The men's
vault competition was one of eight events for male competitors in
artistic gymnastics at the
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...
in
Mexico City. The event was held from 22 to 26 October at the
Auditorio Nacional. There were 116 competitors from 28 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 ]Mikhail Voronin
Mikhail Yakovlevich Voronin (russian: Михаил Яковлевич Воронин; 26 March 1945 – 22 May 2004) was a Soviet and Russian gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He won seven medals, inclu ...
of the Soviet Union, the nation's fourth gold medal in the vault. Yukio Endo of Japan took silver, while Soviet Sergei Diomidov
Sergey Viktorovich Diomidov (russian: Сергей Викторович Диомидов; born 9 July 1943) is a Soviet former Gymnastics, gymnast who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics and in the 1968 Summer Olympics. He won team silver medals ...
earned bronze.
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). Three of the six finalists from 1964 returned: silver medalist Victor Lisitsky
Viktor Nikitovich Lisitsky (russian: Ви́ктор Ники́тович Лиси́цкий; 18 October 1939 – 13 June 2023) was a Russian gymnast. He competed in all artistic gymnastics events at the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics and won five ...
of the Soviet Union, bronze medalist Hannu Rantakari of Finland, and sixth-place finisher Yukio Endo of Japan. Reigning gold medalist and world champion Haruhiro Yamashita
is a Japanese gymnast, who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics. He won two gold medals, in the vault and team combined exercises.
After marriage he changed his last name from Yamashita to Matsuda (松田), adopting his aunt's surname, who took ...
of Japan did not compete.
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. (One gymnast who entered the all-around competition did not perform on the vault.)
The event used a "vaulting horse" aligned parallel to the gymnast's run (rather than the modern "vaulting table" in use since 2004). 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 116th. In the final, each gymnast performed an additional voluntary exercise; half of the score from the preliminary carried over.
Schedule
All times are Central Standard Time
The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
( UTC-6)
Results
References
Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's vault
Men's Vault
Men's 1968