Gymnastics is a sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse and from circus performance skills.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon or rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984, with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, pivots, and flexibility movements, along with tossing, catching, rolling and otherwise manipulating the apparatus.
At the 1900 Summer Olympics one gymnastics event for men was contested. The competition was held on Sunday, 29 July 1900, and on Monday, 30 July 1900.
The men's individual all-around, also known as the heptathlon, was one of two gymnastics events on the Gymnastics at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. As suggested by the alternate name, the competition included seven events with the scores summed to give a final score. Each nation could enter up to 20 fencers, with France and Great Britain each entering the maximum. A total of 97 gymnasts from 12 nations competed.
Gymnastics at the 1956 Summer Olympics was represented by 15 events: 7 for women and 8 for men. All events were held at the West Melbourne Stadium between December 3 and December 7. It is located some 3.4 km north-west of the main Olympic venue, Melbourne Cricket Ground, and named Festival Hall as of 2006.
The men's vault was a gymnastics event contested as part of the Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. The event was held on 18, 20, and 23 October. There were 130 competitors from 30 nations, with nations in the team competition having up to 6 gymnasts and other nations entering up to 3 gymnasts. For the first time in three Games, there was a clear winner with no tie. Haruhiro Yamashita took the gold medal, the second consecutive gold for Japan. Victor Lisitsky finished second, taking silver but breaking the Soviet Union's three-Games gold medal streak. Hannu Rantakari's bronze was Finland's first medal in the event since 1948.
The men's vault was an artistic gymnastics event held as part of the gymnastics at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was only the second time that the event was held at the Olympics. An unknown number of gymnasts competed, only five are known. The competition was held on Friday, October 28, 1904.
The men's pommel horse was an artistic gymnastics event held as part of the Gymnastics at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was the second time the event was held at the Olympics. An unknown number of gymnasts competed, only five are known. The competition was held on Friday, October 28, 1904. All known competitors were American. The event was won by Anton Heida, with George Eyser second and William Merz third.
The men's combined was an artistic gymnastics event held as part of the Gymnastics at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was the second time a combined apparatus event was held at the Olympics, though the previous incarnation was more similar to the all-around turnverein featured simultaneously with the combined. The format of the combined, however, was the basis for later all-around type events.
The men's triathlon was an artistic gymnastics event held as part of the Gymnastics at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was the only time the event was held at the Olympics. The competition was held on Friday, July 1, 1904, and on Saturday, July 2, 1904. One hundred and nineteen gymnasts from three nations competed.
The men's pommel horse event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was one of nine gymnastics events and it was contested for the third time after 1896 and 1904. The competition was held on Wednesday, July 23, 1924. Seventy gymnasts from nine nations competed, with each nation having an 8-gymnast team. The event was won by Josef Wilhelm of Switzerland, the nation's second victory in the event. With Swiss gymnasts Jean Gutweninger and Antoine Rebetez taking silver and bronze, respectively, it was the second consecutive appearance of the event in which the event's medals were swept.
The men's pommel horse competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 17 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium. The eight competitors with the highest scores in qualifying proceeded to the men's pommel horse finals. There, each gymnast performed again; the scores from the final round determined the final ranking. There were 76 competitors from 27 nations that competed on the pommel horse, with nations in the team event entering up to 5 gymnasts while other nations could enter up to 2. The event was won by Xiao Qin of China, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the pommel horse. The other two medals went to nations that had never earned a medal in the event before: Filip Ude of Croatia took silver while Louis Smith of Great Britain finished with bronze.
The men's rings event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was one of nine gymnastics events and it was contested for the third time after 1896 and 1904. The competition was held on Saturday, July 19, 1924. Seventy gymnasts from nine nations competed, with each nation having an 8-gymnast team. The event was won by Francesco Martino of Italy, the nation's first medal in the event. Robert Pražák and Ladislav Vácha of Czechoslovakia earned silver and bronze, respectively.
The men's vault event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was one of nine gymnastics events and it was contested for the third time after 1896 and 1904. The competition was held on Monday, July 21, 1924. Seventy gymnasts from nine nations competed. The eight members of each nation's gymnastics team all competed; Czechoslovakia only had six competitors start the vault. The event was won by Frank Kriz of the United States, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event. Jan Koutný and Bohumil Mořkovský of Czechoslovakia took silver and bronze, respectively, the nation's first medals in the event.
The men's rings or flying rings event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1932 Summer Olympics. It was contested for the fifth time after 1896, 1904, 1924, and 1928. The competition was held on Friday, August 12, 1932. Fourteen gymnasts from six nations competed. There were 14 gymnasts from six nations. Each nation was limited to three gymnasts. The event was won by George Gulack of the United States, the nation's first medal in the rings since 1904 and second overall. Another American, Bill Denton, took silver. The United States was not able to complete a repeat of its 1904 sweep, however, as Italy's Giovanni Lattuada beat the third American, Richard Bishop, by one-tenth of a point for the bronze.
The men's pommel horse event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1932 Summer Olympics. It was contested for the fifth time after 1896, 1904, 1924, and 1928. The competition was held on Thursday, August 11, 1932. Ten gymnasts from five nations competed. Each nation was limited to three gymnasts. The event was won by István Pelle of Hungary, the nation's first medal in the pommel horse. Italy also earned its first medal in the event, with Omero Bonoli's silver. Frank Haubold took bronze, the United States' first medal in the event since 1904.
The men's pommel horse event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was one of seven gymnastics events for men and it was contested for the fourth time after 1896, 1904, and 1924. The competition was held on Wednesday, August 8, 1928. Eighty-eight gymnasts from eleven nations competed, with each nation having a team of 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Hermann Hänggi of Switzerland, the nation's second consecutive victory in the pommel horse. The Swiss nearly repeated their 1924 medal sweep, with 4 of the top 5, but Finland's Heikki Savolainen took bronze between silver medalist Georges Miez and fourth-place finisher Edi Steinemann. It was Finland's first medal in the event.
The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. It was held from 3 to 7 December at the Melbourne Festival Hall. There were 63 competitors from 18 nations, with nations in the team competition having up to 6 gymnasts and other nations entering up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Boris Shakhlin of the Soviet Union, the nation's second consecutive victory in the pommel horse. Takashi Ono earned Japan's first medal in the event with his silver. Soviet Viktor Chukarin became the first man to win multiple medals in the pommel horse, adding a bronze to his 1952 gold.
The men's rings event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was one of seven gymnastics events for men and it was contested for the fourth time after 1896, 1904, and 1924. Scores from the rings event were added to the results from other individual apparatus events to give aggregate scores for the individual and team all-around events. Eighty-eight gymnasts from eleven nations competed, with each nation having a team of 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia, the nation's first medal in the rings event. For the second consecutive Games, Czechoslovakian gymnasts took both silver and bronze: Ladislav Vácha finished second and Emanuel Löffler is credited with a third place finish. Vácha, the bronze medalist in 1924, was the first man to win multiple medals in the event.
The men's rings competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre on 12 and 13 August. It was the seventh appearance of the event. There were 121 competitors from 16 nations, with each nation sending a team of up to 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Karl Frei of Switzerland, with his countryman Michael Reusch earning silver; they were the nation's first medals in the event. Zdeněk Růžička of Czechoslovakia took bronze.
