Artistic Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics

The 1968 gymnastics events were held at the Auditorio Nacional, or National Auditorium, in Mexico City. The venue was built in 1952 and hosted the basketball and volleyball events at the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games, but gymnastics was the only event held there in 1968. It is now primarily used for entertainment events although it did host the 1993 and 2007 Miss Universe competition.

The program in 1968 was the standard one, which began in this form in 1960, with individual and team all-around for both men and women, with women competing in four apparatus finals and men in six. In men’s competition, the Japanese surpassed the Soviets for the first time in terms of medals and gold medals won, with 12-9 and 6-2, respectively. Only three nations won medals in women’s competition, with the Soviets winning 9, Czechoslovakia 6, and East Germany 3. However, all of Czechoslovakia’s medals, and four gold medals, were won by Věra Čáslavská, who was the dominant gymnast in Mexico City.