# Gymnastics at the 1988 Summer Olympics

At the 1988 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Olympic Gymnastics Hall in Seoul from September 18 through 25th. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the same venue from September 28 through 30th.
For the first time in Olympic competition, each routine in women's artistic gymnastics events was judged by six judges, with the final score composed of the average of the judges' scores, after the highest and lowest marks were dropped. Men's routines continued to be judged by four judges, as at previous Olympics.

## Artistic gymnastics
### Format of competition

The gymnastics competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics was carried out in three stages:
* Competition I - The team competition/qualification round in which all gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, performed both compulsory and optional exercises. The top five scores per team on each exercise determined the final score of the team. The thirty-six highest scoring gymnasts in the all-around qualified to the individual all-around competition. The eight highest scoring gymnasts on each apparatus qualified to the final for that apparatus.
* Competition II - The individual all-around competition, in which those who qualified from Competition I performed exercises on each apparatus. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her in Competition II.
* Competition III - The apparatus finals, in which those who qualified during Competition I performed an exercise on the individual apparatus on which he or she had qualified. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast on that particular apparatus during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her on that particular apparatus in Competition III.
Each country was limited to three gymnasts in the all-around final and two gymnasts in each apparatus final.

### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Team all-around details | Soviet Union (URS) Vladimir Artemov Dmitri Bilozertchev Vladimir Gogoladze Sergei Kharkov Valeri Liukin Vladimir Novikov | East Germany (GDR) Holger Behrendt Ralf Büchner Ulf Hoffmann Sylvio Kroll Sven Tippelt Andreas Wecker | Japan (JPN) Yukio Iketani Hiroyuki Konishi Koichi Mizushima Daisuke Nishikawa Toshiharu Sato Takahiro Yameda |
| Individual all-around details | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | Valeri Liukin Soviet Union | Dmitry Bilozerchev Soviet Union |
| Floor exercise details | Sergei Kharkov Soviet Union | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | Lou Yun China |
| Floor exercise details | Sergei Kharkov Soviet Union | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | Yukio Iketani Japan |
| Pommel horse details | Lyubomir Gueraskov Bulgaria | none awarded | none awarded |
| Pommel horse details | Zsolt Borkai Hungary | none awarded | none awarded |
| Pommel horse details | Dmitri Bilozertchev Soviet Union | none awarded | none awarded |
| Rings details | Holger Behrendt East Germany | none awarded | Sven Tippelt East Germany |
| Rings details | Dimitri Bilozertchev Soviet Union | none awarded | Sven Tippelt East Germany |
| Vault details | Lou Yun China | Sylvio Kroll East Germany | Park Jong-Hoon South Korea |
| Parallel bars details | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | Valeri Liukin Soviet Union | Sven Tippelt East Germany |
| Horizontal bar details | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | none awarded | Holger Behrendt East Germany |
| Horizontal bar details | Valeri Liukin Soviet Union | none awarded | Marius Gherman Romania |

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Team all-around details | Soviet Union (URS) Svetlana Baitova Svetlana Boginskaya Natalia Laschenova Elena Shevchenko Elena Shushunova Olga Strazheva | Romania (ROU) Aurelia Dobre Eugenia Golea Celestina Popa Gabriela Potorac Daniela Silivaș Camelia Voinea | East Germany (GDR) Gabriele Fähnrich Martina Jentsch Dagmar Kersten Ulrike Klotz Bettina Schieferdecker Dörte Thümmler |
| Individual all-around details | Elena Shushunova Soviet Union | Daniela Silivaș Romania | Svetlana Boginskaya Soviet Union |
| Vault details | Svetlana Boginskaya Soviet Union | Gabriela Potorac Romania | Daniela Silivaș Romania |
| Uneven bars details | Daniela Silivaș Romania | Dagmar Kersten East Germany | Elena Shushunova Soviet Union |
| Balance beam details | Daniela Silivaș Romania | Elena Shushunova Soviet Union | Gabriela Potorac Romania |
| Balance beam details | Daniela Silivaș Romania | Elena Shushunova Soviet Union | Phoebe Mills United States |
| Floor exercise details | Daniela Silivaș Romania | Svetlana Boginskaya Soviet Union | Diana Doudeva Bulgaria |

## Rhythmic gymnastics

Rules for the rhythmic gymnastics competition also changed since the previous Olympics. The ball apparatus was replaced by the rope. Thirty-nine gymnasts competed in the preliminary round, the format for which was similar to the finals. The twenty best gymnasts competed in the finals. Each competitor's score in the preliminary round, divided by two (the "prelim" score) was added to gymnast's score in the finals (the "final" score).
Each of the routines was judged by six judges, highest and lowest marks were dropped, and an average of the four remaining ones was the gymnast's score for the routine.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Individual all-around details | Marina Lobatch Soviet Union | Adriana Dunavska Bulgaria | Alexandra Timoshenko Soviet Union |

## Medal summary

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 12 | 5 | 4 | 21 |
| 2 | Romania | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | East Germany | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 4 | Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | China | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | United States | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (9 entries) | Totals (9 entries) | 19 | 12 | 17 | 48 |