| 1979 Fort Worth World Championships | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
City |
Fort Worth, USA |
|
Team Gold Medalist |
Romania |
|
All-Around Gold Medalist |
Nellie Kim (USSR) |
|
Vault Gold Medalist |
Dumitriţa Turner (ROU) |
|
Uneven Bars Gold Medalist |
Ma Yanhong (CHN) |
|
Balance Beam Gold Medalist |
Vera Cerna (TCH) |
|
Floor Exercise Gold Medalist |
Emilia Eberle (ROU) |
|
Preceded by |
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Succeeded by |
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The 20th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Fort Worth, USA, in 1979. In November 1977, the 55th FIG Congress, held in Rome, changed the cycle of World Championships: since 1979 they were to be held each two years, and the pre-Olympic ones were to be qualifications for the Olympic tournament. The first 12 teams in the team competition of the 1979 World Championships were invited to participate in the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Format of Competition[]
The gymnastics competition was carried out in three stages:
- Competition I - The team competition/qualification round in which all gymnasts, including those who were not part of a team, performed both compulsory and optional exercises. The combined scores of all team members determined the final score of the team. The thirty-six highest scoring gymnasts in the all-around qualified to the individual all-around competition. The six highest scoring gymnasts on each apparatus qualified to the final for that apparatus.
- Competition II - The individual all-around competition, in which those who qualified from Competition I performed exercises on each apparatus. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her in Competition II.
- Competition III - The apparatus finals, in which those who qualified during Competition I performed an exercise on the individual apparatus on which he or she had qualified. The final score of each gymnast was composed of half the points earned by that gymnast on that particular apparatus during Competition I and all of the points earned by him or her on that particular apparatus in Competition III.
Each country was limited to three gymnasts in the all-around final and two gymnasts in each apparatus final.
Results[]
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team |  Romania
Nadia Comăneci |
 USSR
Maria Filatova |
 East Germany
Maxi Gnauck |
| All-Around | Nellie Kim Soviet Union (USSR) |
Maxi Gnauck East Germany (GDR) |
Melita Ruhn Romania (ROU) |
| Vault | Dumitriţa Turner Romania (ROU) |
Stella Zakharova Soviet Union (USSR) |
Nellie Kim Soviet Union (USSR)
|
| Uneven Bars |  Ma YanhongChina (CHN)
|
N/A | Emilia Eberle Romania (ROU) |
| Balance Beam |  Vera CernaCzechoslovakia (TCH) |
Nellie Kim Soviet Union (USSR) |
Regina Grabolle East Germany (GDR) |
| Floor Exercise | Emilia Eberle Romania (ROU) |
Nellie Kim Soviet Union (USSR) |
Melita Ruhn Romania (ROU) |
Notable Moments[]
- The Romanians won their first World team title.
- Ma Yanhong became the first Chinese World Champion.
Medal Count[]
| Rank | Country | 
|
|
|
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania
|
3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | USSR
|
1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | East Germany
|
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | China
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Czechoslovakia
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |