The parallel bars is an artistic gymnastics event held at the Summer Olympics. The event was first held for men at the first modern Olympics in 1896. It was held again in 1904, but not in 1900, 1908, 1912, or 1920 when no apparatus events were awarded medals. The parallel bars was one of the components of the men's artistic individual all-around in 1900, 1908, and 1912, however. The men's parallel bars returned as a medal event in 1924 and has been held every Games since. Parallel bars scores were included in the individual all-around for 1924 and 1928, with no separate apparatus final. In 1932, the parallel bars was entirely separate from the all-around. From 1936 to 1956, there were again no separate apparatus finals with the parallel bars scores used in the all-around. Beginning in 1960, there were separate apparatus finals.
The 1896 Games also featured a team parallel bars event.
Medalists
Men
1896 Athens Not awarded 1900 Paris Not held1904 St. Louis 1908 London Not held 1912 Stockholm Not held 1920 Antwerp Not held1924 Paris1928 Amsterdam1932 Los Angeles1936 Berlin1948 London 1952 Helsinki1956 Melbourne 1960 Rome 1964 Tokyo1968 Mexico City1972 Munich1976 Montreal1980 Moscow1984 Los Angeles 1988 Seoul 1992 Barcelona 1996 Atlanta2000 Sydney2004 Athens2008 Beijing2012 London2016 Rio de Janeiro2020 Tokyo2024 Paris
Multiple medalists
Rank Gymnast Nation OlympicsGoldSilverBronze Total 1 Li Xiaopeng 2000–2008 2 0 1 3 2 1972–1976 2 0 0 2 Zou Jingyuan 2020–2024 2 0 0 2 4 1936–1948 1 1 0 2 1952–1956 1 1 0 2 6 1992–1996 1 0 1 2 7 1948–1952 0 0 2 2 1956–1960 0 0 2 2
Medalists by country
Rank NationGoldSilverBronze Total 1 5 1 2 8 2 4 5 7 16 3 4 5 1 10 4 3 2 4 9 5 3 1 0 4 6 2 3 2 7 7 2 2 1 5 8 1 1 2 4 9 1 1 0 2 10 1 0 1 2 11 0 2 0 2 12 0 1 1 2 13 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 15 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 2 17 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
Gallery
Team parallel bars
At the 1896 Olympics a team version of the parallel bars was held. It was one of two team apparatus events in 1896, along with the team horizontal bar. The team apparatus events were never held again.
The team parallel bar event had 10 sets of parallel bars for the team to use. Teams could be large, with one exceeding 30 members. Three teams competed, one from Germany and two from Greece. Judges scored the teams on execution, rhythm, and technical difficulty.
References