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| Event type

Individual All-Around, Women

Date21 – 23 October 1968 — 08:30-17:00
StatusOlympic
LocationAuditorio Nacional, Ciudad de México
Participants101 from 24 countries
FormatCompulsory and optional exercise performed on all four apparatuses.

Věra Čáslavská was the dominant gymnast, male or female, in Mexico City, winning medals in all six women’s events and four gold medals, including the individual all-around. She came to the Mexico City Olympics as the favorite, having won the 1966 World Championships, although Soviet Nataliya Kuchinskaya was close at the 1966 Worlds in Dortmund, Germany. In Mexico City, it was not close, as Čáslavská won easily over Kuchinskaya’s teammate, Zinaida Voronina, the wife of Mikhail Voronin, who was also second in the men’s all-around in 1968. Kuchinskaya won the bronze medal. To top things off for her, at the end of the 1968 Olympics, Čáslavská got married after the competition ended, marrying Josef Odložil, who won a silver medal in Mexico in the 1,500 metre run.

However, Čáslavská almost did not compete at the 1968 Olympics. In April 1968 she had signed the “Manifesto of 2000 Words,” which opposed Soviet involvement in Czechoslovakia. In August 1968, the Soviet Union invaded Prague to put down Czechoslovak protests. Čáslavská was warned she could be arrested and fled to the mountains, where she trained on her own in the fields and forests. She was eventually allowed to compete at the Olympics, but the Soviets did not forget. She never was able to obtain a coaching job in Czechoslovakia, and remained unemployed. She was told to renounce her support of the manifesto, but continually refused. She later coached the Mexican team from 1979-81 but on her return to Czechoslovakia, the restrictions on her were kept in place. After the fall of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, Čáslavská’s brave support of her principles became an asset, and she eventually became President of the Czech Olympic Committee and a member of the IOC.

