Olympic Gymnastics Triathlon
The gymnastics triathlon was an artistic gymnastic event that was a part of the 1904 Olympics. That was the only year the event was contested in the Olympics after which it was discontinued.
The triathlon event consisted of gymnasts performing routines on three different apparatus, horizontal bar, parallel bars, and horse. The horse was further split into long horse (vault) and side horse. Each gymnast had to perform two compulsory and one optional routine on each of the three apparatus. Though the first two apparatus were straightforward, in horse, a compulsory routine had to be performed on both types of horse, and the optional routine was performed on the side horse.
Each routine was judged for five points, so the competition was judged for a total of 45 points from nine routines.
In the 1904 games, 119 athletes from three countries took part in the event with majority of the athletes coming from the United States. Adolf Spinnler, the only athlete representing Switzerland in the event took the gold medal with a total score of 43.39. Julius Lenhart of the United States took the silver, scoring 43.00 points. The bronze medal went to Wilhelm Weber of Germany with a score of 41.60.
There was another triathlon event at the 1904 Olympics. Although the International Olympic Committee listed the event under athletics, the event was contested mostly by gymnasts and the results of the event was used to determine the winner of gymnastics all-round winner, which led many to believe that it was a gymnastic event.
Related Pages
- Video of the only Olympic Tumbling Champion
- Other Past Gymnastics Events
- The Athletics Triathlon Event (also from 1904)
- Full list of all Discontinued Events
- Gymnastics at the Olympic Games
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