Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam

Women's balance beam at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Auditorio Nacional
Date	21–25 October 1968
Competitors	101 from 28 nations
Winning score	19.650
Medalists
Natalia Kuchinskaya   Soviet Union Věra Čáslavská   Czechoslovakia Larisa Petrik   Soviet Union
←  1964 1972  →

These are the results of the women's balance beam competition, one of six events for female competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Kuchinskaya was controversially awarded gold over Čáslavská after initial scores were revised. A similar controversy occurred in the floor event, and both were in favor of Soviet athletes. ^[1]

Competition format

Each nation entered a team of six gymnasts or up to three individual gymnasts. All entrants in the gymnastics competitions performed both a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise for each apparatus. The scores for all 8 exercises were summed to give an individual all-around score.

These exercise scores were also used for qualification for the new apparatus finals. The two exercises (compulsory and voluntary) for each apparatus were summed to give an apparatus score; the top 6 in each apparatus participated in the finals; others were ranked 7th through 101st. In the final, each gymnast performed an additional voluntary exercise; half of the score from the preliminary carried over.

Results

Rank	Gymnast	Nation	Preliminary			Final
			Compulsory	Voluntary	Total	1⁄2 Prelim.	Final	Total
	Natalia Kuchinskaya	Soviet Union	9.80	9.80	19.60	9.800	9.850	19.650
	Věra Čáslavská	Czechoslovakia	9.65	9.80	19.45	9.725	9.850	19.575
	Larisa Petrik	Soviet Union	9.50	9.50	19.00	9.500	9.750	19.250
4	Linda Metheny	United States	9.60	9.55	19.15	9.575	9.650	19.225
	Karin Janz	East Germany	9.45	9.60	19.05	9.525	9.700	19.225
6	Erika Zuchold	East Germany	9.45	9.55	19.00	9.500	9.650	19.150
7	Cathy Rigby	United States	9.55	9.45	19.00	did not advance
8	Maritta Bauerschmidt	East Germany	9.50	9.45	18.95	did not advance
9	Miyuki Matsuhisa	Japan	9.50	9.40	18.90	did not advance
10	Ágnes Bánfai	Hungary	9.50	9.35	18.85	did not advance
	Lyubov Burda	Soviet Union	9.50	9.35	18.85	did not advance
	Hana Lišková	Czechoslovakia	9.45	9.40	18.85	did not advance
	Marianne Noack	East Germany	9.45	9.40	18.85	did not advance
	Bohumila Řimnáčová	Czechoslovakia	9.45	9.40	18.85	did not advance
15	Zinaida Voronina	Soviet Union	9.40	9.40	18.80	did not advance
16	Kazue Hanyu	Japan	9.35	9.40	18.75	did not advance
	Evelyne Letourneur	France	9.50	9.25	18.75	did not advance
18	Anikó Ducza	Hungary	9.50	9.20	18.70	did not advance
	Olga Karasyova	Soviet Union	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Jana Kubičková-Posnerová	Czechoslovakia	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Colleen Mulvihill	United States	9.40	9.30	18.70	did not advance
22	Marianna Krajčírová	Czechoslovakia	9.35	9.30	18.65	did not advance
23	Kayoko Hashiguchi	Japan	9.35	9.25	18.60	did not advance
	Mitsuko Kandori	Japan	9.35	9.25	18.60	did not advance
	Taniko Mitsukuri	Japan	9.35	9.25	18.60	did not advance
	Miroslava Skleničková	Czechoslovakia	9.30	9.30	18.60	did not advance
27	Kathy Gleason	United States	9.15	9.30	18.45	did not advance
	Joyce Tanac	United States	9.25	9.20	18.45	did not advance
29	Katalin Makray	Hungary	9.25	9.10	18.35	did not advance
30	Chieko Oda	Japan	9.25	9.05	18.30	did not advance
	Márta Tolnai	Hungary	9.10	9.20	18.30	did not advance
32	Ilona Békési	Hungary	9.20	9.05	18.25	did not advance
33	Wendy Cluff	United States	9.20	9.00	18.20	did not advance
	Ute Starke	East Germany	9.20	9.00	18.20	did not advance
	Neli Stoyanova	Bulgaria	8.95	9.25	18.20	did not advance
36	Gondegmaa Tsagaandorj	Mongolia	8.85	9.25	18.10	did not advance
37	Mariya Karashka	Bulgaria	8.80	9.25	18.05	did not advance
38	Wiesława Lech	Poland	9.05	8.95	18.00	did not advance
