Gymnastics at the 1900 Summer Olympics

This was the first appearance of an all-around event. There had been various apparatus events at the 1896 Games, but no overall competition. In contrast, the 1900 Games saw only the all-around event without medals or separate events for any individual apparatus. At the time, athletics events were often combined with gymnastics events in combined events such as this one.[3]

The Swiss championships were scheduled for a week after this competition, resulting in few Swiss gymnasts competing here.[3]

Gymnasts performed in 16 exercises, many of them being two competitions of the same discipline with one compulsory exercise and one voluntary exercise. There was a maximum of 20 points in each exercise, leading to a total maximum of 320 points. The events were mostly gymnastic in nature, but also included a number of athletics events and a weightlifting competition.[4][5]

• 1. and 2. - Horizontal bar (compulsory and optional exercises)
• 3. and 4. - Parallel bars (compulsory and optional exercises)
• 5. and 6. - Rings (compulsory and optional exercises)
• 7. and 8. - Pommel horse (compulsory and optional exercises)
• 9. and 10. - Floor exercise (compulsory and optional exercises)
• 11. - Horse vault (compulsory exercise)
• 12. - Combined high jump
• 13. - Long jump
• 14. - Pole vault
• 15. - Rope climbing
• 16. - Weightlifting

The combined high jump required a jump over a rope that was 1.25 metres above the ground and 1 metre away from the take-off. The scoring standard for the long jump was 5 metres; for the pole vault, 2.2 metres. The rope climbing featured a rope of 6 metres. The weightlifting used a 50 kilograms weight, with 2 points for each overhead lift up to 10 lifts.[3]

A total of 135 gymnasts from 8 nations competed at the Paris Games:

•  Belgium (2)
•  Bohemia (1)
•  France (108)
•  Germany (14)
•  Great Britain (4)
•  Hungary (2)
•  Italy (1)
•  Switzerland (3)

• International Olympic Committee medal winners database
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Gymnastics 1900". Accessed 25 February 2006. Available electronically at Archived 23 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
• Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0-7864-0378-0.