Artistic Gymnastics at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Dates 18 – 25 September 1988
Medal Events 14

After the boycotts of 1980-84 this was the first time since 1976 that all the world’s top gymnasts met at the Olympics. After missing the 1984 Olympics, the Soviet men must have been seeking revenge, winning 12 of 26 medals in Seoul, and 8 of 12 gold medals. The competitions were held at the Che-yuk-gwan, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, or the Olympic Gymnastics Hall in Olympic Park. It was completed in 1986 for the Seoul Olympics, had a capacity of over 14,000 and still is used mostly as a concert venue.

On the women’s side, Romania won eight medals to the Soviet Union’s seven, with both nations winning three events. Except for their 1984 boycott year, this was the only time between 1952-92, during their existence competing at the Olympics in gymnastics (as the Unified Team in 1992), that the Soviet women did not lead the medal lists. The United States had seemed to move forward as an Olympic gymnastics power in 1984, both for the men and women, but they won only one medal in Seoul, a women’s bronze medal by Phoebe Mills on balance beam.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Individual All-Around, Men Olympic 18 – 22 September 1988 89 23
Team All-Around, Men Olympic 18 – 20 September 1988 72 12
Floor Exercise, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Horse Vault, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Parallel Bars, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Horizontal Bar, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Rings, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Pommelled Horse, Men Olympic 18 – 24 September 1988 89 23
Individual All-Around, Women Olympic 19 – 23 September 1988 90 23
Team All-Around, Women Olympic 19 – 21 September 1988 72 12
Floor Exercise, Women Olympic 19 – 25 September 1988 90 23
Horse Vault, Women Olympic 19 – 25 September 1988 90 23
Uneven Bars, Women Olympic 19 – 25 September 1988 90 23
Balance Beam, Women Olympic 19 – 25 September 1988 90 23
179 (89/90) 28 (23/23)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual All-Around, Men Vladimir ArtyomovURS Valery LyukinURS Dmitry BilozerchevURS
Team All-Around, Men Soviet UnionURS East GermanyGDR JapanJPN
Floor Exercise, Men Sergey KharkovURS Vladimir ArtyomovURS Lou Yun
Yukio Iketani
CHN
JPN
Horse Vault, Men Lou YunCHN Sylvio KrollGDR Park Jong-HunKOR
Parallel Bars, Men Vladimir ArtyomovURS Valery LyukinURS Sven TippeltGDR
Horizontal Bar, Men Vladimir Artyomov
Valery Lyukin
URS
URS
Holger Behrendt
Marius Gherman
GDR
ROU
Rings, Men Holger Behrendt
Dmitry Bilozerchev
GDR
URS
Sven TippeltGDR
Pommelled Horse, Men Lyubomir Geraskov
Zsolt Borkai
Dmitry Bilozerchev
BUL
HUN
URS
Individual All-Around, Women Yelena ShushunovaURS Daniela SilivașROU Sviatlana BahinskayaURS
Team All-Around, Women Soviet UnionURS RomaniaROU East GermanyGDR
Floor Exercise, Women Daniela SilivașROU Sviatlana BahinskayaURS Diana DudevaBUL
Horse Vault, Women Sviatlana BahinskayaURS Gabriela PotoracROU Daniela SilivașROU
Uneven Bars, Women Daniela SilivașROU Dagmar KerstenGDR Yelena ShushunovaURS
Balance Beam, Women Daniela SilivașROU Yelena ShushunovaURS Gabriela Potorac
Phoebe Mills
ROU
USA

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 11 5 3 19
Romania ROU 3 3 3 9
East Germany GDR 1 3 4 8
Bulgaria BUL 1 0 1 2
People's Republic of China CHN 1 0 1 2
Hungary HUN 1 0 0 1
Japan JPN 0 0 2 2
Republic of Korea KOR 0 0 1 1
United States USA 0 0 1 1