The men's

pommel horse The pommel horse is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal body covered with foam rubber and ...

competition at the 2012 Olympic Games was held at the North Greenwich Arena on 28 July and 5 August. It included 69 competitors from 32 nations.

Krisztián Berki Krisztián Berki (; born 18 March 1985 in Budapest) is a Hungarian artistic gymnast. He is a pommel horse specialist. In 2016 a pommel horse element of difficulty level 'E' was named after him. Sports career He is the 2012 Olympic Champion, ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

won the gold medal. It was Hungary's first victory in the pommel horse since 1988 and fifth overall, tying the Soviet Union for the most all-time.

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

's Louis Smith and

Max Whitlock Max Antony Whitlock (born 13 January 1993) is a British artistic gymnast. With fourteen medals and six titles in Olympic and world championships, Whitlock is the most successful gymnast in his nation's history, and the most successful pommel ...

won silver and bronze, respectively. Smith, who had won bronze in 2008, was the 10th man to win multiple medals in the event. It was the first time since 1984 that one nation earned multiple medals in the pommel horse.

Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the event in the Olympics. Three of the eight finalists from 2008 returned: silver medalist Filip Ude of Croatia, bronze medalist Louis Smith of Great Britain, and sixth-place finisher Kim Ji-hoon of South Korea.

of Hungary had won the last two world championships, in 2010 and 2011. Smith had also medaled at both of those world championships, and

Cyril Tommasone Cyril Tommasone (born 4 July 1987 in Villeurbanne) is a French artistic gymnast. His strongest apparatus is the pommel horse and parallel bars. He is tall and weighs . Career He started gymnastics at age 7 and trains at the Convention Gymniqu ...

of France was the runner-up in 2011. Azerbaijan, Hong Kong, and Lithuania each made their debut in the men's pommel horse. The United States made its 21st appearance, the most of any nation.

Competition format

The top eight competitors in the qualification phase (with a limit of two per country) advanced to the apparatus final. Qualification scores were then erased, with only final-round scores counting.

Final results

*The tie for first was broken by the execution score; Berki's E score of 9.166 was higher than Smith's E score of 9.066.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's pommel horse Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics