In the past I’ve done “points” rankings on the women’s side of the sport. On Reddit user /u/lollipoppery took the time to calculate the same ranking for the men as well and allowed me to post the data on TMC. It was an incredible undertaking as MAG has far more medalists (383) compared to WAG (278). It also required digging through the complex and obscure pre-1952 results which significantly adds to the difficulty.
In spite of that /u/lollipoppery was able to compile a list featuring athletes spanning into the late 1800s, as well as correctly identifying all the athletes from the pre-1930s where the nationality of various gymnasts can be complex. Most notably Julius Lenhart who was the second All-Around Champion in gymnastics history who personally identified as Austrian, but is officially credited as an American by the IOC.
Below the table are other disclaimers compiled by /u/lollipoppery and an explanation of how the “points” system works.
| Name | Country | Points |
| Vitaly Scherbo | Soviet Union / Belarus | 67 |
| Nikolai Andrianov | Soviet Union | 52 |
| Kohei Uchimura | Japan | 47 |
| Boris Shakhlin | Soviet Union | 46 |
| Alexei Nemov | Russia | 40 |
| Akinori Nakayama | Japan | 40 |
| Alexander Dityan | Soviet Union | 37 |
| Dmitry Bilozerchev | Soviet Union | 34 |
| Eugen Mack | Switzerland | 32 |
| Eizo Kenmotsu | Japan | 32 |
| Marian Dragulescu | Romania | 31 |
| Leon Stukelj | Yugoslavia | 31 |
| Yordan Yovchev | Bulgaria | 31 |
| Takashi Ono | Japan | 30 |
| Vladimir Artemov | Soviet Union | 30 |
| Viktor Chukarin | Soviet Union | 29 |
| Max Whitlock | Great Britain | 29 |
| Sawao Kato | Japan | 27 |
| Mikhail Voronin | Soviet Union | 27 |
| Grigoriy Misyutin | Soviet Union / Ukraine | 26 |
| Li Xiaopeng | China | 25 |
| Yukio Endo | Japan | 24 |
| Li Ning | China | 24 |
| Alois Hudec | Czechoslovakia | 24 |
| Joseph Martinez | France | 23 |
| Marco Torres | France | 23 |
| Yuri Titov | Soviet Union | 22 |
| Andreas Wecker | East Germany / Germany | 22 |
| Yuri Korolyov | Soviet Union | 21 |
| Lou Yun | China | 21 |
| Koji Gushiken | Japan | 21 |
| Miroslav Cerar | Yugoslavia | 21 |
| Li Jing | China | 21 |
| Jury Chechi | Italy | 21 |
| Kenzo Shirai | Japan | 21 |
| Georges Miez | Switzerland | 20 |
| Zou Kai | China | 20 |
| Yang Wei | China | 20 |
| Ihor Korobchynskyi | Soviet Union / Ukraine | 20 |
| Giorgio Zampori | Italy | 19 |
| Josef Cada | Bohemia / Czechoslovakia | 19 |
| Mitsuo Tsukahara | Japan | 18 |
| Valentin Muratov | Soviet Union | 18 |
| Shigeru Kasamatsu | Japan | 18 |
| Marius Urzică | Romania | 18 |
| Epke Zonderland | Netherlands | 18 |
| Ladislav Vacha | Czechoslovakia | 18 |
| Szilveszter Csollany | Hungary | 18 |
| Masao Takemoto | Japan | 17 |
| Fabian Hambuechen | Germany | 17 |
| Chen Yibing | China | 17 |
| Xiao Qin | China | 16 |
| Li Xiaoshuang | China | 15 |
| Oleg Verniaiev | Ukraine | 15 |
| Alexander Tkachev | Soviet Union | 15 |
| Zoltan Magyar | Hungary | 15 |
| Kurt Thomas | United States | 15 |
| Jan Gajdos | Czechoslovakia | 15 |
| Denis Ablyazin | Russia | 14 |
