The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 29, 31 and August 4 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. There were 71 competitors from 19 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 in a tie between Li Ning of China, in the nation's debut in the Games, and Peter Vidmar, with the United States' first gold medal in the pommel horse since 1904 (and second overall) and first medal in the event since 1932. The bronze medal went to another American, Tim Daggett. The Soviet Union's eight-Games podium streak in the event ended with no Soviets competing due to the boycott.

Background

This was the 16th 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). None of the six finalists from 1980 returned, as all were from boycotting nations. With the absence of the Soviets, East Germans, and Hungary's Zoltán Magyar (who had retired anyway), the field was open to the traditional power Japan and rising powers China and the United States. Li Xiaoping and Li Ning of China had taken second and fourth, respectively, at the 1983 world championships, the highest rankings of the non-boycotting nations; Li Xiaoping had won the world championship in 1981.

The People's Republic of China and San Marino each made their debut in the men's pommel horse. The United States made its 14th appearance, breaking a tie with the absent Hungary for most of any nation; the Americans had missed only the inaugural 1896 pommel horse and the boycotted 1980 Games.

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 1984 Games expanded the number of finalists from six to eight. Nations were still limited to two finalists each. Others were ranked 9th through 71st. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 444.

Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date Time Round Sunday, 29 July 1984 Preliminary: Compulsory Tuesday, 31 July 1984 Preliminary: Voluntary Saturday, 4 August 1984 17:30 Final

Results

Seventy-one gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 29 and 31. The eight highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on August 4. 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.

Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total Li Ning 10.00 9.90 19.90 9.950 10.000 19.950 Peter Vidmar 10.00 9.90 19.90 9.950 10.000 19.950 Tim Daggett 9.95 9.90 19.85 9.925 9.900 19.825 4 Tong Fei 9.85 9.85 19.70 9.850 9.900 19.750 5 Jean-Luc Cairon 9.75 9.85 19.60 9.800 9.900 19.700 6 Nobuyuki Kajitani 9.60 9.85 19.45 9.725 9.900 19.625 7 Benno Groß 9.75 9.80 19.55 9.775 9.750 19.525 8 Josef Zellweger 9.70 9.80 19.50 9.750 9.750 19.500 9 Mitchell Gaylord 9.90 9.85 19.75 Did not advance 10 Bart Conner 9.80 9.75 19.55 Did not advance 11 Jim Hartung 9.80 9.70 19.50 Did not advance Xu Zhiqiang 9.75 9.75 19.50 Did not advance 13 Brad Peters 9.75 9.70 19.45 Did not advance Joël Suty 9.70 9.75 19.45 Did not advance 15 Jürgen Geiger 9.65 9.75 19.40 Did not advance Noritoshi Hirata 9.60 9.80 19.40 Did not advance 17 Scott Johnson 9.70 9.65 19.35 Did not advance Li Xiaoping 10.00 9.35 19.35 Did not advance 19 Tony Piñeda 9.50 9.80 19.30 Did not advance 20 Bernhard Simmelbauer 9.65 9.65 19.30 Did not advance 21 Koji Gushiken 9.80 9.45 19.25 Did not advance 22 Markus Lehmann 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance Li Yuejiu 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance 24 Vittorio Allievi 9.65 9.50 19.15 Did not advance Andrew Morris 9.55 9.60 19.15 Did not advance Emilian Nicula 9.55 9.60 19.15 Did not advance 27 Jacques Def 9.50 9.60 19.10 Did not advance Marco Piatti 9.60 9.50 19.10 Did not advance Daniel Winkler 9.40 9.70 19.10 Did not advance 30 Han Chung-sik 9.35 9.70 19.05 Did not advance Warren Long 9.50 9.55 19.05 Did not advance Valentin Pîntea 9.55 9.50 19.05 Did not advance Daniel Wunderlin 9.55 9.50 19.05 Did not advance 34 Shinji Morisue 9.40 9.60 19.00 Did not advance Maurizio Zonzini 9.45 9.55 19.00 Did not advance 36 Andreas Japtok 9.45 9.50 18.95 Did not advance Miguel Soler 9.45 9.50 18.95 Did not advance 38 Werner Birnbaum 9.60 9.30 18.90 Did not advance Johan Jonasson 9.30 9.60 18.90 Did not advance Lee Jeoung-sik 9.40 9.50 18.90 Did not advance 41 Philippe Chartrand 9.45 9.40 18.85 Did not advance Alfonso Rodríguez 9.45 9.40 18.85 Did not advance 43 Finn Gjertsen 9.30 9.50 18.80 Did not advance Jang Tae-eun 9.20 9.60 18.80 Did not advance Keith Langley 9.40 9.40 18.80 Did not advance Lou Yun 9.20 9.60 18.80 Did not advance Koji Sotomura 9.55 9.25 18.80 Did not advance 48 Bruno Cavelti 9.35 9.40 18.75 Did not advance Nam Seung-gu 9.25 9.50 18.75 Did not advance Barry Winch 9.45 9.30 18.75 Did not advance 51 Rocco Amboni 9.30 9.40 18.70 Did not advance Michel Boutard 9.55 9.15 18.70 Did not advance Ju Yeong-sam 9.50 9.20 18.70 Did not advance 54 Urs Meister 9.45 9.20 18.65 Did not advance Volker Rohrwick 9.35 9.30 18.65 Did not advance Philippe Vatuone 9.45 9.20 18.65 Did not advance 57 Terence Bartlett 9.45 9.15 18.60 Did not advance 58 Daniel Gaudet 9.45 9.10 18.55 Did not advance Frank Nutzenberger 9.30 9.25 18.55 Did not advance 60 Antonio Fraguas 9.40 9.10 18.50 Did not advance 61 Chae Gwang-seok 9.00 9.45 18.45 Did not advance 62 Diego Lazzarich 8.95 9.45 18.40 Did not advance 63 Laurent Barbiéri 9.20 9.05 18.25 Did not advance 64 Yohanan Moyal 8.85 9.25 18.10 Did not advance 65 Kyoji Yamawaki 8.65 9.40 18.05 Did not advance 66 Allan Reddon 9.60 8.20 17.80 Did not advance 67 Richard Benyon 8.25 9.35 17.60 Did not advance 68 Gerson Gnoatto 8.05 9.35 17.40 Did not advance 69 Eddie Van Hoof 8.70 8.55 17.25 Did not advance 70 Robert Edmonds 9.45 7.60 17.05 Did not advance 71 Ya'akov Levi 8.60 8.25 16.85 Did not advance

References

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