The men's horizontal bar event was part of the gymnastics programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was one of seven gymnastics events for men and it was contested for the fourth time after 1896, 1904, and 1924. Scores from the horizontal bar event were added to the results from other individual apparatus events to give aggregate scores for the individual and team all-around events. There were 86 gymnasts from 11 nations, with each nation having a team of up to 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Georges Miez of Switzerland, the nation's first victory in the men's horizontal bar. The silver medal went to Romeo Neri of Italy (the nation's first medal in the event), with Eugen Mack of Switzerland earning bronze.
Background
This was the fourth 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). Four of the top 10 gymnasts from 1924 returned: gold medalist Leon Štukelj of Yugoslavia, fifth-place finisher Georges Miez of Switzerland, sixth-place finisher Jean Gounot of France, and eighth-place finisher August Güttinger of Switzerland. Štukelj was also the two-time reigning (1922 and 1926) world champion.
The Netherlands made its debut in the men's parallel bars. Hungary competed for the first time since 1896. The other nine nations had all competed in 1924. Switzerland and the United States each made their third appearance, tied for most of any nation.
Competition format
Each gymnast performed a compulsory exercise and a voluntary exercise. The maximum score for each exercise was 30 points. The horizontal bar was one of the apparatus used in the individual and team all-around scores. It accounted for of the score.Official Report, p. 646.
Schedule
Date Time Round Thursday, 9 August 1928 Final
Results Source: Official results; De Wael
RankGymnastNationScore Georges Miez 57.50 Romeo Neri 57.00 Eugen Mack 56.75 4 Hermann Hänggi 56.50 Vittorio Lucchetti 56.50 6 Josip Primožič 56.00 7 Hans Grieder 55.75 August Güttinger 55.75 9 Josef Effenberger 55.50 Armand Solbach 55.50 11 Ferdinando Mandrini 55.25 12 Ladislav Vácha 54.75 13 Heikki Savolainen 54.50 14 Jean Gounot 54.25 Bedřich Šupčík 54.25 16 André Lemoine 54.00 Emanuel Löffler 54.00 Giuseppe Lupi 54.00 Mauri Nyberg-Noroma 54.00 Martti Uosikkinen 54.00 21 Mario Lertora 53.75 Edi Steinemann 53.75 Leon Štukelj 53.75 Melchior Wezel 53.75 25 Georges Leroux 53.25 Otto Pfister 53.25 27 Frank Kriz 53.00 28 Mathias Logelin 52.50 István Pelle 52.50 Mario Tambini 52.50 31 Jan Koutný 52.25 32 Václav Veselý 52.00 33 Jan Gajdoš 51.25 Urho Korhonen 51.25 Jaakko Kunnas 51.25 36 Edvard Antonijevič 51.00 37 Jean Larrouy 50.75 38 Boris Gregorka 49.75 39 Elias Melkman 49.50 Rafael Ylönen 49.50 41 Antoine Chatelaine 49.25 Harold Newhart 49.25 43 Jacobus van der Vinden 48.75 44 Giuseppe Paris 48.50 45 Glenn Berry 47.50 Nic Roeser 47.50 Étienne Schmitt 47.50 48 Birger Stenman 47.25 49 Herman Witzig 47.00 50 Ladislav Tikal 46.75 51 Anton Malej 46.00 52 Dragutin Cioti 45.75 Rezső Kende 45.75 54 Samuel Humphreys 45.50 55 Kalervo Kinos 45.25 Frank Haubold 45.25 57 John Pearson 45.00 József Szalai 45.00 E. A. Walton 45.00 Fränz Zouang 45.00 61 Miklós Péter 44.25 Ezio Roselli 44.25 63 Al Jochim 44.00 64 Arthur Whitford 43.75 65 T. B. Parkinson 42.75 G. C. Raynes 42.75 Israel Wijnschenk 42.75 68 Willibrordus Pouw 42.50 69 Pieter van Dam 42.00 70 E. W. Warren 40.50 71 Klaas Boot 40.25 Paul Krempel 40.25 73 Jean-Pierre Urbing 39.75 74 Stane Derganc 39.50 75 Albert Neumann 39.25 76 Janez Porenta 37.75 77 Henry Finchett 37.50 78 Bart Cronin 36.75 79 Elemér Pászti 34.75 80 Josy Staudt 34.00 81 Edouard Grethen 32.50 82 Mathias Erang 30.00 83 Gyula Kunszt 27.50 84 Géza Tóth 26.25 85 Mozes Jacobs 25.75 86 Hugo Licher 24.50 — Imre Erdődy Alfred Krauss
References