Pommelled Horse, Men

The format was the same as in 1964, with the best six gymnasts in the individual all-around advancing to the apparatus final, with the final apparatus score made up of 50% of the all-around total and a final optional program. Yugoslav Slovenian Miroslav Cerar had won this event at the 1964 Olympics and the 1966 World Championships, and is often considered as the greatest ever gymnast on pommelled horse, usually along with Hungarian Zoltán Magyar, who won Olympic gold on the pommelled horse in 1976-80. Cerar repeated as gold medalist in 1968 with the highest score in the all-around qualifying, and equal to the best in the final round. His final round mark was matched by Finland’s silver medalist Olli Laiho, who won Finland’s only gymnastic medal in Mexico City. As of 2012, this is also the last Olympic medal won by a Finnish gymnast. Bronze went to Soviet Mikhail Voronin, one of his five apparatus medals in Mexico, missing only on the floor exercise.