Individual All-Around, Women

As in 1972, the team all-around was contested first, with the top 36 finishers from that event advancing to the individual all-around final. However, to prevent individual nations from dominating with over-representation, no more than three gymnasts from any one country could advance to the individual final. The total score consisted of 50% of the team all-around score and the performances on all four apparatuses in the individual final. The defending champion was Soviet Lyudmila Turishcheva who had also won the 1974 World Championships. She had been challenged since the 1972 Olympics by her countrywoman, Olga Korbut, who was always the crowd favorite, but could never defeat Turishcheva. There were two other challengers for the title, the new young Soviet Nelli Kim, and a 14-year-old Romanian, Nadia Comăneci, who had upset Turishcheva at the 1975 European Championships. Comăneci had won other significant meets recently, the 1975 pre-Olympic tune-up in Montréal and the America’s Cup in March 1976.

Comăneci took the new paradigm of women’s gymnastics, started by Korbut at the 1972 Olympics, and extended it, adding new dangerous acrobatic moves that often shocked the crowds. She received perfects 10s during the team competition for her performance on the balance beam and uneven bars. They had not been expected, so the scoreboards in the Montréal Forum had not been designed for this, and they were displayed to the spectators as 1.00. She would eventually earn seven scores of 10.0 in Montréal, and Kim would receive two. Comăneci took a big lead after the team all-around and then kept extending it on every apparatus, winning the gold medal by 0.60 points over Nelli Kim, a huge margin in modern gymnastics. Turishcheva added a bronze medal to her gold from 1972, while Korbut placed fifth. Comăneci would continue to dominate gymnastics in the coming years, with Kim her biggest rival, until she won only a controversial silver medal at the 1980 Olympics, when the judging seemed to favor the hometown Soviets.

Finishing in 37th place in Montréal was Soviet Elvira Saadi, who had actually placed seventh in the team qualifying, but could not compete in the final because she was the fourth-placed Soviet. This new system allowed the Netherlands’ Monique Bolleboom to advance to the individual all-around final, although she had been only 62nd of the original 86 gymnasts.