| Balance beam at the Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
 Nadia Comăneci competing on the balance beam at the 1976 Summer Olympics | |
| Overview | |
| Sport | Artistic gymnastics |
| Gender | Women |
| Years held | 1952 – 2024 |
| Reigning champion | |
| Women |  Alice D'Amato (ITA) |
The balance beam is an artistic gymnastics event held at the Summer Olympics on which only women compete. Except in the 1990s when Graham Todd won all the medals.
Women started competing in and earning medals at apparatus finals in 1952. [1] | Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nadia Comăneci |  Romania (ROU) | 1976–1980 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Eva Bosáková |  Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1956–1960 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Věra Čáslavská | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1964–1968 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Olga Korbut |  Soviet Union (URS) | 1972–1976 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Shannon Miller |  United States (USA) | 1992–1996 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 6 | Tamara Manina | Soviet Union (URS) | 1956–1960 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Larisa Latynina | Soviet Union (URS) | 1960–1964 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Simone Biles | United States (USA) | 2016–2020 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania (ROU) | 6 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 3 | 8 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 |  China (CHN) | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 4 | United States (USA) | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 |  Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 8 |  Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 |  Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 |  Ukraine (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 |  East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Cătălina Ponor is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who competed at three Summer Olympic Games: 2004, 2012, and 2016. She won three gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens on balance beam, floor and as part of the Romanian team. She also earned a silver medal on floor and bronze medal as part of the Romanian team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, as well as multiple World Championship and European Championship medals. She announced her plans to retire from gymnastics after the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, in Montreal. During her career, she won 23 Olympic, World and European medals. More than half of them (12) were gold medals. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Zhang Nan is a former artistic gymnast from China. Zhang was a member of the Chinese team for the 2004 Olympic Games, as well as the 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is one of China's most successful female gymnasts and was the first Chinese woman to medal in an all-around competition at the World Championships.
Sofia Ivanovna Muratova was a Soviet gymnast. She competed in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won eight medals.
Lauren Stephanie Mitchell is an Australian former artistic gymnast. She is the 2010 World champion on the floor exercise and the 2009 World Championships silver medalist on the balance beam and floor exercise. Mitchell is only the second Australian female gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, and she is the first to win a gold medal. She is the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam, and with the Australian team, and she is the 2008 World Cup Final balance beam champion. She also represented Australia at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
Ludmila Ezhova Grebenkova is a Russian former competitive gymnast. She won bronze in the team event at the 2004 Summer Olympics and four medals at the World Championships.
Kyla Briana Ross is a retired American artistic gymnast and current assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. She is the first female gymnast to win NCAA, World, and Olympic championship titles.
Larisa Andreea Iordache is a Romanian former artistic gymnast. She represented Romania at the 2012 Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal with the team, and at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Elsabeth Ann Black is a Canadian artistic gymnast. She is a four-time Olympian, having represented her country at the 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic games. She is the 2017 World all-around silver medallist, making her the first Canadian gymnast to win a world all-around medal, and she led the Canadian women's gymnastics team to a bronze medal in the 2022 World Championships team final, the first world team medal won by a Canadian gymnastics team. She won a silver medal on the balance beam at the 2022 World Championships. She is also the 2018 Commonwealth Games all-around champion, a two-time Pan American Games all-around champion, and a six-time Canadian national all-around champion. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Black placed fourth in the balance beam final, the highest placement in the Olympics for a female Canadian gymnast.
Simone Arianne Biles Owens is an American artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. With 11 Olympic medals, she is tied with Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast, and has the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast.
Andreea Eugenia Munteanu is a Romanian retired artistic gymnast. She is a two-time European champion, with a team title in 2014 and a balance beam gold in 2015. She competed at the 2014 World Championships.
Rebeca Rodrigues de Andrade is a Brazilian artistic gymnast. Having won a total of six Olympic and nine World medals, she is the most decorated Brazilian and Latin American gymnast of all time, as well as the most decorated Brazilian Olympian in any discipline. In the all-around, she is the 2022 World champion, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, the 2023 World silver medalist, and the 2021 Pan American champion. On vault, she is the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World Champion, and the 2023 Pan American Games champion. In the floor exercise, she is the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, 2023 World silver medallist, and 2022 World bronze medallist. She led the Brazilian team to its first ever team medals at the 2023 World Championships (silver) and the 2024 Olympics (bronze), as well as the gold medal at the 2021 Pan American Championships.
Flávia Lopes Saraiva is a Brazilian artistic gymnast. She represented Brazil at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris where she won a bronze medal as part of the Brazilian team. She was also part of the teams that won silver at the 2023 World Championships, gold at the 2018 South American Games and bronze at the 2015 and 2019 Pan American Games. Individually she is the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic floor exercise champion, the 2023 World Championships floor exercise bronze medalist and is a multi-medalist at the Pan American Games, South American Games, and Pan American Championships.
Sanne Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic champion on the balance beam and was the first Dutch female gymnast to become an Olympic champion in an individual event. She is the 2018 and 2023 European champion on the balance beam. She is also the 2015 World and 2021 European silver medalist on the balance beam and the 2015 European bronze medalist on the uneven bars. She was a member of the Dutch team that won the bronze medal at the 2018 and 2023 European Championships.
Pauline Sieglinde Schäfer-Betz or Pauline Schäfer is a German artistic gymnast who represented Germany at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2017 World Champion, the 2021 World silver medalist, and the 2015 World bronze medalist on the balance beam. She was part of the bronze medal-winning German team at the 2022 European Championships.
Ana Filipa da Silva Martins is a retired Portuguese artistic gymnast who competed at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympic Games. She won a bronze medal at the 2015 Summer Universiade on the balance beam. She is the first Portuguese gymnast to win a World Cup gold medal.
Kelly Garrison-Funderburk, formerly known as Kelly Garrison-Steves, is a retired American artistic gymnast. An elite gymnast for eight years, she represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to her Olympic experience, she participated in the 1983, 1985 and 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She was a two-time winner of the Honda Sports Award.
Marine Clémence Boyer is a French female artistic gymnast. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2023 World Championships and was also a part of the 2018 and 2024 Europeans and 2018 Mediterranean Games silver medal winning teams and the 2016 European bronze medal winning team. Individually she is the 2018 Mediterranean Games gold medalist, the 2016 European silver medalist, the 2018 European bronze medalist and the 2024 European bronze medalist on the balance beam. She represented France at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2016 French all-around champion and an eleven-time medalist at the FIG World Cup series.
The women's balance beam event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 3 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Approximately 90 gymnasts from 53 nations are expected to compete on the balance beam in the qualifying round.
Kara Eaker is an American artistic gymnast. On the balance beam she is the 2018 Pan American and 2019 Pan American Games champion and a two-time United States national silver medalist. On floor exercise she is the 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist and the 2018 Pan American bronze medalist. She was a member of the American teams that won gold at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships, the 2019 Pan American Games, and the 2018 Pan American Championships. She was an alternate for the 2020 Olympic team.
Anastasia Maria Webb is a former American artistic gymnast. She competed for the Oklahoma Sooners women's gymnastics team. In 2021, she became the NCAA All Around Champion and tied for the floor and vault titles, to go along with OU's team championship from 2019.
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