Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Gymnastics
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Pictograms for artistic (above) and rhythmic (below)
VenueBeijing National Indoor Stadium (artistic and trampoline)
Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium (rhythmic)
DatesAugust 9 – 19, 2008
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At the 2008 Summer Olympics, three gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 9–19. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on August 21–24. The trampoline events were also held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 16–19.[1]

Competition schedule

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All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Artistic gymnastics

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Date Time Event
Saturday, August 9, 2008 12:00 - 14:00 Men's Qualification - Subdivision 1
16:00 - 18:00 Men's Qualification - Subdivision 2
20:00 - 22:00 Men's Qualification - Subdivision 3
Sunday, August 10, 2008 10:00 - 11:30 Women's Qualification - Subdivision 1
13:30 - 15:00 Women's Qualification - Subdivision 2
17:00 - 18:30 Women's Qualification - Subdivision 3
20:00 - 21:30 Women's Qualification - Subdivision 4
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 10:00 - 12:30 Men's Team Final
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 10:30 - 12:00 Women's Team Final
Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:00 - 13:30 Men's Individual All-Around Final
Friday, August 15, 2008 11:15 - 13:00 Women's Individual All-Around Final
Sunday, August 17, 2008 18:00 - 18:30 Men's Floor Exercise Final
18:46 - 19:15 Women's Vault Final
19:33 - 20:00 Men's Pommel Horse Final
20:19 - 20:45 Women's Floor Exercise Final
Monday, August 18, 2008 18:00 - 18:30 Men's Rings Final
18:46 - 19:15 Women's Uneven Bars Final
19:33 - 20:00 Men's Vault Final
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 18:00 - 18:30 Men's Parallel Bars Final
18:46 - 19:15 Women's Balance Beam Final
19:33 - 20:00 Men's Horizontal Bar Final

Rhythmic gymnastics

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Date Time Event
Thursday, August 21, 2008 18:00 - 20:30 Individual All-Around Qualification
20:30 - 21:30 Group All-Around Qualification
Friday, August 22, 2008 18:00 - 20:30 Individual All-Around Qualification
20:30 - 21:30 Group All-Around Qualification
Saturday, August 23, 2008 18:00 - 20:00 Individual All-Around Final
Sunday, August 24, 2008 11:00 - 12:15 Group All-Around Final

Medal summary

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Artistic gymnastics

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Men's events

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Team all-around
details
 China (CHN)
Chen Yibing
Huang Xu
Li Xiaopeng
Xiao Qin
Yang Wei
Zou Kai
 Japan (JPN)
Takehiro Kashima
Takuya Nakase
Makoto Okiguchi
Koki Sakamoto
Hiroyuki Tomita
Kōhei Uchimura
 United States (USA)
Alexander Artemev
Raj Bhavsar
Joseph Hagerty
Jonathan Horton
Justin Spring
Kai Wen Tan
Individual all-around
details
Yang Wei
 China
Kōhei Uchimura
 Japan
Benoît Caranobe
 France
Floor exercise
details
Zou Kai
 China
Gervasio Deferr
 Spain
Anton Golotsutskov
 Russia
Pommel horse
details
Xiao Qin
 China
Filip Ude
 Croatia
Louis Smith
 Great Britain
Rings
details
Chen Yibing
 China
Yang Wei
 China
Oleksandr Vorobiov
 Ukraine
Vault
details
Leszek Blanik
 Poland
Thomas Bouhail
 France
Anton Golotsutskov
 Russia
Parallel bars
details
Li Xiaopeng
 China
Yoo Won-chul
 South Korea
Anton Fokin
 Uzbekistan
Horizontal bar
details
Zou Kai
 China
Jonathan Horton
 United States
Fabian Hambüchen
 Germany

Women's events

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Team all-around
details
 China (CHN)
Cheng Fei
Deng Linlin
He Kexin
Jiang Yuyuan
Li Shanshan
Yang Yilin
 United States (USA)
Shawn Johnson
Nastia Liukin
Chellsie Memmel
Samantha Peszek
Alicia Sacramone
Bridget Sloan
 Romania (ROU)
Andreea Acatrinei
Gabriela Drăgoi
Andreea Grigore
Sandra Izbașa
Steliana Nistor
Anamaria Tămârjan
Individual all-around
details
Nastia Liukin
 United States
Shawn Johnson
 United States
Yang Yilin
 China
Vault
details
Hong Un Jong
 North Korea
Oksana Chusovitina
 Germany
Cheng Fei
 China
Uneven bars
details
He Kexin
 China
Nastia Liukin
 United States
Yang Yilin
 China
Balance beam
details
Shawn Johnson
 United States
Nastia Liukin
 United States
Cheng Fei
 China
Floor exercise
details
Sandra Izbașa
 Romania
Shawn Johnson
 United States
Nastia Liukin
 United States

