The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The event was held from 22 to 26 October at the Auditorio Nacional. There were 115 competitors from 27 nations, with nations in the team competition having up to 6 gymnasts and other nations entering up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Miroslav Cerar of Yugoslavia, the second man to successfully defend an Olympic pommel horse title. Olli Laiho of Finland took silver, while Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union finished with bronze. Japan's three-Games podium streak in the event ended, while the Soviet streak stretched to five Games.
Background
This was the 12th 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). Only one of the six finalists from 1964 returned: gold medalist Miroslav Cerar of Yugoslavia. Cerar had added another world championship to his pommel horse resume in 1966 and was the favorite to repeat as Olympic champion. Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union had been the runner-up at the world championships.
Ecuador made its debut in the men's pommel horse; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 11th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 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. (Three gymnasts who entered the all-around did not compete on the pommel horse.)
These exercise scores were also used for qualification for the new 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 114th. In the final, each gymnast performed an additional voluntary exercise; half of the score from the preliminary carried over.Official Report, p. 676.
Schedule
All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
Date Time Round Tuesday, 22 October 1968 8:3017:00 Preliminary: Compulsory Thursday, 24 October 1968 8:3017:00 Preliminary: Voluntary Saturday, 26 October 1968 19:00 Final
Results
Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total 9.65 9.70 19.35 9.675 9.650 19.325 9.45 9.70 19.15 9.575 9.650 19.225 9.70 9.50 19.20 9.600 9.600 19.200 4 9.60 9.50 19.10 9.550 9.600 19.150 5 9.45 9.65 19.10 9.550 9.500 19.050 6 9.50 9.60 19.10 9.550 9.400 18.950 7 9.50 9.60 19.10 did not advance 8 9.50 9.50 19.00 did not advance 9.40 9.60 19.00 did not advance 9.45 9.55 19.00 did not advance 9.45 9.55 19.00 did not advance 12 9.35 9.50 18.85 did not advance 9.40 9.45 18.85 did not advance 9.30 9.55 18.85 did not advance 9.40 9.45 18.85 did not advance 16 9.30 9.50 18.80 did not advance 9.25 9.55 18.80 did not advance 18 9.50 9.25 18.75 did not advance 19 9.30 9.40 18.70 did not advance 20 9.15 9.50 18.65 did not advance 9.20 9.45 18.65 did not advance 22 9.30 9.30 18.60 did not advance 9.25 9.35 18.60 did not advance 24 9.15 9.35 18.50 did not advance 25 9.05 9.40 18.45 did not advance 26 9.20 9.20 18.40 did not advance 9.00 9.40 18.40 did not advance 9.10 9.30 18.40 did not advance 29 9.10 9.25 18.35 did not advance 9.30 9.05 18.35 did not advance 9.10 9.25 18.35 did not advance 8.95 9.40 18.35 did not advance 33 8.90 9.40 18.30 did not advance 8.95 9.35 18.30 did not advance 9.00 9.30 18.30 did not advance 36 8.90 9.35 18.25 did not advance 37 9.00 9.25 18.25 did not advance 38 9.05 9.10 18.15 did not advance 39 9.00 9.10 18.10 did not advance 8.75 9.35 18.10 did not advance 41 8.85 9.15 18.00 did not advance 42 9.10 8.85 17.95 did not advance 8.85 9.10 17.95 did not advance 8.90 9.05 17.95 did not advance 45 9.25 8.65 17.90 did not advance 8.90 9.00 17.90 did not advance 9.00 8.90 17.90 did not advance 48 8.80 9.00 17.80 did not advance 8.60 9.20 17.80 did not advance 8.70 9.10 17.80 did not advance 51 8.70 9.05 17.75 did not advance 52 8.75 8.95 17.70 did not advance 53 9.05 8.60 17.65 did not advance 8.85 8.80 17.65 did not advance 8.80 8.85 17.65 did not advance 9.40 8.25 17.65 did not advance 57 8.80 8.80 17.60 did not advance 58 9.00 8.55 17.55 did not advance 8.70 8.85 17.55 did not advance 8.85 8.70 17.55 did not advance 8.55 9.00 17.55 did not advance 8.65 7.90 17.55 did not advance 63 8.35 9.15 17.50 did not advance 8.75 8.75 17.50 did not advance 65 8.80 8.65 17.45 did not advance 8.95 8.50 17.45 did not advance 67 8.65 8.70 17.35 did not advance 9.00 8.35 17.35 did not advance 9.00 8.35 17.35 did not advance 9.35 8.00 17.35 did not advance 71 9.05 8.25 17.30 did not advance 8.75 8.55 17.30 did not advance 73 9.05 8.20 17.25 did not advance 8.60 8.65 17.25 did not advance 8.90 8.35 17.25 did not advance 76 8.60 8.60 17.20 did not advance 8.40 8.80 17.20 did not advance 8.15 9.05 17.20 did not advance 8.65 8.55 17.20 did not advance 80 8.55 8.60 17.15 did not advance 81 8.85 8.25 17.10 did not advance 82 8.55 8.45 17.00 did not advance 83 8.40 8.40 16.80 did not advance 7.70 9.10 16.80 did not advance 85 8.75 8.00 16.75 did not advance 8.85 7.90 16.75 did not advance 7.90 8.85 16.75 did not advance 7.70 9.05 16.75 did not advance 89 8.70 8.00 16.70 did not advance 8.35 8.35 16.70 did not advance 8.45 8.25 16.70 did not advance 92 8.40 8.25 16.25 did not advance 93 8.75 7.85 16.60 did not advance 94 8.40 8.10 16.50 did not advance 95 8.40 8.00 16.40 did not advance 7.70 8.70 16.40 did not advance 97 8.75 7.60 16.35 did not advance 98 7.90 8.25 16.15 did not advance 99 7.50 8.60 16.10 did not advance 7.70 8.40 16.10 did not advance 101 7.55 8.40 15.95 did not advance 102 7.00 8.80 15.80 did not advance 103 7.80 7.70 15.50 did not advance 104 7.30 7.70 15.00 did not advance 105 8.20 6.45 14.65 did not advance 6.85 7.80 14.65 did not advance 107 6.75 7.80 14.55 did not advance 108 6.65 7.00 13.65 did not advance 109 8.30 4.50 12.80 did not advance 110 4.50 7.80 12.30 did not advance 111 5.50 5.75 11.25 did not advance 112 3.50 6.95 10.45 did not advance 113 3.50 5.80 9.30 did not advance 114 4.00 3.50 7.50 did not advance 115 Franco Menichelli 0.00 — 0.00 did not advance
References
Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net