Prior to 1981, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the FIG was 14.[1] The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion while pregnant with her daughter.[2] Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.[3]
In the 1970s, the average age of Olympic gymnastics competitors began to gradually decrease. While it was not unheard of for teenagers to compete in the 1960s — Ludmilla Tourischeva was sixteen at her first Olympics in 1968 — they slowly became the norm, as difficulty in gymnastics increased.[4]
List of Olympic all-around champions[edit]
- Olympic all-around champions 1952–2020- Women
Name Year Date of birth Age at Olympics 
Maria Gorokhovskaya
1952 October 27, 1921 30 years, 266 days Larisa Latynina
1956 December 27, 1934 21 years, 253 days Larisa Latynina
1960 December 27, 1934 25 years, 253 days 
Věra Čáslavská
1964 May 3, 1942 22 years, 168 days Věra Čáslavská
1968 May 3, 1942 26 years, 171 days Ludmilla Tourischeva
1972 July 10, 1952 20 years, 48 days 
Nadia Comăneci
1976 November 12, 1961 14 years, 249 days Yelena Davydova
1980 August 7, 1961 18 years, 348 days 
Mary Lou Retton
1984 January 24, 1968 16 years, 187 days Yelena Shushunova
1988 April 23, 1969 19 years, 148 days 
Tatiana Gutsu
1992 September 5, 1976 15 years, 325 days 
Lilia Podkopayeva
1996 August 15, 1978 17 years, 339 days 
Andreea Răducan
2000 September 30, 1983 16 years, 351 days Carly Patterson
2004 February 4, 1988 16 years, 224 days Nastia Liukin
2008 October 30, 1989 18 years, 283 days Gabrielle Douglas
2012 December 31, 1995 16 years, 215 days Simone Biles
2016 March 14, 1997 19 years, 144 days Sunisa Lee
2020 March 9, 2003 18 years, 142 days
- Olympic all-around champions 1952–2020 – Men
Name Year Date of birth Age at Olympics Viktor Chukarin
1952 November 9, 1921 30 years, 259 days Viktor Chukarin
1956 November 9, 1921 34 years, 301 days Boris Shakhlin
1960 January 27, 1932 28 years, 222 days 
Yukio Endo
1964 January 18, 1937 27 years, 274 days Sawao Kato
1968 October 11, 1946 22 years, 10 days Sawao Kato
1972 October 11, 1946 25 years, 321 days Nikolai Andrianov
1976 October 14, 1952 23 years, 278 days Alexander Dityatin
1980 August 7, 1957 22 years, 348 days Koji Gushiken
1984 November 12, 1956 27 years, 260 days Vladimir Artemov
1988 December 7, 1964 23 years, 286 days 
Vitaly Scherbo
1992 January 13, 1972 20 years, 195 days 
Li Xiaoshuang
1996 November 1, 1973 22 years, 261 days 
Alexei Nemov
2000 May 28, 1976 24 years, 110 days Paul Hamm
2004 September 24, 1982 21 years, 326 days Yang Wei
2008 February 8, 1980 28 years, 182 days Kohei Uchimura
2012 January 3, 1989 23 years, 212 days Kohei Uchimura
2016 January 3, 1989 27 years, 215 days Daiki Hashimoto
2020 August 7, 2001 19 years, 355 days
NB: The "age at Olympics" is calculated from the first day of Olympics gymnastics competition, if available; or the date of the Olympics opening ceremonies.
References[edit]
- ^ "Within the International Federations" (PDF). Olympic Review (155): 520. September 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- ^ "Legends: Larissa Latynina" International Gymnast, 2001
- ^ "Vera Čáslavská: The heroine of Mexico". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2006-05-04. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
- ^ Ryan, Joan (1995). Little Girls in Pretty Boxes. Garden City: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-47790-1.