| Anton Heida | United States | 14 |
| George Eyser | United States | 14 |
| Albert Azaryan | Soviet Union | 14 |
| Arthur Zanetti | Brazil | 14 |
| Ivan Ivankov | Soviet Union / Belarus | 14 |
| Artur Dalaloyan | Russia | 14 |
| Gervasio Deferr | Spain | 14 |
| Alfred Schwarzmann | Germany | 13 |
| Xiao Ruoteng | China | 13 |
| Pae Gil-su | North Korea | 13 |
| Eleftherios Petrounias | Greece | 13 |
| Sylvio Kroll | East Germany / Germany | 13 |
| Ri Se-gwang | North Korea | 13 |
| Peter Sumi | Yugoslavia | 13 |
| Diego Hypolito | Brazil | 12 |
| Paul Hamm | United States | 12 |
| Danell Leyva | United States | 12 |
| Gervasio Deferr | Spain | 12 |
| Tong Fei | China | 12 |
| Emanuel Loffler | Czechoslovakia | 12 |
| Veikko Huhtanen | Finland | 11 |
| Romeo Neri | Italy | 11 |
| Takehiro Kashima | Japan | 11 |
| Louis Smith | Great Britain | 11 |
| Leszek Blanik | Poland | 11 |
| Frantisek Erben | Bohemia / Czechoslovakia | 11 |
| Valentin Mogilny | Soviet Union | 11 |
| Franco Menichelli | Italy | 10 |
| Daiki Hashimoto | Japan | 10 |
| Istvan Pelle | Hungary | 10 |
| Konrad Frey | Germany | 10 |
| Nobuyuki Aihara | Japan | 10 |
| Eberhard Gienger | Germany | 10 |
| Hiroyuki Tomita | Japan | 10 |
| Joseph Lux | France | 10 |
| Viktor Klimenko | Soviet Union | 9 |
| Valery Belenky | Soviet Union / Germany | 9 |
| Nikita Nagornyy | Russia | 9 |
| Zou Jingyuan | China | 9 |
| Hrant Shahinyan | Soviet Union | 9 |
| Dimosthenis Tampakos | Greece | 9 |
| Li Donghua | Switzerland | 9 |
| Yang Hak-seon | South Korea | 9 |
| Carlos Yulo | Philippines | 9 |
| Aljaz Pegan | Slovenia | 9 |
| Heikki Savolainen | Finland | 8 |
| Josef Stalder | Switzerland | 8 |
| Hermann Weingartner | Germany | 8 |
| Roland Bruckner | East Germany | 8 |
| Valeri Liukin | Soviet Union | 8 |
| Sergey Kharkov | Soviet Union | 8 |
| Rustam Sharipov | Soviet Union / Ukraine | 8 |
| Feng Zhe | China | 8 |
| Teng Haibin | China | 8 |
| Liu Yang | China | 8 |
| You Hou | China | 8 |
| Helmut Bantz | Germany | 8 |
| Haruhiro Yamashita | Japan | 8 |
| Sergey Kharkov | Soviet Union / Russia | 8 |
| Miroslav Klinger | Czechoslovakia | 8 |
| Artur Akopyan | Soviet Union | 8 |
| Mitja Petkovsek | Slovenia | 8 |
| Jesus Carballo | Spain | 8 |
| Shuji Tsurumi | Japan | 7 |
| Paavo Aaltonen | Finland | 7 |
| Walter Lehmann | Germany | 7 |
| Anton Golotsutskov | Russia | 7 |
| Artem Dolgopyot | Israel | 7 |
| Tin Srbic | Croatia | 7 |
| Louis Zutter | Switzerland | 7 |
| Michael Reusch | Switzerland | 7 |
| Bart Conner | United States | 7 |
| Zsolt Borkai | Hungary | 7 |
| Kazuma Kaya | Japan | 7 |
| Dan Grecu | Romania | 7 |
| Nikolai Kryukov | Russia | 7 |
| Ferdinand Steiner | Bohemia / Czechoslovakia | 7 |
| Yoo Ok-ryul | South Korea | 7 |
| Hrant Shahinyan | Soviet Union | 7 |
| Li Chunyang | China | 7 |
| Vlasios Mars | Greece | 7 |
| Zhang Chenglong | China | 7 |
| Viktor Lisitsky | Soviet Union | 6 |
| Stoyan Deltchev | Bulgaria | 6 |
| Hermann Hanggi | Switzerland | 6 |
| Robert Prazak | Czechoslovakia | 6 |
| Alberto Braglia | Italy | 6 |
