These are the results of the men's pommel horse competition, one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 27, 29 and September 1 at the Sports Hall. There were 111 competitors from 26 nations (with 2 of the 113 gymnasts not starting in this apparatus); nations entering the team event had 6 gymnasts while other nations could have up to 3 gymnasts.[1] The event was won by Viktor Klimenko of the Soviet Union, the nation's fourth victory in the men's pommel horse. Sawao Kato (silver) and Eizo Kenmotsu (bronze) returned Japan to the pommel horse podium after a one-Games absence.
Background
This was the 13th 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). Four of the six finalists from 1968 returned: bronze medalist Mikhail Voronin of the Soviet Union, fourth-place finisher Wilhelm Kubica of Poland, fifth-place finisher Eizo Kenmotsu of Japan, and sixth-place finisher Viktor Klimenko of the Soviet Union. Three-time world champion and two-time gold medalist Miroslav Cerar of Yugoslavia had retired in 1970, leaving the field open to other competitors. Kenmotsu and Klimenko had finished second and third at the 1970 World Championships.[1]
Liechtenstein, New Zealand, and North Korea each made their debut in the men's pommel horse. The United States made its 12th 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. (One gymnast who entered the all-around competition did not perform on the vault.) 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; others were ranked 7th through 111th. Half of the scores from the preliminary carried over to the final.[1][2]
One-hundred eleven gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on August 27 and 29. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on September 1.
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