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1981 Moscow World Championships
International Federation of Gymnastics.svg

City

Moscow, USSR

Team Gold Medalist

USSR

All-Around Gold Medalist

Olga Bicherova (USSR)

Vault Gold Medalist

Maxi Gnauck (GDR)

Uneven Bars Gold Medalist

Maxi Gnauck (GDR)

Balance Beam Gold Medalist

Maxi Gnauck (GDR)

Floor Exercise Gold Medalist

Natalia Ilienko (USSR)

Preceded by

1979 Fort Worth World Championships

Succeeded by

1983 Budapest World Championships

The 21st Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Moscow, the capital of the USSR, in 1981. Moscow had previously hosted the World Championships in 1958 and the Olympic Games the previous year.

Format of Competition[]

The artistic 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 800px-Flag of the Soviet Union USSR

Elena Davydova
Olga Bicherova
Maria Filatova
Stella Zakharova
Elena Polevaya
Natalia Ilienko

800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China China

Ma Yanhong
Chen Yongyan
Zhu Zheng
Wu Jiani
Wen Jia
Li Cuiling

800px-Flag of East Germany East Germany

Steffi Kraker
Annett Lindner
Birgit Senff
Kerstin Jakobs
Franka Voigt
Maxi Gnauck

All-Around 800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Olga Bicherova
Soviet Union (USSR)
800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Maria Filatova
Soviet Union (USSR)
800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Elena Davydova
Soviet Union (USSR)
Vault 800px-Flag of East Germany Maxi Gnauck
East Germany (GDR)
800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Stella Zakharova
Soviet Union (USSR)
800px-Flag of East Germany Steffi Kraker
East Germany (GDR)
Uneven Bars 800px-Flag of East Germany Maxi Gnauck
East Germany (GDR)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Ma Yanhong
China (CHN)
800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Elena Davydova
Soviet Union (USSR)

800px-Flag of the United States (Pantone) Julianne McNamara
United States of America (USA)

Balance Beam 800px-Flag of East Germany Maxi Gnauck
East Germany (GDR)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Chen Yongyan
China (CHN)
800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China Wu Jiani
China (CHN)

800px-Flag of the United States (Pantone) Tracee Talavera
United States of America (USA)

Floor Exercise 800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Natalia Ilienko
Soviet Union (USSR)
800px-Flag of the Soviet Union Elena Davydova
Soviet Union (USSR)
800px-Flag of Bulgaria Zoja Grancharova
Bulgaria (BUL)

Notable Moments[]

  • Romania did not medal at these World Championships.
  • Zoja Grancharova became the first Bulgarian woman to win a World Championship medal

Medal Count[]

Rank Country Gold-medal Silver-medal Bronze-medal Total
1 800px-Flag of the Soviet Union USSR 3 3 2 8
2 800px-Flag of East Germany East Germany 3 0 2 5
3 800px-Flag of the People's Republic of China China 0 3 1 4
4 800px-Flag of the United States (Pantone) USA 0 0 2 2
5 800px-Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 0 0 1 1
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