Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
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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]
Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium (rhythmic)
| Gymnastics at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
  Pictograms for artistic (above) and rhythmic (below) | |
| Venue | Beijing National Indoor Stadium (artistic and trampoline) Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium (rhythmic) |
| Dates | August 9 – 19, 2008 |
Competition schedule
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Artistic gymnastics
| 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
| 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
Artistic gymnastics
Men's events
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team all-around |
 ChinaChen Yibing Huang Xu Li Xiaopeng Xiao Qin Yang Wei Zou Kai |
 JapanTakehiro Kashima Takuya Nakase Makoto Okiguchi Koki Sakamoto Hiroyuki Tomita Kōhei Uchimura |
 United StatesAlexander Artemev Raj Bhavsar Joseph Hagerty Jonathan Horton Justin Spring Kai Wen Tan | |||
| Individual all-around |
Yang Wei China |
Kōhei Uchimura Japan |
Benoît Caranobe France | |||
| Floor exercise |
Zou Kai China |
Gervasio Deferr Spain |
Anton Golotsutskov Russia | |||
| Pommel horse |
Xiao Qin China |
Filip Ude Croatia |
Louis Smith Great Britain | |||
| Rings |
Chen Yibing China |
Yang Wei China |
Oleksandr Vorobiov Ukraine | |||
| Vault |
Leszek Blanik Poland |
Thomas Bouhail France |
Anton Golotsutskov Russia | |||
| Parallel bars |
Li Xiaopeng China |
Yoo Won-chul South Korea |
Anton Fokin Uzbekistan | |||
| Horizontal bar |
Zou Kai China |
Jonathan Horton United States |
Fabian Hambüchen Germany | |||
Women's events
Rhythmic gymnastics
Trampoline
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's individual |
Lu Chunlong China |
Jason Burnett Canada |
Dong Dong China |
| Women's individual |
He Wenna China |
Karen Cockburn Canada |
Ekaterina Khilko Uzbekistan |
Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 11 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
| 2 | United States | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | Russia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 |  Romania | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 |  North Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 | Canada | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 9 |  Belarus | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| France | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| South Korea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Spain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 17 | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (17 entries) | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 | |
Qualification
Champions Gala
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
China
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
In 2014, North Korean female gymnast Cha Yong-hwa was the subject of a disciplinary hearing because of a 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]
