The men's parallel bars competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 29, 31 and August 4 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. There were 71 competitors from 19 nations, with nations competing in the team event having 6 gymnasts while other nations could have to up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Bart Conner of the United States, the nation's first victory in the parallel bars since 1904 and second overall. Another American, Mitch Gaylord, took bronze. Japan returned to the podium after the 1980 boycott broke its six-Games medal (and four-Games gold medal) streak, with Nobuyuki Kajitani's silver.

Background

This was the 16th 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). None of the six finalists from 1980 returned; all six were from boycotting nations. American Bart Conner had won the 1979 world championship, missing the 1980 Games due to the boycott. Koji Gushiken of Japan and Lou Yun of China had shared the 1981 and 1983 world championships, respectively, with Soviet gymnasts. Thus, even without the Soviets, there was a strong and competitive field for the event.

The People's Republic of China and San Marino each made their debut in the men's parallel bars. The United States made its 14th appearance, breaking a tie with the absent Hungary for most of any nation; the Americans had missed only the inaugural 1896 event and the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

Each nation entered a team of six gymnasts or up to three individual gymnasts. All entrants in the gymnastics competitions performed both a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise for each apparatus. The scores for all 12 exercises were summed to give an individual all-around score. These exercise scores were also used for qualification for the apparatus finals. The two exercises (compulsory and voluntary) for each apparatus were summed to give an apparatus score.

The 1984 Games expanded the number of finalists from six to eight. Nations were still limited to two finalists each. Others were ranked 9th through 71st. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 444.

Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date Time Round Sunday, 29 July 1984 Preliminary: Compulsory Tuesday, 31 July 1984 Preliminary: Voluntary Saturday, 4 August 1984 17:30 Final

Results

Seventy-one gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 29 and 31. The eight highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on August 4. Each country was limited to two competitors in the final. Half of the points earned by each gymnast during both the compulsory and optional rounds carried over to the final. This constitutes the "prelim" score.

Rank Gymnast Nation Preliminary Final Compulsory Voluntary Total Prelim. Final Total Bart Conner 9.90 10.00 19.90 9.950 10.000 19.950 Nobuyuki Kajitani 9.95 9.90 19.85 9.925 10.000 19.925 Mitchell Gaylord 10.00 9.90 19.90 9.950 9.900 19.850 4 Tong Fei 9.85 9.90 19.75 9.875 9.950 19.825 5 Kōji Gushiken 9.90 9.90 19.80 9.900 9.900 19.800 6 Li Ning 9.85 9.90 19.75 9.875 9.900 19.775 7 Daniel Winkler 9.75 9.85 19.60 9.800 9.800 19.600 Jürgen Geiger 9.80 9.80 19.60 9.800 9.800 19.600 9 Peter Vidmar 9.90 9.90 19.80 Did not advance 10 Xu Zhiqiang 9.80 9.95 19.75 Did not advance 11 Tim Daggett 9.80 9.90 19.70 Did not advance 12 Jim Hartung 9.75 9.90 19.65 Did not advance 13 Lou Yun 9.70 9.90 19.60 Did not advance 14 Noritoshi Hirata 9.75 9.80 19.55 Did not advance 15 Kyoji Yamawaki 9.60 9.90 19.50 Did not advance 16 Li Yuejiu 9.55 9.90 19.45 Did not advance 17 Andreas Japtok 9.70 9.70 19.40 Did not advance Scott Johnson 9.60 9.80 19.40 Did not advance Joël Suty 9.60 9.80 19.40 Did not advance 20 Li Xiaoping 9.60 9.75 19.35 Did not advance 21 Benno Groß 9.90 9.40 19.30 Did not advance Jang Tae-eun 9.80 9.50 19.30 Did not advance Volker Rohrwick 9.55 9.75 19.30 Did not advance Bernhard Simmelbauer 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance 25 Jean-Luc Cairon 9.50 9.75 19.25 Did not advance Lee Jeoung-sik 9.75 9.50 19.25 Did not advance 27 Marco Piatti 9.65 9.55 19.20 Did not advance Daniel Wunderlin 9.65 9.55 19.20 Did not advance Markus Lehmann 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance Brad Peters 9.70 9.50 19.20 Did not advance 31 Philippe Chartrand 9.70 9.45 19.15 Did not advance Koji Sotomura 9.40 9.75 19.15 Did not advance 33 Laurent Barbiéri 9.45 9.65 19.10 Did not advance Josef Zellweger 9.80 9.30 19.10 Did not advance 35 Shinji Morisue 9.15 9.90 19.05 Did not advance Han Chung-sik 9.60 9.45 19.05 Did not advance 37 Warren Long 9.55 9.45 19.00 Did not advance Emilian Nicula 9.60 9.40 19.00 Did not advance Valentin Pîntea 9.60 9.40 19.00 Did not advance Allan Reddon 9.60 9.40 19.00 Did not advance Miguel Soler 9.60 9.40 19.00 Did not advance Philippe Vatuone 9.45 9.55 19.00 Did not advance 43 Terence Bartlett 9.55 9.40 18.95 Did not advance Michel Boutard 9.35 9.60 18.95 Did not advance 45 Chae Gwang-seok 9.50 9.40 18.90 Did not advance 46 Antonio Fraguas 9.65 9.20 18.85 Did not advance Ju Yeong-sam 9.40 9.45 18.85 Did not advance Frank Nutzenberger 9.55 9.30 18.85 Did not advance Alfonso Rodríguez 9.55 9.30 18.85 Did not advance 50 Werner Birnbaum 9.55 9.20 18.75 Did not advance Bruno Cavelti 9.20 9.55 18.75 Did not advance Daniel Gaudet 9.25 9.50 18.75 Did not advance 53 Keith Langley 9.40 9.30 18.70 Did not advance Nam Seung-gu 9.70 9.00 18.70 Did not advance 55 Jacques Def 8.85 9.75 18.60 Did not advance Andrew Morris 9.60 9.00 18.60 Did not advance 57 Tony Piñeda 9.60 8.90 18.50 Did not advance 58 Vittorio Allievi 9.70 8.75 18.45 Did not advance 59 Carl Beynon 9.20 9.20 18.40 Did not advance Barry Winch 8.95 9.45 18.40 Did not advance 61 Finn Gjertsen 9.45 8.90 18.35 Did not advance Maurizio Zonzini 9.30 9.05 18.35 Did not advance 63 Yohanan Moyal 9.10 9.15 18.25 Did not advance 64 Urs Meister 8.80 9.30 18.10 Did not advance 65 Diego Lazzarich 9.55 8.50 18.05 Did not advance 66 Rob Edmonds 9.45 8.50 17.95 Did not advance Johan Jonasson 9.10 8.85 17.95 Did not advance 68 Eddie Van Hoof 9.15 8.70 17.85 Did not advance 69 Rocco Amboni 8.45 9.25 17.70 Did not advance 70 Gerson Gnoatto 8.20 8.75 16.95 Did not advance 71 Ya'akov Levi 8.20 7.20 15.40 Did not advance

References

External links Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net