The men's vault (or "jumps") event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam. It was one of seven gymnastics events for men and it was contested for the fourth time after 1896, 1904, and 1924. Scores from the vault event were added to the results from other individual apparatus events to give aggregate scores for the individual and team all-around events. There were 85 competitors from 11 nations. Each nation had a team of 8 gymnasts; three of the 88 men did not start. The event was won by Eugen Mack of Switzerland, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal since 1896. Emanuel Löffler gave Czechoslovakia its second consecutive silver medal. Stane Derganc's bronze was Yugoslavia's first medal in the event.
Background
This was the fourth 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). Six of the top 10 gymnasts from 1924 returned: gold medalist Frank Kriz of the United States, silver medalist Jan Koutný of Czechoslovakia, fourth-place finisher Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia, sixth-place finisher Janez Porenta of Yugoslavia, seventh-place finisher Ferdinando Mandrini of Italy, and tenth-place finisher Ladislav Vácha of Czechoslovakia. The event was not held at the 1926 world championships and there was no clear favorite.
The Netherlands made its debut in the men's vault. Hungary competed for the first time since 1896. The other nine nations had all competed in 1924. Switzerland and the United States were each making their third appearance, tied for most of any nation.
Competition format
In the early Olympics, the vault format changed considerably. For 1928, the vault competition consisted of two different jumps: one over a sideways (perpendicular to the approach) pommel horse and one of a lengthwise (parallel to the approach) over a vaulting horse (with no pommels). The pommel horse jump was of a set form while the gymnast could choose the skills to use for the vaulting horse jump. The combined score for the two jumps, of a maximum 30 points, was the result of the event.Official Report, p. 646.
The vault was one of the apparatus used in the individual and team all-around scores. It accounted for of the score, half of what the other apparatus counted (with the optional and compulsory components of the others counting for 30 points maximum each, rather than 30 points combined).
Schedule
Date Time Round Friday, 10 August 1928 Final
Results Source: Official results; De Wael
RankGymnastNationScore Eugen Mack 28.750 Emanuel Löffler 28.500 Stane Derganc 28.375 4 Georges Miez 28.250 Josip Primožič 28.250 6 Georges Leroux 28.000 7 August Güttinger 27.750 Janez Porenta 27.750 Herman Witzig 27.750 10 Harold Newhart 27.625 Étienne Schmitt 27.625 12 Jan Gajdoš 27.375 Hans Grieder 27.375 Frank Kriz 27.375 Melchior Wezel 27.375 16 Romeo Neri 27.250 Heikki Savolainen 27.250 18 Hermann Hänggi 27.125 Otto Pfister 27.125 Ladislav Vácha 27.125 21 Edvard Antonijevič 27.000 Jean Larrouy 27.000 István Pelle 27.000 24 Kalervo Kinos 26.875 Martti Uosikkinen 26.875 26 Jan Koutný 26.750 Mauri Nyberg-Noroma 26.750 28 Leon Štukelj 26.625 29 Glenn Berry 26.500 30 Anton Malej 26.375 Václav Veselý 26.375 32 Ladislav Tikal 26.250 Nic Roeser 26.250 34 Pieter van Dam 26.125 Edi Steinemann 26.125 36 Armand Solbach 25.875 37 Boris Gregorka 25.750 André Lemoine 25.750 39 Albert Neumann 25.625 Miklós Péter 25.625 41 Dragutin Cioti 25.500 Al Jochim 25.500 43 Urho Korhonen 25.375 Ted Warren 25.375 45 Rafael Ylönen 25.250 46 Josef Effenberger 25.125 Mario Lertora 25.125 Birger Stenman 25.125 49 Mozes Jacobs 25.000 Rezső Kende 25.000 Ferdinando Mandrini 25.000 John Pearson 25.000 53 Mathias Logelin 24.625 54 Jaakko Kunnas 24.500 55 Hugo Licher 24.250 Elias Melkman 24.250 57 Fränz Zouang 24.125 58 G. C. Raynes 24.000 Josy Staudt 24.000 60 Gyula Kunszt 23.875 61 Giuseppe Paris 23.500 Arthur Whitford 23.500 63 Antoine Chatelaine 23.375 64 Mario Tambini 23.250 65 Edouard Grethen 23.125 Frank Haubold 23.125 67 Willibrordus Pouw 22.875 68 Paul Krempel 22.625 69 Klaas Boot 22.500 E. A. Walton 22.500 71 Mathias Erang 22.375 József Szalai 22.375 73 Géza Tóth 21.875 74 Israel Wijnschenk 21.375 75 Jean Gounot 21.250 76 Giuseppe Lupi 20.500 77 Jean-Pierre Urbing 19.625 78 Bedřich Šupčík 19.000 Jacobus van der Vinden 19.000 80 Ezio Roselli 18.875 81 Vittorio Lucchetti 18.000 82 T. B. Parkinson 17.875 83 Elemér Pászti 17.000 84 Henry Finchett 16.250 85 Bart Cronin 14.750 — Imre Erdődy Samuel Humphreys Alfred Krauss
References