The men's rings competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 20, 22 and 25th at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports. There were 65 competitors from 14 nations, with nations competing in the team event having 6 gymnasts while other nations could have to up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Alexander Dityatin of the Soviet Union, the nation's fifth victory in the rings, with fellow Soviet Aleksandr Tkachyov taking silver. It was the second consecutive Games that the Soviet Union had the top two men in the rings. Dityatin, the silver medalist in Montreal 1976, was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the rings. Jiří Tabák earned Czechoslovakia's first medal in the event since 1948.
Background
This was the 15th 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). The top four of the six finalists from 1976 returned: gold medalist Nikolai Andrianov and silver medalist Alexander Dityatin of the Soviet Union, bronze medalist Dan Grecu of Romania, and fourth-place finisher Ferenc Donath of Hungary. There had been two world championships since the 1976 Games; in 1978, Andrianov won, followed by Dityatin and Grecu, while in 1979, Dityatin was the victor with Grecu second and Aleksandr Tkachyov of the Soviet Union third.
Brazil made its debut in the men's rings. Hungary made its 13th appearance, tying the United States (absent from the rings event for the first time since the inaugural 1896 Games) for most of any nation.
Competition format
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. These exercise scores were also used for qualification 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, except that nations were limited to two finalists each; others were ranked 7th through 65th. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 313.
Schedule
All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)
Date Time Round Sunday, 20 July 1980 10:0017:00 Preliminary: Compulsory Tuesday, 22 July 1980 10:0017:00 Preliminary: Voluntary Friday, 25 July 1980 14:30 Final
Results
Sixty-five gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 20 and 22. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on July 25. Each country was limited to two competitors in the final. Half of the points earned by each gymnast during both the compulsory and optional rounds carried over to the final. This constitutes the "prelim" score.
Grecu suffered a muscle tear during the competition, which led to his transition from competitor to coach after the Games.Danut Grecu. Romanian Olympic Committee
Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total Alexander Dityatin 9.90 9.95 19.85 9.925 9.950 19.875 Aleksandr Tkachyov 9.80 9.85 19.65 9.825 9.900 19.725 Jiří Tabák 9.75 9.85 19.60 9.800 9.800 19.600 4 Roland Brückner 9.80 9.75 19.55 9.775 9.800 19.575 5 Stoyan Deltchev 9.65 9.90 19.55 9.775 9.700 19.475 6 Dan Grecu 9.80 9.90 19.70 9.850 1.000 10.850 7 Nikolai Andrianov 9.80 9.85 19.65 Did not advance 8 Eduard Azaryan 9.75 9.85 19.60 Did not advance 9 Vladimir Markelov 9.65 9.85 19.50 Did not advance 10 Lutz Mack 9.75 9.70 19.45 Did not advance Rudolf Babiak 9.70 9.75 19.45 Did not advance 12 Kim Gwang-jin 9.70 9.70 19.40 Did not advance 13 Ferenc Donáth 9.65 9.70 19.35 Did not advance Bohdan Makuts 9.55 9.80 19.35 Did not advance Michael Nikolay 9.65 9.70 19.35 Did not advance 16 Nicolae Oprescu 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance 17 Lutz Hoffmann 9.60 9.65 19.25 Did not advance Jan Zoulik 9.60 9.65 19.25 Did not advance 19 Kurt Szilier 9.50 9.70 19.20 Did not advance 20 Ralf-Peter Hemmann 9.50 9.65 19.15 Did not advance 21 Zoltán Magyar 9.60 9.50 19.10 Did not advance Plamen Petkov 9.55 9.55 19.10 Did not advance 23 Dancho Yordanov 9.40 9.65 19.05 Did not advance 24 Willi Moy 9.35 9.65 19.00 Did not advance 25 Péter Kovács 9.40 9.55 18.95 Did not advance Aurelian Georgescu 9.35 9.60 18.95 Did not advance 27 Zoltán Kelemen 9.50 9.40 18.90 Did not advance Andrzej Szajna 9.25 9.65 18.90 Did not advance 29 Romulus Bucuroiu 9.20 9.65 18.85 Did not advance 30 Sorin Cepoi 9.40 9.40 18.80 Did not advance Jan Migdau 9.40 9.40 18.80 Did not advance 32 Andreas Bronst 9.35 9.40 18.75 Did not advance 33 Cho Hun 9.35 9.35 18.70 Did not advance 34 György Guczoghy 9.30 9.35 18.65 Did not advance Miloslav Kučeřík 9.30 9.35 18.65 Did not advance Rumen Petkov 9.35 9.30 18.65 Did not advance 37 Jozef Konečný 9.50 9.05 18.55 Did not advance István Vámos 9.15 9.40 18.55 Did not advance 39 Miguel Arroyo 9.20 9.30 18.50 Did not advance Ognyan Bangiev 9.20 9.30 18.50 Did not advance 41 Mario Castro 9.45 9.00 18.45 Did not advance 42 Yanko Radanchev 9.10 9.30 18.40 Did not advance Jorge Roche 9.50 8.90 18.40 Did not advance 44 Henri Boerio 9.10 9.25 18.35 Did not advance Han Gwang-song 9.45 8.90 18.35 Did not advance Sergio Suarez 9.20 9.15 18.35 Did not advance 47 Michel Boutard 9.30 9.00 18.30 Did not advance Li Su-gil 9.20 9.10 18.30 Did not advance Waldemar Woźniak 9.20 9.10 18.30 Did not advance 50 Gabriel Calvo 9.05 9.20 18.25 Did not advance Roberto Leon 9.25 9.00 18.25 Did not advance Song Sun-bong 9.05 9.20 18.25 Did not advance 53 Barry Winch 8.95 9.20 18.15 Did not advance 54 Keith Langley 8.80 9.30 18.10 Did not advance 55 Kang Gwang-song 9.45 8.60 18.05 Did not advance 56 Thomas Wilson 8.80 9.20 18.00 Did not advance 57 Marc Touchais 8.75 9.20 17.95 Did not advance 58 Enrique Bravo 9.00 8.90 17.90 Did not advance 59 Yves Bouquel 8.70 9.15 17.85 Did not advance 60 Lindsay Nylund 8.50 9.10 17.60 Did not advance 61 Fernando Bertrand 9.00 8.45 17.45 Did not advance José de la Casa 9.00 8.45 17.45 Did not advance 63 João Luiz Ribeiro 8.55 8.80 17.35 Did not advance 64 Joël Suty 8.60 8.70 17.30 Did not advance 65 Krzysztof Potaczek 8.75 8.05 16.80 Did not advance — Moustapha Chouara Did not advance Adnan Horns Did not advance Maurizio Zonzini Did not advance
References
Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net