The men's vault competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 20, 22 and 25th at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports. There were 65 competitors from 14 nations, with nations competing in the team event having 6 gymnasts while other nations could have to up to 3 gymnasts.[1] The event was won by Nikolai Andrianov of the Soviet Union, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the vault. Andrianov was also the first (and, as of the 2016 Games, only) man to win a third medal in the event, with a bronze in 1972 along with his 1976 and 1980 gold medals. For the eighth consecutive Games, the Soviets had a gymnast in the top two in vault; this time, they had both the top two, as Alexander Dityatin took silver. Roland Brückner of East Germany earned bronze.
| Men's vault at the Games of the XXII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nikolai Andrianov (c. 1974) | ||||||||||
| Venue | Luzhniki Palace of Sports | |||||||||
| Date | 20–25 July | |||||||||
| Competitors | 65 from 14 nations | |||||||||
| Winning score | 19.825 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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Background
This was the 15th appearance of the event, which is one of the five apparatus events held every time there were apparatus events at the Summer Olympics (no apparatus events were held in 1900, 1908, 1912, or 1920). Three of the six finalists from 1976 returned: gold medalist Nikolai Andrianov of the Soviet Union, fourth-place finisher Dan Grecu of Romania, and fifth-place finisher Zoltán Magyar of Hungary. Andrianov had finished second to fellow Soviet Alexander Dityatin in the 1979 world championships. The American-led boycott resulted in there being no competitors from either the traditional men's gymnastics power of Japan or the rising power of the United States; the Soviets' dominance this Games would be challenged only by the East Germans.[1]
Brazil made its debut in the men's vault. Hungary made its 13th appearance, tying the United States (absent from the vault event for the first time since the inaugural 1896 Games) for most of any nation.
Competition format
The event used a "vaulting horse" aligned parallel to the gymnast's run (rather than the modern "vaulting table" in use since 2004). Each nation entered a team of six gymnasts or up to three individual gymnasts. All entrants in the gymnastics competitions performed both a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise for each apparatus. The scores for all 12 exercises were summed to give an individual all-around score. These exercise scores were also used for qualification for the apparatus finals. The two exercises (compulsory and voluntary) for each apparatus were summed to give an apparatus score. The top 6 in each apparatus participated in the finals, except that nations were limited to two finalists each; others were ranked 7th through 65th. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.[1][2]
Schedule
All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 20 July 1980 | 10:00 17:00 | Preliminary: Compulsory |
| Tuesday, 22 July 1980 | 10:00 17:00 | Preliminary: Voluntary |
| Friday, 25 July 1980 | 14:30 | Final |
Results
Sixty-five gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 20 and 22. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on July 25. Each country was limited to two competitors in the final. Half of the points earned by each gymnast during both the compulsory and optional rounds carried over to the final. This constitutes the "prelim" score.
| Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Preliminary | Final | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compulsory | Voluntary | Total | 1⁄2 Prelim. | Final | Total | |||
 | Nikolai Andrianov |  Soviet Union | 9.90 | 9.90 | 19.80 | 9.900 | 9.925 | 19.825 |
 | Alexander Dityatin | Soviet Union | 9.85 | 9.90 | 19.75 | 9.875 | 9.925 | 19.800 |
 | Roland Brückner |  East Germany | 9.90 | 9.85 | 19.75 | 9.875 | 9.900 | 19.775 |
| 4 | Ralf-Peter Hemmann | East Germany | 9.80 | 9.85 | 19.65 | 9.825 | 9.925 | 19.750 |
| 5 | Stoyan Deltchev |  Bulgaria | 9.80 | 9.85 | 19.65 | 9.825 | 9.875 | 19.700 |
| 6 | Jiří Tabák |  Czechoslovakia | 9.85 | 9.90 | 19.75 | 9.875 | 9.650 | 19.525 |
| 7 | Bohdan Makuts | Soviet Union | 9.90 | 9.85 | 19.75 | Did not advance | ||
| 8 | Eduard Azaryan | Soviet Union | 9.75 | 9.85 | 19.60 | Did not advance | ||
