1961 Leipzig European Championships

1961 Leipzig European Championships
City	Leipzig, East Germany
All-Around Gold Medalist	Larisa Latynina (USSR)
Vault Gold Medalist	Ute Starke (GDR)
Uneven Bars Gold Medalist	Polina Astakhova (USSR)
Balance Beam Gold Medalist	Polina Astakhova (USSR)
Floor Exercise Gold Medalist	Larisa Latynina (USSR)
Preceded by	1959 Krakow European Championships
Succeeded by	1963 Paris European Championships

The 3rd European Artistic Gymnastics Championships took place in Leipzig, East Germany in 1961.

Format of Competition

The scoring in all the events was basically the same as for gymnastics events at the Olympics. Each country was allowed to enter a team of eight gymnasts, but in contrast to the previous Olympics not more than six of them were allowed to participate in all exercises. Nations with incomplete teams, could enter one to three gymnasts for the individual competition. Six best gymnasts on the apparatus in the team competition (by sum of two scores - for compulsory and optional routine) qualified for that apparatus finals. The new feature of the competition was in women's events: each of them was judged by four judges. The highest and lowest marks were dropped and an average of two remaining marks constituted the score.

The scoring in the team competition was different from the one at the previous Olympics, its principle became the same: five best scores constituted the team's score for the routine; these scores constituted the overall team's totals.

Results

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
All-Around	Larisa Latynina Soviet Union (USSR)	Polina Astakhova Soviet Union (USSR)	File:800px-Flag of the Czech Republic.png Věra Čáslavská Czechoslovakia (TCH) Ingrid Fost East Germany (GDR)
Vault	Ute Starke East Germany (GDR)	Ingrid Fost East Germany (GDR)	Natalia Kot Poland (POL)
Uneven Bars	Polina Astakhova Soviet Union (USSR)	Larisa Latynina Soviet Union (USSR)	Ingrid Fost East Germany (GDR)
Balance Beam	Polina Astakhova Soviet Union (USSR)	Larisa Latynina Soviet Union (USSR)	Ingrid Fost East Germany (GDR)
Floor Exercise	Larisa Latynina Soviet Union (USSR)	Polina Astakhova Soviet Union (USSR)	File:800px-Flag of the Czech Republic.png Věra Čáslavská Czechoslovakia (TCH)

Medal Count

Rank	Country				Total
1	USSR	4	4	0	8
2	East Germany	1	1	3	5
3	File:800px-Flag of the Czech Republic.png Czechoslovakia	0	0	2	2
4	Poland	0	0	1	1