Individual All-Around, Men

The format was the same as in 1976. 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 six apparatuses in the individual final. Soviet Nikolay Andrianov was the defending champion and had won the 1978 World Championships, but in 1979, his teammate, Aleksandr Dityatin won the Worlds, followed by American Kurt Thomas. Thomas could not compete, done in by Jimmy Carter and the American-led boycott. In his absence this event came down to a battle between Dityatin and Andrianov, with Dityatin winning gold and Andrianov close behind for silver, the bronze going to Bulgarian Stoyan Delchev. Delchev’s medal was the first by a Bulgarian gymnast at the Olympics since a bronze by Velik Kapsazov on rings in 1960.

Dityatin would go on to win eight medals in Moskva, breaking the record for the most medals at a single Olympics, previously seven held by seven Olympians. Eight remains the record through 2012, having been tied by Michael Phelps in 2004 and 2008. Andrianov had won seven medals in 1976, and would add five in 1980, ending his Olympic career with 15 medals, a record for men at the Olympics until broken by Phelps in 2008.