The men's horizontal bar competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The qualification and final rounds took place on July 20, 22 and 25th at the Luzhniki Palace of Sports. There were 65 competitors from 14 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 Stoyan Deltchev of Bulgaria, the nation's first medal in the horizontal bar. The Soviet Union took silver (Alexander Dityatin) and bronze (Nikolai Andrianov), reaching the podium for the first time since 1968. Japan's three-Games gold medal streak ended, with no Japanese gymnasts competing due to the American-led boycott.
Background
This was the 15th 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). Two of the six finalists from 1976 returned: bronze medalist Henri Boerio of France and Ferenc Donath of Hungary. Japan had dominated the apparatus for decades, but would not compete in 1980 due to the American-led boycott. The reigning (1979) world champion, American Kurt Thomas, was also out due to the boycott. The Soviet Union, which had failed to medal in the apparatus the last two Games, had a strong team that looked likely to end that drought. Stoyan Deltchev of Bulgaria, fourth at the 1979 world championships, was the strongest contender against the Soviets.
Brazil made its debut in the men's horizontal bar. Hungary made its 13th appearance, tying the United States (absent from the parallel bars event for the first time since the inaugural 1896 Games) for most of any nation.
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 top 6 in each apparatus participated in the finals, except that nations were limited to two finalists each; others were ranked 7th through 65th. Half of the preliminary score carried over to the final.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 313.
Schedule
All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)
Date Time Round Sunday, 20 July 1980 10:0017:00 Preliminary: Compulsory Tuesday, 22 July 1980 10:0017:00 Preliminary: Voluntary Friday, 25 July 1980 14:30 Final
Results
Sixty-five gymnasts competed in the compulsory and optional rounds on July 20 and 22. The six highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on July 25. 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 Stoyan Deltchev 9.90 9.85 19.75 9.875 9.950 19.825 Alexander Dityatin 9.80 9.90 19.70 9.850 9.900 19.750 Nikolai Andrianov 9.80 9.85 19.65 9.825 9.850 19.675 4 Ralf-Peter Hemmann 9.65 9.70 19.35 9.675 9.850 19.525 Michael Nikolay 9.75 9.60 19.35 9.675 9.850 19.525 6 Sergio Suarez 9.50 9.80 19.30 9.650 9.800 19.450 7 Vladimir Markelov 9.75 9.85 19.60 Did not advance 8 Eduard Azaryan 9.75 9.80 19.55 Did not advance 9 Bohdan Makuts 9.65 9.70 19.35 Did not advance 10 Joël Suty 9.55 9.70 19.25 Did not advance 11 Ferenc Donáth 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance Dancho Yordanov 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance 13 Kurt Szilier 9.50 9.65 19.15 Did not advance 14 Aleksandr Tkachyov 9.10 9.95 19.05 Did not advance 15 Henri Boerio 9.40 9.60 19.00 Did not advance Lutz Hoffmann 9.50 9.50 19.00 Did not advance 17 György Guczoghy 9.30 9.65 18.95 Did not advance Péter Kovács 9.70 9.25 18.95 Did not advance Zoltán Magyar 9.50 9.45 18.95 Did not advance 20 Jiří Tabák 9.40 9.45 18.85 Did not advance 21 Andreas Bronst 9.35 9.45 18.80 Did not advance Nicolae Oprescu 9.35 9.45 18.80 Did not advance 23 Enrique Bravo 9.30 9.45 18.75 Did not advance Dan Grecu 9.25 9.50 18.75 Did not advance Roberto Leon 9.50 9.25 18.75 Did not advance 26 Miguel Arroyo 9.55 9.15 18.70 Did not advance Rudolf Babiak 9.30 9.40 18.70 Did not advance Andrzej Szajna 9.55 9.15 18.70 Did not advance Ognyan Bangiev 9.50 9.20 18.70 Did not advance 30 Roland Brückner 9.60 9.05 18.65 Did not advance 31 Zoltán Kelemen 9.35 9.25 18.60 Did not advance Jan Migdau 9.30 9.30 18.60 Did not advance István Vámos 9.40 9.20 18.60 Did not advance 34 Willi Moy 9.10 9.45 18.55 Did not advance Yanko Radanchev 9.35 9.20 18.55 Did not advance Jan Zoulik 9.35 9.20 18.55 Did not advance 37 Sorin Cepoi 9.05 9.45 18.50 Did not advance Aurelian Georgescu 9.30 9.20 18.50 Did not advance 39 Waldemar Woźniak 9.30 9.15 18.45 Did not advance 40 Gabriel Calvo 9.25 9.15 18.40 Did not advance Lutz Mack 9.45 8.95 18.40 Did not advance 42 José de la Casa 9.20 9.15 18.35 Did not advance Barry Winch 9.10 9.25 18.35 Did not advance 44 Kang Gwang-song 9.00 9.30 18.30 Did not advance Michel Boutard 8.95 9.35 18.30 Did not advance 46 Keith Langley 8.90 9.35 18.25 Did not advance Rumen Petkov 9.20 9.05 18.25 Did not advance Thomas Wilson 9.15 9.10 18.25 Did not advance 49 Plamen Petkov 9.40 8.80 18.20 Did not advance Song Sun-bong 8.80 9.40 18.20 Did not advance 51 Romulus Bucuroiu 8.80 9.35 18.15 Did not advance 52 Yves Bouquel 8.90 9.20 18.10 Did not advance 53 Mario Castro 9.25 8.80 18.05 Did not advance Lindsay Nylund 8.75 9.30 18.05 Did not advance Li Su-gil 8.60 9.45 18.05 Did not advance 56 Cho Hun 9.00 9.00 18.00 Did not advance Jozef Konečný 8.65 9.35 18.00 Did not advance 58 Fernando Bertrand 9.25 8.70 17.95 Did not advance 59 Krzysztof Potaczek 9.20 8.65 17.85 Did not advance Marc Touchais 9.05 8.80 17.85 Did not advance 61 João Luiz Ribeiro 8.55 9.10 17.65 Did not advance 62 Miloslav Kučeřík 8.30 9.25 17.55 Did not advance 63 Kim Gwang-jin 8.65 8.85 17.50 Did not advance 64 Han Gwang-song 8.30 9.15 17.45 Did not advance 65 Jorge Roche 9.45 0.00 9.45 Did not advance — Moustapha Chouara Did not advance Adnan Horns Did not advance Maurizio Zonzini Did not advance
References
Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net