| Lutz Hoffmann | East Germany | 9.80 | 9.80 | 19.60 | Did not advance | |||
| Jozef Konečný | Czechoslovakia | 9.80 | 9.80 | 19.60 | Did not advance | |||
| Aleksandr Tkachyov | Soviet Union | 9.80 | 9.80 | 19.60 | Did not advance | |||
| 12 | Willi Moy |  France | 9.75 | 9.80 | 19.55 | Did not advance | ||
| István Vámos |  Hungary | 9.75 | 9.80 | 19.55 | Did not advance | |||
| Sergio Suarez |  Cuba | 9.70 | 9.85 | 19.55 | Did not advance | |||
| 15 | Andreas Bronst | East Germany | 9.70 | 9.80 | 19.50 | Did not advance | ||
| Aurelian Georgescu |  Romania | 9.65 | 9.85 | 19.50 | Did not advance | |||
| Zoltán Magyar | Hungary | 9.75 | 9.75 | 19.50 | Did not advance | |||
| 18 | Michael Nikolay | East Germany | 9.65 | 9.80 | 19.45 | Did not advance | ||
| Kurt Szilier | Romania | 9.55 | 9.90 | 19.45 | Did not advance | |||
| Rumen Petkov | Bulgaria | 9.70 | 9.75 | 19.45 | Did not advance | |||
| 21 | Ferenc Donáth | Hungary | 9.60 | 9.80 | 19.40 | Did not advance | ||
| Vladimir Markelov | Soviet Union | 9.80 | 9.60 | 19.40 | Did not advance | |||
| 23 | Sorin Cepoi | Romania | 9.60 | 9.75 | 19.35 | Did not advance | ||
| Marc Touchais | France | 9.65 | 9.70 | 19.35 | Did not advance | |||
| 25 | Romulus Bucuroiu | Romania | 9.40 | 9.90 | 19.30 | Did not advance | ||
| Péter Kovács | Hungary | 9.55 | 9.75 | 19.30 | Did not advance | |||
| Miguel Arroyo | Cuba | 9.70 | 9.60 | 19.30 | Did not advance | |||
| Dan Grecu | Romania | 9.60 | 9.70 | 19.30 | Did not advance | |||
| Keith Langley | Great Britain | 9.60 | 9.70 | 19.30 | Did not advance | |||
| 30 | Lutz Mack | East Germany | 9.75 | 9.50 | 19.25 | Did not advance | ||
| Jan Migdau | Czechoslovakia | 9.60 | 9.65 | 19.25 | Did not advance | |||
| Yanko Radanchev | Bulgaria | 9.55 | 9.70 | 19.25 | Did not advance | |||
| Waldemar Woźniak |  Poland | 9.60 | 9.65 | 19.25 | Did not advance | |||
| Jan Zoulik | Czechoslovakia | 9.65 | 9.60 | 19.25 | Did not advance | |||
| 35 | Enrique Bravo | Cuba | 9.60 | 9.60 | 19.20 | Did not advance | ||
| Miloslav Kučeřík | Czechoslovakia | 9.50 | 9.70 | 19.20 | Did not advance | |||
| Andrzej Szajna | Poland | 9.45 | 9.75 | 19.20 | Did not advance | |||
| 38 | Rudolf Babiak | Czechoslovakia | 9.50 | 9.65 | 19.15 | Did not advance | ||
| 39 | Nicolae Oprescu | Romania | 9.45 | 9.65 | 19.10 | Did not advance | ||
| 40 | Ognyan Bangiev | Bulgaria | 9.50 | 9.55 | 19.05 | Did not advance | ||
| 41 | Michel Boutard | France | 9.55 | 9.45 | 19.00 | Did not advance | ||
| Gabriel Calvo |  Spain | 9.30 | 9.70 | 19.00 | Did not advance | |||
| Kang Gwang-song |  North Korea | 9.40 | 9.60 | 19.00 | Did not advance | |||
| Roberto Leon | Cuba | 9.50 | 9.50 | 19.00 | Did not advance | |||
| Song Sun-bong | North Korea | 9.40 | 9.60 | 19.00 | Did not advance | |||
| 46 | György Guczoghy | Hungary | 9.55 | 9.40 | 18.95 | Did not advance | ||
| Kim Gwang-jin | North Korea | 9.40 | 9.55 | 18.95 | Did not advance | |||
| José de la Casa | Spain | 9.45 | 9.50 | 18.95 | Did not advance | |||
| 49 | Mario Castro | Cuba | 9.40 | 9.50 | 18.90 | Did not advance | ||
| Plamen Petkov | Bulgaria | 9.25 | 9.65 | 18.90 | Did not advance | |||
| 51 | Fernando Bertrand | Spain | 9.30 | 9.50 | 18.80 | Did not advance | ||
| Li Su-gil | North Korea | 9.30 | 9.50 | 18.80 | Did not advance | |||
| Zoltán Kelemen | Hungary | 9.10 | 9.70 | 18.80 | Did not advance | |||
| 54 | Lindsay Nylund | Australia | 9.35 | 9.35 | 18.70 | Did not advance | ||
| Krzysztof Potaczek | Poland | 9.00 | 9.70 | 18.70 | Did not advance | |||
| 56 | João Luiz Ribeiro |  Brazil | 9.40 | 9.25 | 18.65 | Did not advance | ||
| 57 | Yves Bouquel | France | 9.30 | 9.30 | 18.60 | Did not advance | ||
| Han Gwang-song | North Korea | 9.40 | 9.20 | 18.60 | Did not advance | |||
| Dancho Yordanov | Bulgaria | 9.50 | 9.10 | 18.60 | Did not advance | |||
| 60 | Joël Suty | France | 9.45 | 9.10 | 18.55 | Did not advance | ||
| 61 | Henri Boerio | France | 9.45 | 9.00 | 18.45 | Did not advance | ||
| 62 | Thomas Wilson | Great Britain | 9.20 | 9.15 | 18.35 | Did not advance | ||
| 63 | Cho Hun | North Korea | 9.20 | 8.85 | 18.05 | Did not advance | ||
| 64 | Barry Winch | Great Britain | 8.80 | 9.20 | 18.00 | Did not advance | ||
| 65 | Jorge Roche | Cuba | 9.75 | 0.00 | 9.75 | Did not advance | ||
| — | Moustapha Chouara |  Lebanon | DNS | Did not advance | ||||
| Adnan Horns | Lebanon | DNS | Did not advance | |||||
| Maurizio Zonzini | San Marino | DNS | Did not advance | |||||