| William Thoresson | Sweden | 6 |
| Takeshi Kato | Japan | 6 |
| Kyle Shewfelt | Canada | 6 |
| Edward Hennig | United States | 6 |
| Lee Joo-hyung | South Korea | 6 |
| Igor Cassina | Italy | 6 |
| Eric Poujade | France | 6 |
| Alexei Bondarenko | Russia | 6 |
| Jevgenijs Sapronenko | Latvia | 6 |
| Igor Radivilov | Ukraine | 6 |
| Georges Dejagere | France | 6 |
| Osvaldo Palazzi | Italy | 6 |
| Emmanuel Loffler | Czechoslovakia | 6 |
| Yuri van Gelder | Netherlands | 6 |
| Alexei Voropaiev | Soviet Union / Russia | 6 |
| Hu Xuwei | China | 6 |
| Louis Segura | France | 5 |
| Peter Vidmar | United States | 5 |
| Oleksandr Beresch | Ukraine | 5 |
| Kim Dae-eun | South Korea | 5 |
| Ioannis Melissanidis | Greece | 5 |
| Alfred Flatow | Germany | 5 |
| Shinji Morisue | Japan | 5 |
| Holger Behrendt | East Germany | 5 |
| Krasimir Dunev | Bulgaria | 5 |
| William Merz | United States | 5 |
| Michael Nikolay | East Germany | 5 |
| Lubomir Geraskov | Bulgaria | 5 |
| Lee Chih-kai | Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) | 5 |
| Dan Burinca | Romania | 5 |
| Matteo Morandi | Italy | 5 |
| Thomas Bouhail | France | 5 |
| Hiroshi Kajiyama | Japan | 5 |
| Yeo Hong-chul | South Korea | 5 |
| Albert Seguin | France | 5 |
| Hisashi Mustori | Japan | 5 |
| Lin Chaopan | China | 5 |
| Hisashi Mizutori | Japan | 5 |
| Yan Mingyong | China | 5 |
| Marco Lodadio | Italy | 5 |
| Huang Liping | China | 5 |
| Philippe Rizzo | Australia | 5 |
| Bedrich Supcik | Czechoslovakia | 4 |
| Marcel Nguyen | Germany | 4 |
| Ferenc Pataki | Hungary | 4 |
| Yukio Iketani | Japan | 4 |
| Igor Vihrovs | Latvia | 4 |
| Arthur Mariano | Brazil | 4 |
| Jean Gutweniger | Switzerland | 4 |
| Hans Eugster | Switzerland | 4 |
| Mitch Gaylord | United States | 4 |
| Valeriy Hancharov | Ukraine | 4 |
| Yoo Wun-chul | South Korea | 4 |
| David Belyavsky | Russia | 4 |
| Jean Gutweniger | Switzerland | 4 |
| Yevgeny Karolkov | Soviet Union | 4 |
| Filip Ude | Croatia | 4 |
| Emil Voigt | United States | 4 |
| Takuji Hayata | Japan | 4 |
| Leo Sotornik | Czechoslovakia | 4 |
| Sergey Diomidov | Soviet Union | 4 |
| Klaus Koste | East Germany / Germany | 4 |
| Philipp Boy | Germany | 4 |
| Zhang Jinjing | China | 4 |
| Yang Tae-young | South Korea | 3 |
| Gustave Sandras | France | 3 |
| Julius Lenhart | United States or Austria (Nationality Dispute) | 3 |
| Janos Mogyorosi-Klencs | Hungary | 3 |
| Tadao Uesako | Japan | 3 |
| Vladimir Marchenko | Soviet Union | 3 |
| Rayderly Zapata | Spain | 3 |
| Dallas Bixler | United States | 3 |
| Aleksanteri Saarvala | Finland | 3 |
| Jack Gunthrad | Switzerland | 3 |
| Marius Gherman | Romania | 3 |
| Trent Dimas | United States | 3 |
| Jonathan Horton | United States | 3 |
| Masami Kubota | Japan | 3 |
| Sven Tippelt | East Germany | 3 |
| Joseph Wilhelm | Switzerland | 3 |
| Eugen Ekman | Finland | 3 |
| Ioannis Mitropoulos | Greece | 3 |
| Herman Glass | United States | 3 |
| Francesco Martino | Italy | 3 |
| George Gulack | United States | 3 |
| Savino Guglielmetti | Italy | 3 |
| Karl Frei | Switzerland | 3 |
