The 1976 Games were the first time a limit was put on the number of countries allowed to send a full team. Prior to that, how did qualification to the Olympics work? A quick look at the pre-1976 team results shows 19 in '72, 14 in '68, 10 in '64, and 14 in '60. Was it completely open participation before then?
here’s the qualification requirements for 1972: 1972: The Qualification Criteria for Gymnastics at the Munich Olympics – Gymnastics History
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1976 Olympics were also the first to have 3 per country rule for the AA finals, and 2 per country for the event finals. Event Finals were also extended to 8 finalists and previously it was 6. In 1972, Soviet Union and East Germany occupied 22 out of the 24 event finalist slots. The remaining 2 spots were Hungary. So only 3 countries competed for medals in event finals.
There’s one floor final in a year I can’t remember where they had 4 of the 6 finalists yet only managed to get one medal. I guess 3 of the 4 had mistakes or something, but I found that funny.
I also didn’t realize that the first CoP was in 1958. Were they just ranking based on vibes before that?