| 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 – 2020 |
| Reigning champion | |
| Women |  Guan Chenchen (CHN) |
The balance beam is an artistic gymnastics event held at the Summer Olympics on which only women compete. 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 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | United States (USA) | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 |  Hungary (HUN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 |  Netherlands (NED) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 |  Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 |  Ukraine (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Cătălina Ponor is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who competed at three Olympiads: 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.
Rebecca "Becky" Downie is a British artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion on the uneven bars as well as the 2019 World silver medallist.
Lauren Mitchell is a retired Australian artistic gymnast. She is the 2010 World Champion on floor and the 2009 World Championships silver medalist on balance beam and floor. 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, balance beam, and with the Australian team. She also represented Australia at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
Kyla Briana Ross is a retired American artistic gymnast and current volunteer assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. She is the first female gymnast to win NCAA, World, and Olympic championship titles.
A perfect 10 is a score of 10.000 for a single routine in artistic gymnastics, which was once thought to be unattainable—particularly at the Olympic Games—under the code of points set by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). It is generally recognized that the first person to score a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games was Romanian Nadia Comăneci, at the 1976 Games in Montreal. Other women who accomplished this feat at the Olympics include Nellie Kim, also in 1976, Mary Lou Retton in 1984, Daniela Silivaș and Yelena Shushunova in 1988, and Lavinia Miloșovici in 1992. The first man to score a perfect 10 is considered to be Alexander Dityatin, at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina is a retired Russian artistic gymnast and current coach. She is the 2010 all-around world champion, the 2013 European all around champion, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic uneven bars champion, and a seven-time Olympic medalist.
Larisa Andreea Iordache is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is the current leader of the Romanian women's artistic gymnastics team, and represented Romania at the 2012 and 2020 Olympic Games.
Alexandra Rose Raisman is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions.
Elsabeth Ann "Ellie" Black is a Canadian artistic gymnast. She is a three-time Olympian, having represented her country at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Olympics Games. She is the 2017 World all-around silver medalist, making her the first Canadian gymnast to win a world all-around medal. Black 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 2016 Olympic Games, Black finished 5th in the individual all-around. At the 2020 Olympic Games, Black placed 4th in the balance beam final, the highest placement in the olympics for a Canadian gymnast.
Simone Arianne Biles is an American artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is tied as the most decorated gymnast of all time. Biles' seven Olympic medals also ties Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American female gymnast. Biles is considered one of the greatest and most dominant gymnasts of all time.
Maria Aleksandrovna Kharenkova is a Russian-Georgian artistic gymnast, currently representing Georgia in international competitions. She is the 2014 European champion on the balance beam.
Lauren Zoe Hernandez is an American artistic gymnast. During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the "Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics; Ultimately, the U.S. won gold in the team event. In the individual events, Hernandez earned the silver medal on the balance beam. She returned to training in late 2018 and expressed interest in making a comeback to earn a spot on the U.S. women's gymnastic team for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Margaret Mary Nichols is an American former collegiate artistic gymnast. She was the ninth NCAA gymnast to complete a Gym Slam, the first to do so for Oklahoma, and the first NCAA gymnast to have achieved it twice.
Sanne Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She has competed internationally as a senior since 2007, primarily as a balance beam and uneven bars specialist. Wevers is the 2016 Olympic and 2018 European champion on balance beam and was the first Dutch female gymnast to become an individual Olympic champion. She is also the 2015 World and 2021 European silver medalist on balance beam and the 2015 European bronze medalist on uneven bars.
Pauline Sieglinde Schäfer is a German artistic gymnast who represented Germany at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. She is the 2015 World Championships bronze medalist and 2017 World Champion on the balance beam.
Rifda Irfanaluthfi is an Indonesian artistic gymnast. She has competed for Indonesia in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, 2017 Southeast Asian Games, and 2018 Asian Games.
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 and a member of the United States women's national gymnastics team since 2017. 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.
Sunisa "Suni" Lee is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic all-around champion and uneven bars bronze medalist. She was a member of the teams that won gold at the 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2020 Olympic Games. Lee is a six-time member of the U.S. women's national gymnastics team and is the first Hmong-American Olympian. With a total of 6 world championship and Olympic medals, she is tied with Gabby Douglas, Kim Zmeskal, Kyla Ross, and Rebecca Bross as the 9th most decorated American female gymnast.
Anastasia Maria Webb is an American artistic gymnast. She competes for the Oklahoma Sooners women's gymnastics team.
| Editions |    | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gymnasts |
| ||||||||
| Artistic events | |||||||||
| Rhythmic events | |||||||||
| Trampoline events | |||||||||
| Discontinued events |
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