| Shin Jea-hwan | South Korea | 3 |
| George Roth | United States | 3 |
| Nikolaos Andriakopoulos | Greece | 3 |
| Raymond Bass | United States | 3 |
| Jean Gounot | France | 3 |
| Feng Jing | China | 3 |
| Ryohei Kato | Japan | 3 |
| Manrique Larduet | Cuba | 3 |
| Zhang Boheng | China | 3 |
| Frantisek Bechacek | Czechoslovakia | 3 |
| Premysl Krbec | Czechoslovakia | 3 |
| Ernst Gebendinger | Switzerland | 3 |
| Ralf-Peter Hemmann | East Germany | 3 |
| Junichi Shimizu | Japan | 3 |
| Sergey Fedorchenko | Kazakhstan | 3 |
| Jake Dalton | United States | 3 |
| Eleftherios Kosmidis | Greece | 3 |
| Nicola Bartolini | Italy | 3 |
| Henricus Thyssen | Netherlands | 3 |
| Jan Karafiat | Czechoslovakia | 3 |
| Zhang Hongtao | China | 3 |
| Cyril Tommasone | France | 3 |
| Stephen Nedoroscik | United States | 3 |
| Kohei Kameyama | Japan | 3 |
| Andreas Aguilar | West Germany | 3 |
| Dong Zhen | China | 3 |
| Andrea Coppolino | Italy | 3 |
| İbrahim Çolak | Turkey | 3 |
| Lan Xingyu | China | 3 |
| Francois Hentges | Luxembourg | 3 |
| Marcel Lalu | France | 3 |
| Yann Cucherat | France | 3 |
| Wang Guanyin | China | 3 |
| Jani Tanskanen | Finland | 3 |
| Joe Fraser | Great Britain | 3 |
| Noel Bas | France | 2 |
| Walter Tysall | Great Britain | 2 |
| Wilhelm Weber | Germany | 2 |
| Josef Walter | Switzerland | 2 |
| Zdenek Ruzicka | Czech Republic | 2 |
| Jerzy Jokiel | Poland | 2 |
| Benjamin Varonian | France | 2 |
| John Duha | United States | 2 |
| Josip Primozic | Yugoslavia | 2 |
| Giovanni Carminucci | Italy | 2 |
| Nobuyuki Kajitani | Japan | 2 |
| Jair Lynch | United States | 2 |
| Anton Fokin | Uzbekistan | 2 |
| Lukas Dauser | Germany | 2 |
| Omero Bonoli | Italy | 2 |
| Olli Laiho | Finland | 2 |
| Bill Denton | United States | 2 |
| Matthias Volz | Germany | 2 |
| Jan Koutny | Czechoslovakia | 2 |
| Al Jochim | United States | 2 |
| Ovali Rove | Finland | 2 |
| William Erenberg | United States | 2 |
| Thomas Xenakis | Greece | 2 |
| Charles Krause | United States | 2 |
| William Galbraith | United States | 2 |
| Francois Gangloff | France | 2 |
| Daniel Keatings | Great Britain | 2 |
| Koji Yamamuro | Japan | 2 |
| Ralph Barthel | East Germany | 2 |
| Ilie Popescu | Romania | 2 |
| Dmitry Kasperovich | Belarus | 2 |
| Flavius Koczi | Romania | 2 |
| Steven Legendre | United States | 2 |
| Hidenobu Yonekura | Japan | 2 |
| Alexander Shatilov | Israel | 2 |
| Brandon O’Neill | Canada | 2 |
| Daniel Corral | Mexico | 2 |
| Weng Hao | China | 2 |
| Huang Yubin | China | 2 |
| Aleksandr Safoshkin | Russia | 2 |
| Aleksandr Balandin | Russia | 2 |
| Oleksandr Vorobiov | Ukraine | 2 |
| Ahmet Onder | Turkey | 2 |
| Deng Shudi | China | 2 |
| Alex Jeltkov | Canada | 2 |
| Zoltan Supola | Hungary | 2 |
| Adolfo Tunesi | Italy | 1 |
| Lucien Demanet | France | 1 |
| Yang Tae-young | South Korea | 1 |
| Benoit Caranobe | France | 1 |
| Mario Lertora | Italy | 1 |
| Peter Kormann | United States | 1 |
| Koji Sotomura | Japan | 1 |
| Philippe Vatuone | France | 1 |
| Alphonse Higelin | France | 1 |
| Einari Terasvirta | Finland | 1 |
