Latvia and Romania each earned their first men's vault medals, with Evgeni Sapronenko's silver and Marian Drăgulescu's bronze, respectively.

Four of the eight finalists from 2000 returned: gold medalist Gervasio Deferr of Spain, silver medalist Alexei Bondarenko of Russia, fourth-place finisher Alexei Nemov of Russia, and sixth-place finisher Blaine Wilson of the United States.

Li Xiaopeng of China had won the last two world championships in 2002 and 2003 (as well as his 1999 title), with Marian Drăgulescu of Romania the 2001 champion and 2003 runner-up.

The United States made its 19th appearance, most of any nation; the Americans had missed only the inaugural 1896 vault and the boycotted 1980 Games.

The eight highest scoring gymnasts, with a maximum of two per nation, advanced to the final on August 23.