The men's pommel horse competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

in Montreal. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 18, 20, and 23rd at the Montreal Forum. There were 90 competitors from 20 nations, with nations competing in the team event having 6 gymnasts while other nations could have up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Zoltán Magyar of Hungary, the nation's first victory in the pommel horse since 1932 (and second overall).

Eizo Kenmotsu is a former Japanese artistic gymnast, who won seven world titles and three Olympic gold medals between 1968 and 1979. In retirement, he became a leading Japanese coach. He also served as sports director of the Nippon Sport Science University an ...

of Japan was the fifth man to win multiple medals in the event, adding a silver to his 1972 bronze.

Nikolai Andrianov Nikolai Yefimovich Andrianov (russian: Никола́й Ефи́мович Андриа́нов; 14 October 1952 – 21 March 2011) was a Soviet and Russian gymnast. He held the record for men for the most Olympic medals at 15 (7 gold medals, ...

of the Soviet Union and

Michael Nikolay Michael Nikolay (born 13 December 1956) is a retired German gymnast. He competed at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), of ...

of East Germany tied for third, each receiving bronze medals; this was East Germany's first medal in the event while the Soviet Union stretched its podium streak to seven Games.

Background

This was the 14th 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). Two of the six finalists from 1972 returned: silver medalist

Sawao Kato Sawao (written: 沢男 or さわお in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese gymnast *, Japanese musician {{given name Japanese masculine given names ...

and bronze medalist

of Japan. Zoltán Magyar of Hungary was the reigning world champion and the favorite in the event, with

of the Soviet Union runner-up and Kenmotsu third in 1974. Israel made its debut in the men's pommel horse. The United States made its 13th 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. These exercise scores were also used for qualification for the 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, except that nations were limited to two finalists each; others were ranked 7th through 90th. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 327.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time ( UTC-4)

Results

Ninety gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 18 and 20. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on July 23. Each country was limited to two competitors in the final. Half of the points earned by each gymnast during both the compulsory and optional rounds carried over to the final. This constitutes the "prelim" score.

References

Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics - Men's pommel horse Men's pommel horse Men's 1976 Men's events at the 1976 Summer Olympics