The men's artistic individual all-around event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was one of seven gymnastics events for men and was the seventh Olympic men's all-around gymnastic championship. Scores from the individual apparatus events were added to give aggregate scores for the individual all-around; individual all-around scores were similarly summed for the team all-around event. There were 88 competitors from 11 nations. Each nation sent a team of 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Georges Miez of Switzerland, with his countryman Hermann Hänggi taking silver. They were the first medals in the event for Swiss gymnasts since 1904 and the first gold medal ever for a Swiss man in the individual all-around. Defending Olympic champion Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia finished with the bronze this time, making him the third man to win multiple medals in the event.
Background
This was the seventh appearance of the men's individual all-around. The first individual all-around competition had been held in 1900, after the 1896 competitions featured only individual apparatus events. A men's individual all-around has been held every Games since 1900.
Seven of the top 10 gymnasts from the 1924 Games returned: gold medalist Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia, bronze medalist Bedřich Šupčík of Czechoslovakia, fourth-place finisher Ferdinando Mandrini of Italy, sixth-place finisher Ladislav Vácha of Czechoslovakia, seventh-place finisher August Güttinger of Switzerland, eighth-place finisher (and 1920 bronze medalist) Jean Gounot of France, and tenth-place finisher Mario Lertora of Italy. Reigning World Champion Peter Šumi of Yugoslavia did not compete in Amsterdam, but second-place finisher Josef Effenberger and third-place finisher Ladislav Vácha, both of Czechoslovakia, did.
For the first time, no nations made their debut in the event. France and Italy each made their sixth appearance, tied for most among nations, both having missed only the 1904 Games in St. Louis.
Competition format
By 1928, the format for the all-around competition had begun to settle after changing widely in the earlier Games. The 1924 Games (roughly following the precedent of 1904) used an aggregate score of the various apparatus events for an individual all-around championship; the 1928 tournament continued with that format. The rope climbing exercise was dropped, however. The 1928 all-around consisted of 10 exercises on 5 apparati. The compulsory and optional exercises for the parallel bars, horizontal bar, rings, and pommel horse were worth from 0 to 30 points each (with each apparatus from 0 to 60), while the compulsory (sidehorse) vault and optional (regular) vault exercises were worth from 0 to 15 points each (with 0 to 30 total for the vault competition). Thus, the total possible all-around score was 270.
Schedule
Date Time Round Wednesday, 8 August 1928 Final Thursday, 9 August 1928 Final, continued Friday, 10 August 1928 Final, continued
Results Source: Official results; De Wael
RankGymnastNationTotal Georges Miez 247.500 Hermann Hänggi 246.625 Leon Štukelj 244.875 4 Romeo Neri 244.750 5 Josip Primožič 244.000 6 Mauri Nyberg-Noroma 243.750 Heikki Savolainen 243.750 8 Eugen Mack 243.250 9 Ladislav Vácha 242.875 10 Emanuel Löffler 242.500 11 Armand Solbach 241.625 12 Melchior Wezel 240.875 13 Jan Gajdoš 240.625 14 Josef Effenberger 238.875 15 Edi Steinemann 237.875 16 August Güttinger 237.750 17 Georges Leroux 235.750 18 Hans Grieder 234.125 19 Mario Lertora 233.375 20 Bedřich Šupčík 233.250 21 István Pelle 232.500 22 André Lemoine 232.000 23 Martti Uosikkinen 231.875 24 Otto Pfister 230.875 25 Anton Malej 228.875 26 Edvard Antonijevič 228.000 Vittorio Lucchetti 228.000 28 Václav Veselý 227.625 29 Jean Larrouy 226.500 30 Ferdinando Mandrini 226.250 31 Jan Koutný 225.250 32 Giuseppe Lupi 224.000 33 Boris Gregorka 221.000 34 Janez Porenta 220.250 35 Étienne Schmitt 219.125 36 Al Jochim 218.250 37 Ladislav Tikal 217.750 38 Jaakko Kunnas 217.500 39 Jean Gounot 216.750 40 Glenn Berry 212.750 41 Mario Tambini 212.500 42 Mathias Logelin 212.375 43 Stane Derganc 211.875 44 Frank Kriz 211.625 45 Dragutin Cioti 210.000 46 Urho Korhonen 209.875 47 Frank Haubold 209.375 Harold Newhart 209.375 49 Nic Roeser 209.250 50 John Pearson 208.750 51 Herman Witzig 206.250 52 Paul Krempel 203.625 53 Giuseppe Paris 203.250 54 Antoine Chatelaine 202.375 55 Fränz Zouang 200.875 56 Elias Melkman 199.500 57 Rezső Kende 197.250 58 Ezio Roselli 192.675 59 Pieter van Dam 190.375 60 Mozes Jacobs 190.000 61 Rafael Ylönen 188.750 62 Kalervo Kinos 185.375 63 Arthur Whitford 185.250 64 Israel Wijnschenk 182.625 65 Willibrordus Pouw 182.125 66 Birger Stenman 179.750 67 József Szalai 178.875 68 Jean-Pierre Urbing 177.125 69 Miklós Péter 173.625 70 Edouard Grethen 172.625 71 Klaas Boot 169.000 Jacobus van der Vinden 169.000 73 Géza Tóth 167.125 74 Josy Staudt 166.000 75 E. W. Warren 165.625 76 Bart Cronin 163.500 77 Mathias Erang 162.625 78 Gyula Kunszt 162.125 79 E. A. Walton 162.000 80 Albert Neumann 161.875 81 T. B. Parkinson 160.675 82 G. C. Raynes 159.000 83 Henry Finchett 158.500 84 Elemér Pászti 157.250 85 Hugo Licher 143.500 — Imre Erdődy Samuel Humphreys Alfred Krauss
References