Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's rings

Men's rings at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Akinori Nakayama (at the 1966 world championships)
Venue	Auditorio Nacional
Dates	22–26 October
Competitors	117 from 28 nations
Winning score	19.450
Medalists
Akinori Nakayama  Japan Mikhail Voronin  Soviet Union Sawao Kato  Japan

The men's rings competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. There were 117 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 Akinori Nakayama of Japan, the nation's second consecutive victory in the rings event. Mikhail Voronin took silver to extend the Soviet Union's podium streak in the event to five Games, while Sawao Kato of Japan finished with 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). Two of the six finalists from 1964 returned: silver medalist Franco Menichelli of Italy and sixth-place finisher Yukio Endō of Japan. Menichelli had finished third at the 1966 World Championships behind Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union and Akinori Nakayama of Japan.

Ecuador and the Philippines each made their debut in the men's rings; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 11th 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 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 117th. 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 (UTC-6)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 22 October 1968	8:30 17:00	Preliminary: Compulsory
Thursday, 24 October 1968	8:30 17:00	Preliminary: Voluntary
Saturday, 26 October 1968	19:00	Final

Results

Rank	Gymnast	Nation	Preliminary			Final
			Compulsory	Voluntary	Total	1⁄2 Prelim.	Final	Total
	Akinori Nakayama	Japan	9.75	9.75	19.50	9.750	9.700	19.450
	Mikhail Voronin	Soviet Union	9.75	9.70	19.45	9.725	9.600	19.325
	Sawao Kato	Japan	9.70	9.85	19.55	9.775	9.450	19.225
4	Mitsuo Tsukahara	Japan	9.65	9.60	19.25	9.625	9.500	19.125
5	Takeshi Katō	Japan	9.70	9.70	19.40	9.700	9.350	19.050
6	Sergey Diomidov	Soviet Union	9.60	9.45	19.05	9.525	9.450	18.975
7	Eizo Kenmotsu	Japan	9.55	9.45	19.00	did not advance
8	Yukio Endo	Japan	9.45	9.50	18.95	did not advance
9	Steve Cohen	United States	9.30	9.60	18.90	did not advance
	Viktor Klimenko	Soviet Union	9.40	9.50	18.90	did not advance
11	Klaus Köste	East Germany	9.40	9.40	18.80	did not advance
	Viktor Lisitsky	Soviet Union	9.40	9.40	18.80	did not advance
13	Jiří Fejtek	Czechoslovakia	9.35	9.40	18.75	did not advance
	Mikołaj Kubica	Poland	9.30	9.45	18.75	did not advance
15	Matthias Brehme	East Germany	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Miroslav Cerar	Yugoslavia	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
17	Valery Ilyinykh	Soviet Union	9.30	9.30	18.60	did not advance
	Valery Karasyov	Soviet Union	9.45	9.15	18.60	did not advance
	Wilhelm Kubica	Poland	9.30	9.30	18.60	did not advance
20	Hans Ettlin	Switzerland	9.20	9.35	18.55	did not advance
	Mauno Nissinen	Finland	9.30	9.25	18.55	did not advance
22	Janez Brodnik	Yugoslavia	9.20	9.30	18.50	did not advance
23	Siegfried Fülle	East Germany	9.05	9.40	18.45	did not advance
	Heikki Sappinen	Finland	9.20	9.25	18.45	did not advance
25	Willi Jaschek	West Germany	9.10	9.30	18.40	did not advance
	Tine Šrot	Yugoslavia	9.20	9.20	18.40	did not advance
27	Fred Roethlisberger	United States	9.15	9.20	18.35	did not advance
28	Andrzej Gonera	Poland	9.00	9.30	18.30	did not advance
	Václav Kubíčka	Czechoslovakia	9.00	9.30	18.30	did not advance
	Gilbert Larose	Canada	9.00	9.30	18.30	did not advance
	Peter Weber	East Germany	9.00	9.30	18.30	did not advance
32	Sid Jensen	Canada	9.05	9.20	18.25	did not advance
	Finn Johannesson	Sweden	9.10	9.15	18.25	did not advance
	Hannu Rantakari	Finland	9.10	9.15	18.25	did not advance
	Heiko Reinemer	West Germany	8.85	9.40	18.25	did not advance
	Aleksander Rokosa	Poland	9.05	9.20	18.25	did not advance
	Armando Valles	Mexico	9.05	9.20	18.25	did not advance
38	Meinrad Berchtold	Switzerland	8.95	9.20	18.15	did not advance
	František Bočko	Czechoslovakia	8.95	9.20	18.15	did not advance
	Reino Heino	Finland	9.00	9.15	18.15	did not advance
	Erich Hess	West Germany	8.90	9.25	18.15	did not advance
	Milenko Kersnić	Yugoslavia	9.05	9.10	18.15	did not advance
43	Luigi Cimnaghi	Italy	9.05	9.05	18.10	did not advance
44	Gerhard Dietrich	East Germany	8.85	9.20	18.05	did not advance
