The men's horizontal bar 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 Shinji Morisue of Japan, continuing the nation's dominant streak where it left off before the 1980 boycott. Morisue scored a perfect 20 in the event (requiring all three exercises to receive perfect 10s); he was one of only three gymnasts to achieve a perfect 20 on an apparatus (and the only male gymnast to do so) during the 20-point era (1952–1988). The gold medal was Japan's sixth on the horizontal bar, all within eight Games (including one in which Japan did not compete at all). Koji Gushiken added a bronze medal for Japan. The People's Republic of China debuted strongly, with a silver medal from Tong Fei.
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. Soviets had won the last two world championships (and shared silver at both, as well); France's Philippe Vatuone had tied for second in 1983, with Shinji Morisue of Japan and Tong Fei of China even in fourth place. The host nation's hopes were in Peter Vidmar, a world championship finalist.
The People's Republic of China and San Marino each made their debut in the men's horizontal bar. 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 Shinji Morisue 10.00 10.00 20.00 10.000 10.000 20.000 Tong Fei 10.00 9.95 19.95 9.975 10.000 19.975 Kōji Gushiken 10.00 9.90 19.90 9.950 10.000 19.950 4 Lou Yun 9.95 9.95 19.90 9.950 9.900 19.850 Peter Vidmar 9.95 9.95 19.90 9.950 9.900 19.850 Tim Daggett 9.90 10.00 19.90 9.950 9.900 19.850 7 Marco Piatti 9.90 9.90 19.80 9.900 9.900 19.800 8 Daniel Wunderlin 9.85 9.90 19.75 9.875 9.800 19.675 9 Xu Zhiqiang 10.00 9.90 19.90 Did not advance 10 Bart Conner 9.90 9.90 19.80 Did not advance 11 Li Yuejiu 9.85 9.90 19.75 Did not advance 12 Philippe Chartrand 9.80 9.90 19.70 Did not advance Noritoshi Hirata 9.80 9.90 19.70 Did not advance Lee Jeoung-sik 9.85 9.85 19.70 Did not advance Philippe Vatuone 9.85 9.85 19.70 Did not advance 16 Bruno Cavelti 9.80 9.85 19.65 Did not advance Jacques Def 9.80 9.85 19.65 Did not advance Andreas Japtok 9.75 9.90 19.65 Did not advance Li Xiaoping 9.70 9.95 19.65 Did not advance 20 Jim Hartung 9.80 9.80 19.60 Did not advance Markus Lehmann 9.80 9.80 19.60 Did not advance 22 Chae Gwang-seok 9.75 9.80 19.55 Did not advance Antonio Fraguas 9.80 9.75 19.55 Did not advance Daniel Winkler 9.75 9.80 19.55 Did not advance 25 Jang Tae-eun 9.75 9.75 19.50 Did not advance Keith Langley 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance Frank Nutzenberger 9.80 9.70 19.50 Did not advance Koji Sotomura 9.75 9.75 19.50 Did not advance Joël Suty 9.70 9.80 19.50 Did not advance 30 Laurent Barbiéri 9.65 9.80 19.45 Did not advance Diego Lazzarich 9.65 9.80 19.45 Did not advance Josef Zellweger 9.65 9.80 19.45 Did not advance Han Chung-sik 9.85 9.60 19.45 Did not advance 34 Jürgen Geiger 9.70 9.70 19.40 Did not advance Li Ning 9.50 9.90 19.40 Did not advance Nam Seung-gu 9.65 9.75 19.40 Did not advance 37 Terence Bartlett 9.75 9.60 19.35 Did not advance Mitchell Gaylord 9.40 9.95 19.35 Did not advance Ju Yeong-sam 9.65 9.70 19.35 Did not advance Nobuyuki Kajitani 9.90 9.45 19.35 Did not advance 41 Tony Piñeda 9.55 9.75 19.30 Did not advance Jean-Luc Cairon 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance Benno Groß 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance Valentin Pîntea 9.60 9.70 19.30 Did not advance 45 Urs Meister 9.55 9.70 19.25 Did not advance Allan Reddon 9.75 9.50 19.25 Did not advance Kyoji Yamawaki 9.70 9.55 19.25 Did not advance 48 Bernhard Simmelbauer 9.65 9.55 19.20 Did not advance Daniel Gaudet 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance Barry Winch 9.60 9.60 19.20 Did not advance 51 Scott Johnson 9.65 9.50 19.15 Did not advance Emilian Nicula 9.85 9.30 19.15 Did not advance Brad Peters 9.80 9.35 19.15 Did not advance Volker Rohrwick 9.60 9.55 19.15 Did not advance Miguel Soler 9.45 9.70 19.15 Did not advance 56 Werner Birnbaum 9.70 9.40 19.10 Did not advance Warren Long 9.60 9.50 19.10 Did not advance 58 Rocco Amboni 9.65 9.40 19.05 Did not advance Eddie Van Hoof 9.55 9.50 19.05 Did not advance 60 Alfonso Rodríguez 9.70 9.30 19.00 Did not advance 61 Vittorio Allievi 9.70 9.20 18.90 Did not advance Richard Benyon 9.45 9.45 18.90 Did not advance Michel Boutard 9.50 9.40 18.90 Did not advance 64 Finn Gjertsen 9.55 9.20 18.75 Did not advance 65 Yohanan Moyal 9.15 9.50 18.65 Did not advance 66 Andrew Morris 9.75 8.70 18.45 Did not advance 67 Rob Edmonds 9.75 8.35 18.10 Did not advance 68 Maurizio Zonzini 9.25 8.80 18.05 Did not advance Gerson Gnoatto 8.45 9.60 18.05 Did not advance 70 Johan Jonasson 8.00 9.65 17.65 Did not advance Ya'akov Levi 9.10 8.55 17.65 Did not advance
References
Official Olympic Report www.gymnasticsresults.com www.gymn-forum.net