbar  (USA)	37.250	36.200	73.450
27	Božena Perdykulová  (TCH)	37.050	36.350	73.400
28	Nobue Yabe  (JPN)	37.050	36.300	73.350
29	Elena Ceampelea  (ROU)	36.850	36.475	73.325
30	Václava Soukupová  (TCH)	36.700	36.500	73.200
31	Ágnes Bánfai  (HUN)	36.800	36.325	73.125
32	Rodica Sabău  (ROU)	36.250	36.225	72.475
33	Zdena Bujňačková  (TCH)	35.900	36.375	72.275
34	Paula Ioan  (ROU)	35.300	36.350	71.650
35	Janette Anderson  (USA)	35.350	36.150	71.500
36	Miyuki Matsuhisa  (JPN)	27.350	36.225	63.575

Vault

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Olga Korbut  (URS)	19.450
	Ludmilla Tourischeva  (URS)	19.200
	Božena Perdykulová  (TCH)	19.075
4	Alina Goreac  (ROU)	19.025
5	Angelika Hellmann  (GDR)	18.850
6	Rusudan Sikharulidze  (URS)	17.900

Uneven Bars

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Annelore Zinke  (GDR)	19.650
	Olga Korbut  (URS)	19.575
	Ludmilla Tourischeva  (URS)	19.500
4	Angelika Hellmann  (GDR)	19.350
5	Richarda Schmeißer  (GDR)	19.250
6	Krisztina Medveczky  (HUN)	19.050

Balance Beam

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Ludmilla Tourischeva  (URS)	19.725
	Olga Korbut  (URS)	19.525
	Nelli Kim  (URS)	19.200
4	Nina Dronova  (URS)	19.100
5	Alina Goreac  (ROU)	18.900
6	Angelika Hellmann  (GDR)	18.625

Floor Exercise

Rank	Gymnast	Total
	Ludmilla Tourischeva  (URS)	19.775
	Olga Korbut  (URS)	19.600
	Rusudan Sikharulidze  (URS)	19.550
	Elvira Saadi  (URS)	19.550
5	Nina Dronova  (URS)	19.274
6	Angelika Hellmann  (GDR)	19.200

Medals

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union  (URS)	6	10	5	21
2	Japan  (JPN)	5	1	4	10
3	East Germany  (GDR)	1	2	2	5
4	Hungary  (HUN)	1	0	1	2
5	Romania  (ROU)	1	0	0	1
	West Germany  (FRG)	1	0	0	1
7	Poland  (POL)	0	0	2	2
8	Bulgaria  (BUL)	0	0	1	1
	Czechoslovakia  (TCH)	0	0	1	1
Totals (9 entries)		15	13	16	44

References

1. "1974: The Attempt to Move the World Championships". Gymnastics History. 20 January 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
2. Endo, Frank (December 1974). "18th World Championships: Report on the Competition". Gymnast. Vol. 16, no. 12. p. 14. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
3. "1974: The Women's Event Finals at the World Championships". Gymnastics History. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
4. "1974: The Men's All-Around Competition at the World Championships". Gymnastics History. 20 February 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
5. Simons II, Minot (December 1974). "18th World Championships: An Appraisal of the Girls' Performance". Gymnast. Vol. 16, no. 12. pp. 16–20. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
6. "1974: The Women's Team Competition at the World Championships". Gymnastics History. 28 January 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2025.