# Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

At the 1972 Summer Olympics, fourteen different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. All events were held at the Sports Hall in Munich from 27 August through 1 September.

## Format of competition

The gymnastics competition at the 1972 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 combined scores of all team members 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 six 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 them 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 them on that particular apparatus in Competition III.
No limits were imposed as to how many gymnasts each country could enter into the individual all-around final or apparatus finals.

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Individual all-around details | Sawao Kato Japan | Eizo Kenmotsu Japan | Akinori Nakayama Japan |
| Team all-around details | Japan (JPN) Shigeru Kasamatsu Sawao Kato Eizo Kenmotsu Akinori Nakayama Teruichi Okamura Mitsuo Tsukahara | Soviet Union (URS) Nikolai Andrianov Viktor Klimenko Alexander Maleev Edvard Mikaelian Vladimir Schukin Mikhail Voronin | East Germany (GDR) Matthias Brehme Wolfgang Klotz Klaus Köste Jürgen Paeke Reinhard Rychly Wolfgang Thüne |
| Floor exercise details | Nikolai Andrianov Soviet Union | Akinori Nakayama Japan | Shigeru Kasamatsu Japan |
| Horizontal bar details | Mitsuo Tsukahara Japan | Sawao Kato Japan | Shigeru Kasamatsu Japan |
| Parallel bars details | Sawao Kato Japan | Shigeru Kasamatsu Japan | Eizo Kenmotsu Japan |
| Pommel horse details | Viktor Klimenko Soviet Union | Sawao Kato Japan | Eizo Kenmotsu Japan |
| Rings details | Akinori Nakayama Japan | Mikhail Voronin Soviet Union | Mitsuo Tsukahara Japan |
| Vault details | Klaus Köste East Germany | Viktor Klimenko Soviet Union | Nikolai Andrianov Soviet Union |

### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Individual all-around details | Ludmila Tourischeva Soviet Union | Karin Janz East Germany | Tamara Lazakovich Soviet Union |
| Team all-around details | Soviet Union (URS) Lyubov Burda Olga Korbut Antonina Koshel Tamara Lazakovich Elvira Saadi Ludmila Tourischeva | East Germany (GDR) Irene Abel Angelika Hellmann Karin Janz Richarda Schmeißer Christine Schmitt Erika Zuchold | Hungary (HUN) Ilona Békési Mónika Császár Marta Kelemen Anikó Kéry Krisztina Medveczky Zsuzsa Nagy |
| Balance beam details | Olga Korbut Soviet Union | Tamara Lazakovich Soviet Union | Karin Janz East Germany |
| Floor exercise details | Olga Korbut Soviet Union | Ludmila Tourischeva Soviet Union | Tamara Lazakovich Soviet Union |
| Uneven bars details | Karin Janz East Germany | Olga Korbut Soviet Union | None awarded (as there was a tie for silver) |
| Uneven bars details | Karin Janz East Germany | Erika Zuchold East Germany | None awarded (as there was a tie for silver) |
| Vault details | Karin Janz East Germany | Erika Zuchold East Germany | Ludmila Tourischeva Soviet Union |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 |
| 2 | Japan | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| 3 | East Germany | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 4 | Hungary | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (4 entries) | Totals (4 entries) | 14 | 15 | 13 | 42 |