Artistic Gymnastics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Dates 8 – 12 July 1912
Medal Events 4

At the time of the 1912 Olympics, international gynmastics was split among several schools. There was the Swedish, or Ling school; the Sokol, or Bohemian, school; and the German turnen, or European school. Each method had its supporters and the gymnastics community compromised by providing a team competition in three different systems at Stockholm - the European (German), the Swedish, and a Free System, with free choice of movements and apparatus. This would be repeated in 1920 at Antwerp, when the same three styles were used for three separate team events.

Individual gymnastics also had its exponents and its detractors. In particular, the Swedes did not like the idea of gymnastics as an individual competition, as it was against their basic concept of gymnastics. In 1908 the Swedish press did not publish the results of the individual gymnastics competition at London, as there were no Swedish participants. Still, the Swedish Olympic Committee agreed to organize an individual gymnastics event in Stockholm. In fact, at the 11th IOC Session (1910 in Luxembourg), the Swedish Olympic Committee revealed that they were not planning on conducting any competitive gymnastics but only displays. The Swedish Olympic Committee capitulated to the wishes of the IOC and agreed to organize competitive events.

All of the Olympic gymnastics events were held outdoors in the Olympic Stadium, which was common in that era.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Individual All-Around, Men Olympic 12 July 1912 44 9
Team All-Around, European System, Men Olympic 11 July 1912 91 5
Team All-Around, Free System, Men Olympic 10 July 1912 101 5
Team All-Around, Swedish System, Men Olympic 8 July 1912 74 3
249 (249/0) 12 (12/0)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual All-Around, Men Alberto BragliaITA Louis SéguraFRA Serafino MazzarocchiITA
Team All-Around, Men ItalyITA HungaryHUN Great BritainGBR
Team All-Around, Free System, Men NorwayNOR FinlandFIN DenmarkDEN
Team All-Around, Swedish System, Men SwedenSWE DenmarkDEN NorwayNOR

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Italy ITA 2 0 1 3
Norway NOR 1 0 1 2
Sweden SWE 1 0 0 1
Denmark DEN 0 1 1 2
Finland FIN 0 1 0 1
France FRA 0 1 0 1
Hungary HUN 0 1 0 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1