Artistic gymnastics at the Summer Olympics facts for kids

Artistic gymnastics is a super exciting sport that has been part of the Summer Olympics right from the very first modern games in Athens! It's a sport where gymnasts show off amazing strength, flexibility, and grace on different equipment. The Soviet Union has won the most medals in artistic gymnastics over the years.

Gymnastics Events at the Olympics

Artistic gymnastics at the Olympics includes different events for men and women. These events test a gymnast's strength, balance, agility, and coordination.

Men's Artistic Gymnastics Events

Men compete in six main events:

• Team all-around: Teams of gymnasts perform on all apparatus, and their scores are combined. This event has been part of the Olympics since 1904.
• Individual all-around: A single gymnast performs on all six apparatus, and their scores are added up to find the best all-around gymnast. This event started in 1900.
• Floor exercise: Gymnasts perform a routine on a padded floor, combining tumbling, strength moves, and dance elements. This event became Olympic in 1932.
• Horizontal bar: Gymnasts perform swings, releases, and catches on a single high bar. It's one of the original events from 1896.
• Parallel bars: Gymnasts perform swings, balances, and strength moves on two parallel bars. This event also started in 1896.
• Pommel horse: Gymnasts perform complex leg swings and rotations on a piece of equipment with two handles, called pommels. It was introduced in 1896.
• Still rings: Gymnasts perform strength holds, swings, and balances on two rings hanging from cables. This event has been around since 1896.
• Vault: Gymnasts run, jump onto a springboard, and perform acrobatic moves over a vaulting table. This event was also part of the first Olympics in 1896. (details)

Past Men's Events

Over the years, some other events were included in the Olympics but are no longer contested. These include:

• Rope climbing
• Club swinging
• Team horizontal bar
• Team parallel bars
• Team free system
• Team Swedish system
• Combined
• Triathlon
• Indian clubs
• Sidehorse vault
• Tumbling

Women's Artistic Gymnastics Events

Women compete in four main events:

• Team all-around: Teams of gymnasts perform on all apparatus, and their scores are combined. This event was first included in 1928.
• Individual all-around: A single gymnast performs on all four apparatus, and their scores are added up to find the best all-around gymnast. This event began in 1952.
• Vault: Similar to men's vault, gymnasts perform acrobatic moves over a vaulting table. This event started in 1952. (details)
• Uneven bars: Gymnasts perform swings, releases, and catches between two bars set at different heights. This event was introduced in 1952.
• Balance beam: Gymnasts perform a routine on a narrow beam, showing balance, flexibility, and acrobatic skills. This event also started in 1952.
• Floor exercise: Gymnasts perform a routine to music on a padded floor, combining dance, tumbling, and acrobatic elements. This event was added in 1952.

Past Women's Events

One past event for women was the Team, portable apparatus, which was contested in 1952 and 1956.

Medal table

Updated after the 2020 Summer Olympics Sources:

Men

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	39	38	17	94
2	Japan (JPN)	33	34	34	101
3	China (CHN)	22	14	10	46
4	United States (USA)	21	21	21	63
5	Switzerland (SUI)	16	19	13	48
6	Italy (ITA)	14	4	9	27
7	Germany (GER)	12	11	12	35
8	Finland (FIN)	8	5	12	25
9	Hungary (HUN)	8	5	4	17
10	Unified Team (EUN)	6	4	2	12
11	Greece (GRE)	5	3	3	11
12	Yugoslavia (YUG)	5	2	4	11
13	Russia (RUS)	4	6	11	21
14	Sweden (SWE)	4	1	0	5
15	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	3	7	9	19
16	East Germany (GDR)	3	3	10	16
17	Great Britain (GBR)	3	3	6	12
18	Ukraine (UKR)	3	2	4	9
19	France (FRA)	2	10	9	21
20	South Korea (KOR)	2	4	4	10
21	Bulgaria (BUL)	2	2	5	9
22	Spain (ESP)	2	2	0	4
23	North Korea (PRK)	2	0	0	2
24	Romania (ROU)	1	4	4	9
25	Brazil (BRA)	1	2	1	4
	Denmark (DEN)	1	2	1	4
	Norway (NOR)	1	2	1	4
28	Republic of China (ROC)	1	1	2	4
29	Poland (POL)	1	1	1	3
30	Austria (AUT)	1	1	0	2
	Latvia (LAT)	1	1	0	2
32	United Team of Germany (EUA)	1	0	1	2
33	Canada (CAN)	1	0	0	1
	Israel (ISR)	1	0	0	1
	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	0	0	1
	Netherlands (NED)	1	0	0	1
37	Croatia (CRO)	0	2	0	2
38	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	1	2
39	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	0	1	0	1
40	Belarus (BLR)	0	0	4	4
41	Armenia (ARM)	0	0	1	1
	Turkey (TUR)	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan (UZB)	0	0	1	1
	West Germany (FRG)	0	0	1	1
Totals (44 entries)		232	218	219	669

Women

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	33	29	26	88
2	Romania (ROU)	24	16	22	62
3	United States (USA)	16	22	16	54
4	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	9	6	1	16
5	China (CHN)	7	7	9	23
6	Hungary (HUN)	7	6	10	23
7	Russia (RUS)	6	9	8	23
8	East Germany (GDR)	3	10	7	20
9	Unified Team (EUN)	3	1	2	6
10	Ukraine (UKR)	2	1	0	3
11	Netherlands (NED)	2	0	0	2
12	Republic of China (ROC)	1	1	2	4
13	Germany (GER)	1	1	1	3
	Sweden (SWE)	1	1	1	3
15	Brazil (BRA)	1	1	0	2
16	Belgium (BEL)	1	0	0	1
	France (FRA)	1	0	0	1
	North Korea (PRK)	1	0	0	1
19	Italy (ITA)	0	2	0	2
20	United Team of Germany (EUA)	0	1	0	1
21	Great Britain (GBR)	0	0	4	4
22	Japan (JPN)	0	0	2	2
23	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
	South Korea (KOR)	0	0	1	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	0	1	1
Totals (27 entries)		119	114	116	349

See also

In Spanish: Gimnasia en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

• Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the Youth Olympic Games
• List of Olympic medalists in gymnastics (men)
• List of Olympic medalists in gymnastics (women)