At the 1972 Summer Olympics, fourteen different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. All events were held at the Sports Hall in Munich from August 27 through September 1.
The gymnastics competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics was carried out in three stages:
No limits were imposed as to how many gymnasts each country could enter into the individual all-around final or apparatus finals.
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic individual all-around}}Sawao Kato|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Eizo Kenmotsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Akinori Nakayama|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic team all-around}}JPN|1972 Summer}} Shigeru Kasamatsu Sawao Kato Eizo Kenmotsu Akinori Nakayama Teruichi Okamura Mitsuo Tsukahara | URS|1972 Summer}} Nikolai Andrianov Viktor Klimenko Alexander Maleev Edvard Mikaelian Vladimir Schukin Mikhail Voronin | GDR|1972 Summer}} Matthias Brehme Wolfgang Klotz Klaus Köste Jürgen Paeke Reinhard Rychly Wolfgang Thüne |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's floor}}Nikolai Andrianov|URS|1972 Summer}} | Akinori Nakayama|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Shigeru Kasamatsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's horizontal bar}}Mitsuo Tsukahara|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Sawao Kato|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Shigeru Kasamatsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars}}Sawao Kato|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Shigeru Kasamatsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Eizo Kenmotsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's pommel horse}}Viktor Klimenko|URS|1972 Summer}} | Sawao Kato|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Eizo Kenmotsu|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's rings}}Akinori Nakayama|JPN|1972 Summer}} | Mikhail Voronin|URS|1972 Summer}} | Mitsuo Tsukahara|JPN|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's vault}}Klaus Köste|GDR|1972 Summer}} | Viktor Klimenko|URS|1972 Summer}} | Nikolai Andrianov|URS|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic individual all-around}}Ludmila Tourischeva|URS|1972 Summer}} | Karin Janz|GDR|1972 Summer}} | Tamara Lazakovich|URS|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's artistic team all-around}}URS|1972 Summer}} Lyubov Burda Olga Korbut Antonina Koshel Tamara Lazakovich Elvira Saadi Ludmila Tourischeva | GDR|1972 Summer}} Irene Abel Angelika Hellmann Karin Janz Richarda Schmeisser Christine Schmitt Erika Zuchold | HUN|1972 Summer}} Ilona Bekesi Monika Csaszar Marta Kelemen Aniko Kery Krisztina Medveczky Zsuzsa Nagy |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam}}Olga Korbut|URS|1972 Summer}} | Tamara Lazakovich|URS|1972 Summer}} | Karin Janz|GDR|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's floor}}Olga Korbut|URS|1972 Summer}} | Ludmila Tourischeva|URS|1972 Summer}} | Tamara Lazakovich|URS|1972 Summer}} |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's uneven bars}}Karin Janz|GDR|1972 Summer}} | Olga Korbut|URS|1972 Summer}} {{FlagIOCmedalist|Erika Zuchold|GDR|1972 Summer}} | None awarded |
| {{DetailsLink>Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's vault}}Karin Janz|GDR|1972 Summer}} | Erika Zuchold|GDR|1972 Summer}} | Ludmila Tourischeva|URS|1972 Summer}} |