| Fan Bin | China | 1 |
| Isao Yoneda | Japan | 1 |
| Nile Wilson | Great Britain | 1 |
| Christian Kipfer | Switzerland | 1 |
| Guo Linyao | China | 1 |
| Masayuki Matsunaga | Japan | 1 |
| Hamilton Sabot | France | 1 |
| Ferhat Arican | Turkey | 1 |
| Antoine Rebetez | Switzerland | 1 |
| Frank Haubold | United States | 1 |
| Albert Bachmann | Switzerland | 1 |
| Yury Tsapenko | Soviet Union | 1 |
| Tim Daggett | United States | 1 |
| Alex Naddour | United States | 1 |
| Petros Persakis | Greece | 1 |
| Giovanni Lattuada | Italy | 1 |
| Dmytro Leonkin | Soviet Union | 1 |
| Velik Kapsazov | Bulgaria | 1 |
| Jiri Tabak | Czechoslovakia | 1 |
| Bohumil Morkovsky | Czechoslovakia | 1 |
| Stane Derganc | Yugoslavia | 1 |
| Ed Carmichael | United States | 1 |
| Vladimir Portnoy | Soviet Union | 1 |
| Hannu Rantakari | Finland | 1 |
| Park Jong-hoon | South Korea | 1 |
| Artur Davtyan | Armenia | 1 |
| Ralph Wilson | United States | 1 |
| William Kuhlemeier | United States | 1 |
| Fritz Hofmann | Germany | 1 |
| Thomas Connolly | United States | 1 |
| Yevgeny Shabayev | Russia | 1 |
| Denis Kavenkov | Belarus | 1 |
| Yuri Ryazanov | Russia | 1 |
| Yusuke Tanaka | Japan | 1 |
| Ilia Kovtun | Ukraine | 1 |
| Adrian Ianculescu | Romania | 1 |
| Charles Tamayo | Cuba | 1 |
| Alin Jivan | Romania | 1 |
| Donnell Whittenburg | United States | 1 |
| Kim Han-sol | South Korea | 1 |
| Andrey Medvedev | Israel | 1 |
| Daisuke Nishikawa | Japan | 1 |
| Emil Soravuo | Finland | 1 |
| Liang Fuliang | China | 1 |
| Robert Gal | Hungary | 1 |
| Yul Moldauer | United States | 1 |
| Daniel Purvis | Great Britain | 1 |
| Harutyun Merdinyan | Armenia | 1 |
| Rhys McClenaghan | Ireland | 1 |
| Brandon Wynn | United States | 1 |
| Samir Ait Said | France | 1 |
| Kazuhito Tanaka | Japan | 1 |
| John Orozco | United States | 1 |
| Oleg Stepko | Azerbaijan | 1 |
| Shi Cong | China | 1 |
| Marijo Moznik | Croatia | 1 |
| Sam Mikulak | United States | 1 |
| Bart Deurloo | Netherlands | 1 |
| Brody Malone | United States | 1 |
(A) Individual medals at either Worlds or the Olympics count. 3 points for gold, 2 points for silver, 1 point for bronze.
(B) All discontinued events, with the exception of tumbling and triathlon, are included.
(C) Everyone that either won an individual Olympic medal or a world title should be on here. Some of the older Worlds medalists might have been missed, but as a general rule of thumb, all non-gold medalists from the 1990s-2000s onwards are here.
(D) It should be noted that, especially with gymnasts that competed in the first half of the 20th century and prior, some of this is incomplete and not all results are easy to find. I tried the best I could.
(E) Also of note, not all Olympics and World Championships are equal. For instance, the 1904 Olympics was basically US Nationals.
(F) Yang Tae-young and Gervasio Deferr are both listed twice. Yang is listed once with the 2004 AA gold and once with the bronze. Likewise, Deferr is listed once with the 2002 FX silver and once without.
An Old School Gymnastics Blog 