	Sid Freudenstein	United States	8.90	9.15	18.05	did not advance
	Miloslav Netušil	Czechoslovakia	9.10	8.95	18.05	did not advance
47	José Filipe Abreu	Portugal	8.95	9.05	18.00	did not advance
	Juhani Rahikainen	Finland	8.95	9.05	18.00	did not advance
	Dave Thor	United States	9.00	9.00	18.00	did not advance
	Endre Tihanyi	Hungary	8.80	9.20	18.00	did not advance
51	Christer Jönsson	Sweden	8.90	9.05	17.95	did not advance
52	Steve Hug	United States	8.80	9.10	17.90	did not advance
	Václav Skoumal	Czechoslovakia	8.95	8.95	17.90	did not advance
54	Chung-tae Kim	South Korea	8.85	9.00	17.85	did not advance
	Paul Müller	Switzerland	8.85	9.00	17.85	did not advance
	Hans Peter Nielsen	Denmark	8.80	9.05	17.85	did not advance
	Peter Rohner	Switzerland	8.90	8.95	17.85	did not advance
58	Bruno Franceschetti	Italy	8.80	9.00	17.80	did not advance
	Sylwester Kubica	Poland	8.75	9.05	17.80	did not advance
60	István Aranyos	Hungary	8.70	9.00	17.70	did not advance
	Jerzy Kruża	Poland	8.90	8.80	17.70	did not advance
	Helmut Tepasse	West Germany	8.45	9.30	17.75	did not advance
63	Georgi Adamov	Bulgaria	8.80	8.85	17.65	did not advance
	Giovanni Carminucci	Italy	8.75	8.90	17.65	did not advance
	Octavio Suárez	Cuba	8.80	8.85	17.65	did not advance
	Miloš Vratič	Yugoslavia	8.75	8.90	17.65	did not advance
67	Edwin Greutmann	Switzerland	8.70	8.90	17.60	did not advance
68	Günter Beier	East Germany	8.45	9.10	17.55	did not advance
	Rumen Gabrovski	Bulgaria	8.60	8.95	17.55	did not advance
	Christian Guiffroy	France	8.60	8.95	17.55	did not advance
	Heinz Häussler	West Germany	8.65	8.90	17.55	did not advance
	Hermann Höpfner	West Germany	8.45	9.10	17.55	did not advance
	Roland Hürzeler	Switzerland	8.50	9.05	17.55	did not advance
	José Vilchis	Mexico	8.55	9.00	17.55	did not advance
75	Christian Deuza	France	8.90	8.60	17.50	did not advance
	Luis Ramírez	Cuba	8.55	8.95	17.50	did not advance
77	Bohumil Mudřík	Czechoslovakia	8.25	9.10	17.35	did not advance
	Stefan Zoev	Bulgaria	8.65	8.70	17.35	did not advance
79	Michel Bouchonnet	France	8.65	8.60	17.25	did not advance
79	Pasquale Carminucci	Italy	8.70	8.55	17.25	did not advance
81	Olli Laiho	Finland	8.00	9.20	17.20	did not advance
82	Damir Anić	Yugoslavia	8.25	8.90	17.15	did not advance
	Jorge Rodríguez	Cuba	8.25	8.90	17.15	did not advance
84	Bozhidar Ivanov	Bulgaria	8.65	8.45	17.10	did not advance
	Konrád Mentsik	Hungary	8.35	8.75	17.10	did not advance
86	Davaanyam Zagdbazaryn	Mongolia	8.90	8.15	17.05	did not advance
87	Arne Thomsen	Denmark	8.10	8.90	17.00	did not advance
88	Rogelio Mendoza	Mexico	8.15	8.70	16.85	did not advance
89	Murray Chessell	Australia	8.20	8.55	16.75	did not advance
	Ivan Kondev	Bulgaria	8.60	8.15	16.75	did not advance
91	Raycho Khristov	Bulgaria	8.10	8.60	16.70	did not advance
	Sergio Luna	Ecuador	8.10	8.60	16.70	did not advance
93	Evert Lindgren	Sweden	7.85	8.80	16.65	did not advance
	Stan Wild	Great Britain	8.45	8.20	16.65	did not advance
95	Steve Mitruk	Canada	8.10	8.40	16.50	did not advance
	Vincenzo Mori	Italy	8.50	8.00	16.50	did not advance
97	Barry Brooker	Canada	7.90	8.55	16.45	did not advance
	Héctor Ramírez	Cuba	7.85	8.60	16.45	did not advance
99	Kanati Allen	United States	7.80	8.50	16.30	did not advance
100	Roberto Pumpido	Cuba	7.85	8.40	16.25	did not advance
101	Béla Herczeg	Hungary	7.20	8.85	16.05	did not advance
102	Enrique García	Mexico	7.60	8.35	15.95	did not advance
103	Sándor Kiss	Hungary	6.90	8.95	15.85	did not advance
104	Dezső Bordán	Hungary	7.95	7.80	15.75	did not advance
105	Fernando Valles	Mexico	7.75	7.85	15.60	did not advance
106	Michael Booth	Great Britain	7.85	7.70	15.55	did not advance
	José González	Mexico	7.45	8.10	15.55	did not advance
108	Chu-Long Lai	Taiwan	7.65	7.65	15.30	did not advance
109	Roger Dion	Canada	6.15	8.25	14.40	did not advance
110	Larbi Lazhari	Algeria	6.15	8.10	14.25	did not advance
111	Eduardo Nájera	Ecuador	6.70	7.15	13.85	did not advance
112	Fu Cheng	Taiwan	6.65	7.10	13.75	did not advance
113	Luis Navarrete	Cuba	6.50	7.15	13.65	did not advance
114	Pedro Rendón	Ecuador	5.50	6.95	12.45	did not advance
115	Franco Menichelli	Italy	9.60	—	9.60	did not advance
116	Norman Henson	Philippines	6.60	—	6.60	did not advance
117	Ernesto Beren	Philippines	6.25	—	6.25	did not advance

References

• Official Olympic Report
• www.gymnasticsresults.com
• www.gymn-forum.net