These are the results of the men's vault competition, one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 27, 29 and September 1 at the Olympiahalle. There were 111 competitors from 26 nations (with 2 of the 113 gymnasts not starting in this apparatus); nations entering the team event had 6 gymnasts while other nations could have up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Klaus Köste of East Germany, the nation's first victory in the men's vault (or any men's individual gymnastics event). The Soviets took silver and bronze, respectively, from Viktor Klimenko and Nikolai Andrianov respectively.

Background

This was the 13th appearance of the event, which is one of the five apparatus events held every time there were apparatus events at the Summer Olympics (no apparatus events were held in 1900, 1908, 1912, or 1920). Three of the six finalists from 1968 returned: gold medalist Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union fifth-place finisher Akinori Nakayama and sixth-place finisher Eizo Kenmotsu of Japan. The reigning world champion was Mitsuo Tsukahara of Japan, with Viktor Klimenko of the Soviet Union the runner-up.

Liechtenstein, New Zealand, and North Korea each made their debut in the men's vault. The United States made its 12th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 Games.

Competition format

The event used a "vaulting horse" aligned parallel to the gymnast's run (rather than the modern "vaulting table" in use since 2004). Each nation entered a team of six gymnasts or up to three individual gymnasts. All entrants in the gymnastics competitions performed both a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise for each apparatus. The scores for all 12 exercises were summed to give an individual all-around score. (One gymnast who entered the all-around competition did not perform on the vault.) These exercise scores were also used to qualify for the apparatus finals. The two exercises (compulsory and voluntary) for each apparatus were summed to give an apparatus score; the top 6 in each apparatus participated in the finals; others were ranked 7th through 113th. Half of the scores from the preliminary carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 192.

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Monday, 27 August 1972 11:1519:00 Preliminary: Compulsory Wednesday, 29 August 1972 10:0018:00 Preliminary: Voluntary Saturday, 1 September 1972 19:30 Final

Results

One-hundred eleven gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on August 27 and 29. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on September 1.

Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total Klaus Köste 9.40 9.55 18.95 9.475 9.375 18.850 Viktor Klimenko 9.50 9.30 18.80 9.400 9.425 18.825 Nikolai Andrianov 9.60 9.60 19.20 9.600 9.200 18.800 4 Eizo Kenmotsu 9.40 9.40 18.80 9.400 9.150 18.550 Sawao Kato 9.50 9.50 19.00 9.500 9.050 18.550 6 Peter Rohner 9.25 9.50 18.80 9.375 9.150 18.525 7 Matthias Brehme 9.30 9.45 18.75 Did not advance Shigeru Kasamatsu 9.40 9.35 18.75 Did not advance Mikolaj Kubica 9.40 9.35 18.75 Did not advance 10 Vladislav Nehasil 9.20 9.50 18.70 Did not advance 11 Imre Molnár 9.40 9.25 18.65 Did not advance 12 Zoltán Magyar 9.25 9.35 18.60 Did not advance Akinori Nakayama 9.35 9.25 18.60 Did not advance Wolfgang Thüne 9.20 9.40 18.60 Did not advance 15 Petre Mihaiuc 9.20 9.35 18.55 Did not advance 16 Robert Bretscher 9.20 9.30 18.50 Did not advance Wolfgang Klotz 9.30 9.20 18.50 Did not advance Wilhelm Kubica 9.20 9.30 18.50 Did not advance Mikhail Voronin 9.30 9.20 18.50 Did not advance 20 Bohumil Mudrik 9.15 9.30 18.45 Did not advance Jürgen Paeke 9.20 9.25 18.45 Did not advance Gheorghe Paunescu 9.15 9.30 18.45 Did not advance 23 Dan Grecu 9.35 9.05 18.40 Did not advance Sylwester Kubica 9.10 9.30 18.40 Did not advance Li Song-sob 9.15 9.25 18.40 Did not advance Edvard Mikaelian 9.25 9.15 18.40 Did not advance Reinhard Rychly 9.10 9.30 18.40 Did not advance 28 Jorge Cuervo 8.95 9.40 18.35 Did not advance Makoto Sakamoto 9.30 9.05 18.35 Did not advance 30 Janez Brodnik 9.30 9.00 18.30 Did not advance Jifi Fejtek 9.30 9.00 18.30 Did not advance Eberhard Gienger 9.10 9.20 18.30 Did not advance Steven Hug 9.15 9.15 18.30 Did not advance Alexander Maleev 9.10 9.20 18.30 Did not advance Nicolae Oprescu 9.15 9.15 18.30 Did not advance Pavel Stanovsky 9.05 9.25 18.30 Did not advance Mieczyslaw Strzalka 9.10 9.20 18.30 Did not advance 38 Philippe Gaille 9.05 9.20 18.25 Did not advance Georges Guelzec 9.15 9.10 18.25 Did not advance Reinhard Ritter 9.05 9.20 18.25 Did not advance 41 Christian Guiffroy 9.05 9.15 18.20 Did not advance Vladimir Schukin 9.00 9.20 18.20 Did not advance Andrzej Szajna 9.30 8.90 18.20 Did not advance Miloš Vratič 9.25 8.95 18.20 Did not advance 45 John Crosby Jr. 8.90 9.25 18.15 Did not advance Stefan Zoev 8.90 9.25 18.15 Did not advance 47 Marshall Avener 8.95 9.15 18.10 Did not advance Bernd Effing 8.80 9.30 18.10 Did not advance Ivica Hmjelovac 9.00 9.10 18.10 Did not advance Milenko Kersnic 9.15 8.95 18.10 Did not advance Antal Kisteleki 9.00 9.10 18.10 Did not advance 52 István Bérczi 8.85 9.20 18.05 Did not advance Kim Song-yu 8.85 9.20 18.05 Did not advance 54 Jim Culhane Jr. 9.10 8.90 18.00 Did not advance Mircea Gheorghiu 9.00 9.00 18.00 Did not advance Zoran Ivanovic 9.05 8.95 18.00 Did not advance István Kiss 8.95 9.05 18.00 Did not advance Jerzy Kruza 8.95 9.05 18.00 Did not advance Peter Lloyd 9.05 8.95 18.00 Did not advance Rogelio Mendoza 8.70 9.30 18.00 Did not advance Teruichi Okamura 9.20 8.80 18.00 Did not advance Günter Spies 9.15 8.85 18.00 Did not advance Cecilio Ugarte 8.80 9.20 18.00 Did not advance 64 Bernard Farjat 8.90 9.05 17.95 Did not advance Jean-Pierre Miens 9.10 8.85 17.95 Did not advance Ladislav Morava 8.80 9.15 17.95 Did not advance Walter Mossinger 9.10 8.85 17.95 Did not advance Shin Heung-do 9.00 8.95 17.95 Did not advance Drago Sostaric 9.05 8.90 17.95 Did not advance Stan Wild 8.75 9.20 17.95 Did not advance 71 Béla Herczeg 9.20 8.70 17.90 Did not advance Ho Yun-hang 8.65 9.25 17.90 Did not advance Mauno Nissinen 9.00 8.90 17.90 Did not advance Terry Sale 9.00 8.90 17.90 Did not advance Mitsuo Tsukahara 9.10 8.80 17.90 Did not advance 76 Eddie Arnold 8.65 9.20 17.85 Did not advance Edwin Greutmann 9.10 8.75 17.85 Did not advance Jorge Rodriguez 8.75 9.10 17.85 Did not advance 79 Jo Jong-ryol 8.40 9.40 17.80 Did not advance Kim Song-il 8.70 9.10 17.80 Did not advance Constantin Petrescu 8.80 9.00 17.80 Did not advance 82 Steve Mitruk 8.70 9.05 17.75 Did not advance 83 José Ginés 8.70 9.00 17.70 Did not advance Geno Radev 8.65 9.05 17.70 Did not advance 85 Dimitar Dimitrov 8.70 8.95 17.65 Did not advance Emilio Sagre 8.75 8.90 17.65 Did not advance 87 Christian Deuza 8.90 8.70 17.60 Did not advance 88 Bruno Banzer 8.85 8.70 17.55 Did not advance Tore Lie 8.80 8.75 17.55 Did not advance Luis Ramirez 8.50 9.05 17.55 Did not advance 91 René Badell 8.80 8.70 17.50 Did not advance Bill Norgrave 8.60 8.90 17.50 Did not advance 93 Max Brühwiler 8.95 8.50 17.45 Did not advance André Simard 8.50 8.95 17.45 Did not advance 95 Henri Boërio 9.00 8.40 17.40 Did not advance Luigi Coppa 8.65 8.75 17.40 Did not advance Franco Donega 8.75 8.65 17.40 Did not advance George Greenfield 8.80 8.60 17.40 Did not advance Maurizio Milanetto 8.80 8.60 17.40 Did not advance 100 Heinz Häussler 8.70 8.60 17.30 Did not advance Agustin Sandoval 8.60 8.70 17.30 Did not advance 102 Carmine Luppino 8.75 8.50 17.25 Did not advance 103 Ian Clarke 8.50 8.70 17.20 Did not advance Ivan Kondev 8.35 8.85 17.20 Did not advance 105 Adolfo Lampronti 8.70 8.35 17.05 Did not advance 106 Bozhidar Iliev 8.35 8.60 16.95 Did not advance 107 Ole Benediktson 8.05 8.85 16.90 Did not advance 108 Roberto Léon Richards 8.10 8.75 16.85 Did not advance 109 Dimitar Koychev 8.50 8.25 16.75 Did not advance 110 Fedele Spatazza 7.00 8.00 15.00 Did not advance 111 Miloslav Netusil 9.20 0.00 9.20 Did not advance — Hans Ettlin Did not advance Bruce Medd Did not advance

References

Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net