39	Jacqueline Brisepierre	France	9.20	8.75	17.95	did not advance
40	Sandra Hartley	Canada	8.95	8.90	17.85	did not advance
41	Katalin Müller	Hungary	9.45	8.35	17.80	did not advance
	Łucja Ochmańska	Poland	8.80	9.00	17.80	did not advance
43	Mireille Cayre	France	8.95	8.80	17.75	did not advance
	Françoise Nourry	France	9.15	8.60	17.75	did not advance
	Ludmilla Tourischeva	Soviet Union	9.30	8.45	17.75	did not advance
46	Horta Van Hoye	Belgium	8.70	9.00	17.70	did not advance
	Vesela Pasheva	Bulgaria	8.75	8.95	17.70	did not advance
48	Tuiaa Iadamsurenglin	Mongolia	8.60	9.00	17.60	did not advance
49	Helga Braathen	Norway	8.35	9.20	17.55	did not advance
	Christiane Goethals	Belgium	8.45	9.10	17.55	did not advance
	Barbara Zięba	Poland	8.45	9.10	17.55	did not advance
52	Nancy Aldama	Cuba	8.70	8.80	17.50	did not advance
	Margaret Bell	Great Britain	8.55	8.95	17.50	did not advance
	Angelika Kern	West Germany	8.50	9.00	17.50	did not advance
55	Marilynn Minaker	Canada	8.35	9.05	17.40	did not advance
	Wenche Sjong	Norway	8.45	8.95	17.40	did not advance
57	Marie Lundqvist	Sweden	8.60	8.75	17.35	did not advance
58	Magdalena Schmidt	East Germany	9.10	8.20	17.30	did not advance
59	Jill Kvamme	Norway	8.20	9.05	17.25	did not advance
60	Gabriella Pozzuolo	Italy	8.95	8.15	17.10	did not advance
61	Adriana Biagiotti	Italy	9.00	8.05	17.05	did not advance
62	Rayna Atanasova	Bulgaria	8.60	8.40	17.00	did not advance
	Zulema Bregado	Cuba	8.70	8.30	17.00	did not advance
	Jennifer Diachun	Canada	8.90	8.10	17.00	did not advance
	Rose-Marie Holm	Sweden	8.85	8.15	17.00	did not advance
	Torunn Isberg	Norway	7.90	9.10	17.00	did not advance
	Dominique Lauvard	France	9.05	7.95	17.00	did not advance
	Theresa McDonnell	Canada	7.95	9.05	17.00	did not advance
	Else Trangbaek	Denmark	8.25	8.75	17.00	did not advance
70	Suzette Blanco	Cuba	8.25	8.55	16.80	did not advance
	Grażyna Witkowska	Poland	8.75	8.05	16.80	did not advance
72	Norikhoo Dorj	Mongolia	8.40	8.35	16.75	did not advance
	Valerie Norris	Australia	8.05	8.70	16.75	did not advance
	Mary Prestidge	Great Britain	8.25	8.50	16.75	did not advance
75	Solveig Egman-Andersson	Sweden	8.30	8.40	16.70	did not advance
	Marie-Luise Stegemann	West Germany	8.65	8.05	16.70	did not advance
77	Vanya Marinova	Bulgaria	7.35	9.30	16.65	did not advance
78	Nereida Bauta	Cuba	8.00	8.55	16.55	did not advance
79	Miriam Villacian	Cuba	8.00	8.50	16.50	did not advance
80	Petra Jebram	West Germany	8.80	7.65	16.45	did not advance
	Helga Matschkur	West Germany	8.75	7.70	16.45	did not advance
82	Irmi Krauser	West Germany	8.50	7.90	16.40	did not advance
83	Natalija Sljepica	Yugoslavia	8.55	7.70	16.25	did not advance
84	Halina Daniec	Poland	8.50	7.45	15.95	did not advance
85	Anna Stein	West Germany	8.50	7.35	15.85	did not advance
86	Daniela Maccelli	Italy	8.70	7.10	15.80	did not advance
87	Unni Holmen	Norway	8.05	7.70	15.75	did not advance
88	Małgorzata Chojnacka	Poland	8.45	7.20	15.65	did not advance
89	Nicole Bourdiau	France	8.75	6.80	15.55	did not advance
90	Suzanne Cloutier	Canada	8.25	7.25	15.50	did not advance
91	Esbela da Fonseca	Portugal	7.55	7.90	15.45	did not advance
	Elena Ramirez	Mexico	7.75	7.70	15.45	did not advance
93	Ann-Mari Hvaal	Norway	7.40	7.50	14.90	did not advance
94	Yolanda Vega	Cuba	8.20	6.65	14.85	did not advance
95	Julietta Saenz de Secilia	Mexico	7.70	6.65	14.35	did not advance
96	Luisa Morales	Mexico	7.05	6.85	13.90	did not advance
	Laura Rivera	Mexico	7.85	6.05	13.90	did not advance
98	Yu Mai-Lee	Chinese Taipei	7.10	6.65	13.75	did not advance
99	Rosalinda Puente	Mexico	6.90	5.90	12.80	did not advance
100	Rosario Briones	Mexico	6.30	6.40	12.70	did not advance
	Hong Tai-kwai	Chinese Taipei	8.05	4.65	12.70	did not advance

References

1. "'I will sweat blood to defeat invaders' representatives' - 1968's forgotten Olympic protest". BBC Sport.

• Official Olympic Report
• www.gymnasticsresults.com
• www.gymn-forum.net