The men's rings 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 Koji Gushiken, with Japan's first gold medal in the rings since 1972 (and fourth overall). The bronze medal went to American Mitchell Gaylord, the nation's first medal in the event since 1932. 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; five of the six were from boycotting nations, while the other (Dan Grecu of Romania) had retired after suffering a muscle tear during the 1980 final.Danut Grecu. Romanian Olympic Committee With the absence of the Soviets, the field was open to the traditional power Japan and rising powers China and the United States. Japan's Koji Gushiken had tied Soviet Dmitry Bilozerchev for the 1983 world championship, with Li Ning of China third.

The People's Republic of China and San Marino each made their debut in the men's rings. 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 rings 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. The results were notable for the shared gold medal between the top two scorers.

Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total Koji Gushiken 9.90 9.90 19.80 9.900 9.950 19.850 Li Ning 9.80 10.00 19.80 9.900 9.950 19.850 Mitchell Gaylord 9.85 10.00 19.85 9.925 9.900 19.825 4 Tong Fei 9.70 10.00 19.70 9.850 9.900 19.750 Peter Vidmar 9.80 9.90 19.70 9.850 9.900 19.750 6 Kyoji Yamawaki 9.75 9.90 19.65 9.825 9.900 19.725 7 Emilian Nicula 9.70 9.90 19.60 9.800 9.700 19.500 8 Josef Zellweger 9.75 9.80 19.55 9.775 9.600 19.375 9 Tim Daggett 9.75 9.90 19.65 Did not advance Xu Zhiqiang 9.70 9.95 19.65 Did not advance 11 Jim Hartung 9.80 9.80 19.60 Did not advance Nobuyuki Kajitani 9.80 9.80 19.60 Did not advance 13 Bart Conner 9.70 9.85 19.55 Did not advance Daniel Gaudet 9.70 9.85 19.55 Did not advance 15 Laurent Barbiéri 9.60 9.90 19.50 Did not advance Philippe Chartrand 9.65 9.85 19.50 Did not advance Jürgen Geiger 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance Scott Johnson 9.65 9.85 19.50 Did not advance Markus Lehmann 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance Lou Yun 9.60 9.90 19.50 Did not advance Andrew Morris 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance Valentin Pîntea 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance 23 Li Xiaoping 9.55 9.90 19.45 Did not advance Miguel Soler 9.65 9.80 19.45 Did not advance 25 Rocco Amboni 9.70 9.70 19.40 Did not advance Werner Birnbaum 9.70 9.70 19.40 Did not advance Noritoshi Hirata 9.65 9.75 19.40 Did not advance Diego Lazzarich 9.65 9.75 19.40 Did not advance Volker Rohrwick 9.60 9.80 19.40 Did not advance 30 Jang Tae-eun 9.55 9.80 19.35 Did not advance Koji Sotomura 9.75 9.60 19.35 Did not advance Barry Winch 9.60 9.75 19.35 Did not advance 33 Jean-Luc Cairon 9.50 9.80 19.30 Did not advance Bruno Cavelti 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance Benno Groß 9.50 9.80 19.30 Did not advance Keith Langley 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance Shinji Morisue 9.50 9.80 19.30 Did not advance Brad Peters 9.50 9.80 19.30 Did not advance Daniel Winkler 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance 40 Andreas Japtok 9.45 9.80 19.25 Did not advance Li Yuejiu 9.40 9.85 19.25 Did not advance 42 Jacques Def 9.50 9.70 19.20 Did not advance Frank Nutzenberger 9.50 9.70 19.20 Did not advance 44 Marco Piatti 9.50 9.65 19.15 Did not advance Bernhard Simmelbauer 9.45 9.70 19.15 Did not advance 46 Vittorio Allievi 9.60 9.50 19.10 Did not advance Terence Bartlett 9.40 9.70 19.10 Did not advance Ju Yeong-sam 9.50 9.60 19.10 Did not advance Lee Jeoung-sik 9.40 9.70 19.10 Did not advance Allan Reddon 9.40 9.70 19.10 Did not advance 51 Richard Benyon 9.40 9.65 19.05 Did not advance Warren Long 9.40 9.65 19.05 Did not advance Urs Meister 9.35 9.70 19.05 Did not advance Daniel Wunderlin 9.40 9.65 19.05 Did not advance 55 Antonio Fraguas 9.35 9.65 19.00 Did not advance Johan Jonasson 9.30 9.70 19.00 Did not advance 57 Finn Gjertsen 9.50 9.45 18.95 Did not advance 58 Robert Edmonds 9.35 9.55 18.90 Did not advance Tony Piñeda 9.35 9.55 18.90 Did not advance 60 Han Chung-sik 9.20 9.65 18.85 Did not advance 61 Philippe Vatuone 9.30 9.50 18.80 Did not advance 62 Yohanan Moyal 9.30 9.45 18.75 Did not advance 63 Maurizio Zonzini 9.60 9.10 18.70 Did not advance 64 Michel Boutard 9.10 9.55 18.65 Did not advance 65 Ya'akov Levi 9.10 9.50 18.60 Did not advance Joël Suty 9.10 9.50 18.60 Did not advance Eddie Van Hoof 9.20 9.40 18.60 Did not advance 68 Nam Seung-gu 8.85 9.65 18.50 Did not advance 69 Gerson Gnoatto 9.05 9.40 18.45 Did not advance 70 Chae Gwang-seok 9.15 9.15 18.30 Did not advance 71 Alfonso Rodríguez 8.40 9.75 18.15 Did not advance

External links

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