Life was not much better for Zinaida Voronina, though for far less noble reasons. She and her husband won 10 gymnastics medals in Mexico City, but Zinaida later turned to alcohol abuse, her husband divorced her, she lost custody of her son, and she was only able to obtain work as a manual laborer, a job she also lost because of her alcoholism. Voronina eventually died in 2001, when only 53-years-old, due to alcohol-related causes.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCPointsCEPOEP
1Věra ČáslavskáTCH78.2538.8539.40Gold
2Zinaida VoroninaURS76.8538.3538.50Silver
3Nataliya KuchinskayaURS76.7537.7539.00Bronze
=4Larisa PetrikURS76.7038.3538.35
=4Erika ZucholdGDR76.7038.2038.50
6Karin JanzGDR76.5538.2538.30
=7Bohumila ŘimnáčováTCH76.0038.0038.00
=7Olga KarasyovaURS76.0037.8538.15
=9Miroslava SkleničkováTCH75.8537.8538.00
=9Marianna KrajčírováTCH75.8537.5538.30
11Hana LiškováTCH75.6537.8037.85
12Maritta BauerschmidtGDR75.4537.6537.80
13Kazue HanyuJPN75.3037.5037.80
14Ágnes BánfaiHUN75.1037.5537.55
15Jána Kubičková-PosnerováTCH75.0537.2537.80
16Cathy RigbyUSA74.9537.6037.35
17Miyuki MatsuhisaJPN74.9037.1037.80
18Taniko MitsukuriJPN74.8537.7537.10
=19Evelyne LetourneurFRA74.8037.7037.10
=19Anikó Ducza-JánosiHUN74.8037.6537.15
=19Chieko OdaJPN74.8037.3537.45
=22Ute StarkeGDR74.6537.4037.25
=22Mitsuko KandoriJPN74.6537.2537.40
24Lyudmila TurishchevaURS74.5037.8036.70
25Lyubov BurdaURS74.2037.7536.45
26Katalin Makray-SchmittHUN74.1537.1537.00
27Marianne NoackGDR74.1036.5037.60
28Linda MethenyUSA74.0037.6536.35
29Magdalena SchmidtGDR73.9537.4036.55
30Joyce TanacUSA73.6536.9536.70
31Kathy GleasonUSA73.6036.6536.95
32Mariya KarashkaBUL73.3036.4036.90
33Kayoko HashiguchiJPN73.1535.8537.30
34Colleen MulvihillUSA73.0536.7036.35
=35Jacqueline BrisepierreFRA72.4536.6035.85
=35Márta Tolnai-ErdősHUN72.4535.7036.75
37Katalin Müller-SzállHUN72.1536.2535.90
38Ilona BékésiHUN71.8536.0035.85
39Wendy CluffUSA71.8036.1035.70
=40Mireille CayreFRA71.7536.5035.25
=40Łucja OchmańskaPOL71.7535.8535.90
42Wiesława LechPOL71.5536.0535.50
43Angelika KernFRG71.3535.2536.10
44Vanya MarinovaBUL71.3034.3536.95
45Irmi KrauserFRG71.2035.7035.50
=46Françoise NourryFRA70.7535.6035.15
=46Barbara ZiębaPOL70.7535.2535.50
=48Marlies StegemannFRG70.5535.9534.60
=48Marie LundqvistSWE70.5535.2035.35
50Rose-Marie HolmSWE70.5035.2535.25
=51Neli StoyanovaBUL70.4535.6534.80
=51Jennifer DiachunCAN70.4535.4535.00
=51Vesela PashevaBUL70.4534.9535.50
54Nataša ŠljepicaYUG70.3535.7534.60
=55Grażyna WitkowskaPOL70.3035.6034.70
=55Petra JebramFRG70.3035.4034.90
57Dominique LauvardFRA70.1536.1534.00
58Adriana BiagiottiITA70.1035.4534.65
=59Anna SteinFRG70.0035.2534.75
=59Solveig AnderssonSWE70.0035.0035.00
=59Tsagaandorjiin GündegmaaMGL70.0034.7535.25
=62Helga MatschkurFRG69.7535.4034.35
=62Sandra HartleyCAN69.7534.7035.05
64Gabriella PozzuoloITA69.6535.3034.35
65Rayna AtanasovaBUL69.6034.4535.15
66Horta Van HoyeBEL69.4033.9535.45
=67Halina DaniecPOL69.2034.7034.50
=67Helga BraathenNOR69.2033.8035.40
69Nicole BourdiauFRA69.0535.4533.60
70Val NorrisAUS68.6033.4535.15
71Teresa McDonnellCAN68.2033.7534.45
72Miriam VillaciánCUB68.1033.2534.85
73Zulema BregadoCUB68.0534.2033.85
74Margaret BellGBR67.9533.6534.30
=75Christiane GoethalsBEL67.8534.0033.85
=75Else TrangbækDEN67.8532.5035.35
=77Daniela MaccelliITA67.8034.8532.95
=77Jill KvammeNOR67.8033.8034.00
79Marilynn MinakerCAN67.6033.6533.95
80Torunn IsbergNOR67.5533.1034.45
81Suzanne CloutierCAN67.4034.2033.20
82Małgorzata ChojnackaPOL67.3533.9533.40
83Nancy AldamaCUB67.0033.5533.45
84Yadamsürengiin TuyaaMGL66.9032.4534.45
85Esbela da FonsecaPOR66.7033.3033.40
86Wenche SjongNOR66.4533.4033.05
87Unni HolmenNOR65.7033.1532.55
88Mary PrestidgeGBR65.6033.0032.60
89Ann-Mari HvaalNOR63.8031.1532.65
90Julieta SáenzMEX63.7532.3031.45
=91Suzette BlancoCUB62.8530.1532.70
=91Nereida BautaCUB62.8529.6033.25
93María Luisa MoralesMEX62.7031.5531.15
94María Elena RamírezMEX61.5529.8531.70
95Yolanda VegaCUB61.2030.6530.55
96Rosario BrionesMEX60.8529.8531.00
97Dorjiin NorolkhooMGL59.5027.9031.60
98Laura RiveraMEX59.3530.9028.45
99Rosa Linda PuenteMEX58.4029.1529.25
100Yu Mai-LeeTPE53.3027.5025.80
101Hong Tai-KwaiTPE52.6528.2524.40