Artistic Gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Dates 19 – 24 July 1952
Medal Events 15

There were several new things in gymnastics at Helsinki. Mainly the Soviet Union had finally entered the Olympic Games and their gymnasts, men and women, would quickly become the dominant nation, although the men were soon challenged, and even surpassed for several Olympics, by the Japanese. The women gymnasts were greeted in Helsinki by a full program, including four apparatus events and finally an individual all-around competition. Further, the women had a seventh event, which would only be contested in 1952 and 1956, the team, portable apparatus all-around. This was somewhat similar to a team rhythmic gymnastics competition.

The Soviet dominance in Helsinki can be seen by the medal lists. Overall they won 9 gold medals and 22 medals, with men leading with 5 golds in 8 events and 11 of 26 medals, while the women won 4 of the 7 events and over half of the medals, with 11 of 21.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Individual All-Around, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Team All-Around, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 170 23
Floor Exercise, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Horse Vault, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Parallel Bars, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Horizontal Bar, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Rings, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Pommelled Horse, Men Olympic 19 – 21 July 1952 185 29
Individual All-Around, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 134 18
Team All-Around, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 128 16
Team Portable Apparatus, Women Olympic 24 July 1952 128 16
Floor Exercise, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 134 18
Horse Vault, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 134 18
Uneven Bars, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 134 18
Balance Beam, Women Olympic 22 – 23 July 1952 134 18
319 (185/134) 30 (29/18)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual All-Around, Men Viktor ChukarinURS Hrant ShahinyanURS Sepp StalderSUI
Team All-Around, Men Soviet UnionURS SwitzerlandSUI FinlandFIN
Floor Exercise, Men William ThoressonSWE Tadao Uesako
Jerzy Jokiel
JPN
POL
Horse Vault, Men Viktor ChukarinURS Masao TakemotoJPN Tadao Uesako
Takashi Ono
JPN
JPN
Parallel Bars, Men Hans EugsterSUI Viktor ChukarinURS Sepp StalderSUI
Horizontal Bar, Men Jack GünthardSUI Alfred Schwarzmann
Sepp Stalder
GER
SUI
Rings, Men Hrant ShahinyanURS Viktor ChukarinURS Hans Eugster
Dmitry Leonkin
SUI
URS
Pommelled Horse, Men Viktor ChukarinURS Hrant Shahinyan
Yevgeny Korolkov
URS
URS
Individual All-Around, Women Mariya GorokhovskayaURS Nina BocharovaURS Margit KorondiHUN
Team All-Around, Women Soviet UnionURS HungaryHUN CzechoslovakiaTCH
Team Portable Apparatus, Women SwedenSWE Soviet UnionURS HungaryHUN
Floor Exercise, Women Ágnes KeletiHUN Mariya GorokhovskayaURS Margit KorondiHUN
Horse Vault, Women Yekaterina KalinchukURS Mariya GorokhovskayaURS Galina MinaichevaURS
Uneven Bars, Women Margit KorondiHUN Mariya GorokhovskayaURS Ágnes KeletiHUN
Balance Beam, Women Nina BocharovaURS Mariya GorokhovskayaURS Margit KorondiHUN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 9 11 2 22
Switzerland SUI 2 2 3 7
Hungary HUN 2 1 5 8
Sweden SWE 2 0 0 2
Japan JPN 0 2 2 4
Germany GER 0 1 0 1
Poland POL 0 1 0 1
Czechoslovakia TCH 0 0 1 1
Finland FIN 0 0 1 1