Gymnastics in History

Events in Sport

  • 1936-08-12 The gymnastics competition at the Berlin Olympics concludes with Germany dominating, winning 6 of 9 gold medals including the men’s & women’s teams events
  • 1960-09-07 Japan wins the men's gymnastics teams combined exercises gold for the first of 5 consecutive Olympics at the Rome Games; beats Soviet Union by just 2.5 points

Olympic Gold

1960-09-10 Gymnastics competition at the Rome Olympics concludes with the Soviet Union taking 10 of the 15 gold medals; Soviet gymnasts Boris Shakhlin & Larisa Latynina win 3 gold medals each

  • 1964-10-23 Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina wins the floor exercise gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; her 2nd gold of the Games (team) and career 9th (1956, 1960, 1964), a gymnastics record

Olympic Gold

1972-08-30 Amidst Olga Korbut mania at the Munich Olympics, Soviet teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva wins the gymnastics individual all-round competition, her 2nd gold medal of the Games

  • 1972-08-31 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins balance beam & floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics; follows gold in the teams all-round

Olympic Games

1976-07-18 Nadia Comăneci (14) becomes the first gymnast in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 score (doing so 7 times) at Montreal Games

  • 1984-07-31 US men's gymnastics team score emotional upset win over world champion Chinese team in the combined event to take the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics
  • 1984-08-03 Mary Lou Retton scores 10 for final vault to win the individual all-round competition in Los Angeles and become first American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics medal
  • 1988-09-19 US women's all-round gymnastics team is controversially penalised 0.5 after compulsory round at the Seoul Olympics; substitute an alternate athlete on uneven bars medal podium; Americans finish 4th just 0.3 behind East Germany
  • 1991-09-07 1st South African international competition in 25 years, gymnastics
  • 1991-09-13 Kim Zmeskal is 1st American to win a medal at World Gymnastics Championships, she wins the gold with 39.848 pts
  • 1991-09-15 US women's gymnastics team win 1st World Championships medal (silver)
  • 2008-08-15 Despite China winning the women's gymnastics team all-round gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson go 1-2 in the individual all-round
  • 2008-08-19 The men's gymnastics program at the Beijing Olympics concludes with the home team from China dominating the medals tally takes 7 of 8 gold medals; Zou Kai wins 3
  • 2017-12-07 Former US gymnastics physician Larry Nasser is sentenced to 60 years on child pornography charges

Olympic Gold

2021-07-29 Following Simone Biles' withdrawal, teammate Sunisa Lee becomes first Hmong-American Olympic champion in any sport when she wins women's artistic individual all-around gymnastics gold in Tokyo


Birthdays in Sport

  • 1778-08-11 Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German educator and founder of the turnverein (gymnastics) movement, born in Lanz, Brandenburg, Prussia (d. 1852)
  • 1933-06-14 Vladislav Rastorotsky, Soviet gymnastics coach, born in Liski, Russian SFSR (d. 2017)
  • 1936-05-13 Vitaly Dubko, Russian trampolining coach (named best coach of 20th Century by International Gymnastics Federation), born in Krasnodar, Russia (d. 2023)
  • 1957-12-21 John Geddert, American gymnastics coach (US head coach London Olympic Team 2012), born in Mt. Clemens, Michigan (d. 2021)
  • 1966-10-26 Olga Bicherova, Soviet gymnast (won title at 15 yrs 33 days), born in Moscow, Russian SFSR
  • 1992-01-19 Shawn Johnson, American artistic gymnast, born in Des Moines, Iowa

Deaths in Sport

  • 1852-10-15 Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German educator and founder of the turnverein (gymnastics) movement, dies at 74
  • 2017-07-02 Vladislav Rastorotsky, Soviet gymnastics coach, dies at 84
  • 2021-02-25 John Geddert, American gymnastics coach (US head coach London Olympic Team 2012), dies from self-inflicted gunshot wounds at 63
  • 2023-09-19 Vitaly Dubko, Russian trampolining coach (named best coach of 20th Century by International Gymnastics Federation), dies at 87