The men's parallel bars event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was one of nine gymnastics events and it was contested for the third time after 1896 and 1904. The competition was held on Sunday, July 20, 1924. Seventy-two gymnasts from nine nations competed. The event was won by August Güttinger of Switzerland, the nation's first victory in the event. Robert Pražák of Czechoslovakia and Giorgio Zampori of Italy earned silver and bronze, respectively.
Background
This was the third appearance of the event, which is one of the five apparatus events held every time there were apparatus events at the Summer Olympics (no apparatus events were held in 1900, 1908, 1912, or 1920). The 1922 world championship was won by Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia, with a five-way tie for second between multiple gymnasts from each of Yugoslavia and Czechoslavkia (three of whom—Stane Derganc, Miroslav Klinger, and Stanislav Indruch—competed at the 1924 Games along with Štukelj.
Three nations had previously competed, France and Switzerland in 1896 and the United States in 1904. The other six nations (Czechoslovakia, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, and Yugoslavia) were competing for the first time.
Competition format
Each gymnast performed a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise. These two exercises were 2 of the 11 components of the individual all-around score, and thus were also included in the team all-around score. Each exercise had a maximum possible score of 11, with half a point each for the approach and dismount and up to 10 points for the routine.Official Report, p. 350.
Schedule
The competition was held in a single day.
Date Time Round Sunday, 20 July 1924 Final
Results
Rank Gymnast Nation Total August Güttinger 21.63 Robert Pražák 21.61 Giorgio Zampori 21.45 4 Josef Wilhelm 21.40 5 Mario Lertora 21.33 6 Ladislav Vácha 21.31 7 Josef Kos 21.28 8 Jean Gutweninger 21.26 Bedřich Šupčík 21.26 10 Miroslav Klinger 21.13 11 Jan Koutný 21.00 12 Hans Grieder 20.94 13 Bohumil Mořkovský 20.93 14 Luigi Cambiaso 20.90 15 Francesco Martino 20.89 16 Giuseppe Paris 20.86 17 Léon Delsarte 20.70 18 Stanislav Indruch 20.50 Eugène Cordonnier 20.50 20 Leon Štukelj 20.40 21 Georges Miez 20.36 22 Vittorio Lucchetti 20.33 23 Stanley Leigh 20.28 24 Ferdinando Mandrini 20.21 25 Jean Gounot 20.15 26 Albert Séguin 20.13 François Gangloff 20.13 Arthur Hermann 20.13 29 Joseph Huber 19.98 30 Al Jochim 19.86 31 Carl Widmer 19.76 32 Frank Kriz 19.67 33 André Higelin 19.48 34 Josip Primožič 19.42 35 Antoine Rebetez 19.08 36 Stane Hlastan 19.05 37 Stane Žilič 19.00 38 Jaakko Kunnas 18.98 39 Otto Pfister 18.96 40 Stane Derganc 18.92 41 Janez Porenta 18.90 42 John Pearson 18.81 43 Eevert Kerttula 18.63 44 Curtis Rottman 18.54 45 Charles Quaino 18.50 46 Frank Safandra 18.35 47 Luigi Maiocco 18.28 Albert Neumann 18.28 49 Frank Hawkins 18.20 Harold Brown 18.20 51 Rastko Poljšak 18.00 52 Théo Jeitz 17.30 53 Edward Leigh 17.21 54 Akseli Roine 17.03 Émile Munhofen 17.03 56 Mikko Hämäläinen 17.01 57 Mihael Oswald 16.85 58 Henry Finchett 16.83 59 Mathias Weishaupt 16.70 60 Otto Suhonen 16.63 61 Thomas Hopkins 16.20 62 Mathias Erang 15.90 63 Aarne Roine 15.62 64 John Mais 15.07 65 Rudolph Novak 14.90 66 Max Wandrer 14.89 67 Pierre Tolar 14.75 68 Jacques Palzer 13.80 69 Väinö Karonen 13.57 70 Samuel Humphreys 12.36 71 Albert Spencer 11.90 72 Eetu Kostamo 10.13
References
Official Olympic Report