Michael Nikolay

Michael Nikolay won an all-around bronze medal with the East German male gymnastics team at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. He failed to qualify for one of the apparatus finals, placing seventh in the individual all-around. Four years later at Moskva Nikolay won a team silver and qualified for the finals in the parallel bars and the pommelled horse. On the bars he finished an unfortunate fourth, but on the horse he won a bronze medal. In the individual all-around he placed sixth.

Nikolay’s greatest moment came in 1981, when he won the World Championship at the Moskva Worlds on the pommelled horse, tying with China’s Li Xiaoping. In 1978 he also won a team bronze at the Worlds and a silver on the pommelled horse at the Europeans. Domestically, he earned seven individual national titles. His twin brother Jürgen was also a nationally-successful gymnast, but never appeared at international competitions.