Rhythmic gymnastics

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Individual all-around
details
Yevgeniya Kanayeva
 Russia
Inna Zhukova
 Belarus
Anna Bessonova
 Ukraine
Group all-around
details
 Russia (RUS)
Margarita Aliychuk
Anna Gavrilenko
Tatiana Gorbunova
Elena Posevina
Darya Shkurihina
Natalia Zueva
 China (CHN)
Cai Tongtong
Chou Tao
Lü Yuanyang
Sui Jianshuang
Sun Dan
Zhang Shuo
 Belarus (BLR)
Olesya Babushkina
Anastasia Ivankova
Ksenia Sankovich
Zinaida Lunina
Glafira Martinovich
Alina Tumilovich

Trampoline

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Men's individual
details
Lu Chunlong
 China
Jason Burnett
 Canada
Dong Dong
 China
Women's individual
details
He Wenna
 China
Karen Cockburn
 Canada
Ekaterina Khilko
 Uzbekistan

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 China (CHN)112518
2 United States (USA)26210
3 Russia (RUS)2024
4 Romania (ROU)1012
5 North Korea (PRK)1001
 Poland (POL)1001
7 Canada (CAN)0202
 Japan (JPN)0202
9 Belarus (BLR)0112
 France (FRA)0112
 Germany (GER)0112
12 Croatia (CRO)0101
 South Korea (KOR)0101
 Spain (ESP)0101
15 Ukraine (UKR)0022
 Uzbekistan (UZB)0022
17 Great Britain (GBR)0011
Totals (17 entries)18181854

Qualification

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Champions Gala

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The traditional Gymnastics Champions Gala took place on August 20 at the National Indoor Stadium. Participants are mainly selected from the 2008 Olympic trampoline and artistic gymnastics, as well as medalists from world championships. In addition, some Chinese pop stars appeared in the Gala.

The performances included Olympic disciplines such as floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar, uneven bars, balance beam, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics; non-Olympic discipline such as tumbling and acrobatic; and art performances such as dancing, martial art, instrument performance and chorus.

Age controversies

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China

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On August 21, 2008 the IOC instructed the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to investigate allegations that Chinese gymnast He Kexin was underaged and therefore ineligible to compete during the Olympic gymnastics competition.[2] The FIG requires that all gymnasts be at least 16 years of age in the Olympic calendar year.[2] The IOC had initially accepted the ages of all the Chinese participants, but newly uncovered documents suggested He was 14 years old, and thus ineligible to compete.[2]

The investigation was initiated after an American blogger reported on a cached official Excel spreadsheet showing He's birthday as January 1, 1994.[2][3] His discoveries support earlier reports from The New York Times[4] and other bloggers regarding He's age discrepancy. Earlier, several bloggers found links to news stories and photo captions from 2007 and early 2008, including stories in the state-run Xinhua news service, that cited He's age as 13.[2]

On October 1, 2008, the FIG ended their investigation and concluded that He and her teammates from the 2008 Olympic games were old enough to compete.[5] This ruling confirmed the FIG's initial conclusions. Though some media outlets have voiced doubts about the decision,[6][7][8] the gymnasts have been cleared by the FIG of any wrongdoing.

North Korea

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In 2014, North Korean female gymnast Cha Yong-hwa was a subject of disciplinary hearing because of false passport used to falsify her age. The FIG decided to withdraw her license and nullify all her results, including the results from the 2008 Olympics.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Gymnastics at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hutcheon, Stephen (2008-08-22). "IOC calls for investigation into gymnast's age". smh.com.au. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  3. ^ Tim Reid (2008-08-22). "International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age". The Times. London. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  4. ^ Macur, Juliet (2008-08-22). "I.O.C. Asks for Inquiry of Chinese Gymnasts". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  5. ^ Macur, Juliet (October 1, 2008). "Ruling Backs Chinese Gymnasts". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  6. ^ Brennan, Christine (October 1, 2008). "Maybe now China will quit cheating". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  7. ^ Gillon, Doug (2 October 2008). "China cleared of age concerns but questions left over Sydney squad". The Herald. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
  8. ^ Dahlberg, Tim (27 September 2008). "Wasting time looking for underage gymnasts". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  9. ^ "FIG bans North Korean gymnast for age cheating".
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