# Gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's horizontal bar

The men's horizontal bar competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics was held at Töölö Sports Hall, Exhibition Hall I from 19 to 21 July. It was the eighth appearance of the event. There were 185 competitors from 29 nations, with each nation sending up to 8 gymnasts. The event was won by Jack Günthard of Switzerland, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the horizontal bar, breaking a tie with the United States for most all-time. Switzerland also took one of the silver medals, as Josef Stalder tied with Alfred Schwarzmann of Germany, competing at the age of 40, for second. Stalder and Schwarzmann were the first two men to win multiple horizontal bars medals; Stalder had won the event in 1948 and Schwarzmann had earned bronze in 1936.

## Background

This was the eighth 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 1948 returned: gold medalist Josef Stalder of Switzerland, fourth-place finishers Raymond Dot of France and Lajos Sántha of Hungary, and ninth-place finisher Lajos Tóth of Hungary. 1936 bronze medalist Alfred Schwarzmann of Germany (unable to compete in 1948 due to the exclusion of the World War II aggressor nations) also returned. Hans Eugster of Switzerland was the reigning (1950) world champion; Dot had finished third after Eugster and Olavi Rove of Finland.
Belgium, India, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saar, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Spain, and Sweden each made their debut in the men's horizontal bar. The United States made its seventh appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 Games. Of the 22 different nations that had competed at least once in the event before 1952, 19 competed in Helsinki (only Greece, Mexico, and the Netherlands were missing among the nations having previously competed).

## Competition format

The gymnastics format continued to use the aggregation format. Each nation entered a team of between five and eight 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 2 exercise scores were summed to give a total for the apparatus.
No separate finals were contested.
For each exercise, four judges gave scores from 0 to 10 in one-tenth point increments. The top and bottom scores were discarded and the remaining two scores averaged to give the exercise total. Thus, exercise scores ranged from 0 to 10 and apparatus scores from 0 to 20.
The competitor had the option to make a second try only on the compulsory exercise—with the second attempt counting regardless of whether it was better than the first.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 19 July 1952 Sunday, 20 July 1952 Monday, 21 July 1952 | 7:30 8:00 8:00 | Final |

## Results

| Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Compulsory | Voluntary | Total |
| | Jack Günthard | Switzerland | 9.75 | 9.80 | 19.55 |
| | Josef Stalder | Switzerland | 9.65 | 9.85 | 19.50 |
| | Alfred Schwarzmann | Germany | 9.70 | 9.80 | 19.50 |
| 4 | Heikki Savolainen | Finland | 9.75 | 9.70 | 19.45 |
| 5 | Viktor Chukarin | Soviet Union | 9.60 | 9.80 | 19.40 |
| 6 | Jean Tschabold | Switzerland | 9.65 | 9.70 | 19.35 |
| 7 | Helmut Bantz | Germany | 9.65 | 9.60 | 19.25 |
| 7 | Melchior Thalmann | Switzerland | 9.65 | 9.60 | 19.25 |
| 9 | Berndt Lindfors | Finland | 9.60 | 9.60 | 19.20 |
| 9 | Valentin Muratov | Soviet Union | 9.65 | 9.55 | 19.20 |
| 11 | Paavo Aaltonen | Finland | 9.55 | 9.60 | 19.15 |
| 11 | Hans Eugster | Switzerland | 9.65 | 9.50 | 19.15 |
| 11 | Kalevi Viskari | Finland | 9.60 | 9.55 | 19.15 |
| 14 | Hrant Shahinyan | Soviet Union | 9.45 | 9.60 | 19.05 |
| 14 | Erich Wied | Germany | 9.60 | 9.45 | 19.05 |
| 16 | Charles Simms | United States | 9.45 | 9.55 | 19.00 |
| 17 | Bill Roetzheim | United States | 9.60 | 9.35 | 18.95 |
| 17 | Masao Takemoto | Japan | 9.35 | 9.60 | 18.95 |
| 19 | Akitomo Kaneko | Japan | 9.50 | 9.40 | 18.90 |
| 19 | Tetsumi Nabeya | Japan | 9.30 | 9.60 | 18.90 |
| 19 | Takashi Ono | Japan | 9.45 | 9.45 | 18.90 |
| 19 | Ed Scrobe | United States | 9.50 | 9.40 | 18.90 |
| 23 | Vladimir Belyakov | Soviet Union | 9.25 | 9.55 | 18.80 |
| 23 | Yevgeny Korolkov | Soviet Union | 9.35 | 9.45 | 18.80 |
| 23 | Kaino Lempinen | Finland | 9.40 | 9.40 | 18.80 |
| 23 | Olavi Rove | Finland | 9.40 | 9.40 | 18.80 |
| 23 | Lajos Sántha | Hungary | 9.40 | 9.40 | 18.80 |
| 28 | Onni Lappalainen | Finland | 9.40 | 9.35 | 18.75 |
| 29 | Mikhail Perelman | Soviet Union | 9.30 | 9.40 | 18.70 |
| 29 | Hans Sauter | Austria | 9.30 | 9.40 | 18.70 |
| 31 | Ferenc Pataki | Hungary | 9.40 | 9.25 | 18.65 |
| 32 | Ernst Gebendinger | Switzerland | 9.65 | 8.95 | 18.60 |
| 32 | Börje Stattin | Sweden | 9.20 | 9.40 | 18.60 |
| 32 | Theo Wied | Germany | 9.45 | 9.15 | 18.60 |
| 35 | Kalevi Laitinen | Finland | 9.75 | 8.80 | 18.55 |
| 35 | Bob Stout | United States | 9.25 | 9.30 | 18.55 |
| 35 | Tadao Uesako | Japan | 9.05 | 9.50 | 18.55 |
| 38 | Iosif Berdiev | Soviet Union | 9.20 | 9.30 | 18.50 |
| 38 | Jakob Kiefer | Germany | 9.45 | 9.05 | 18.50 |
| 40 | Joaquín Blume | Spain | 9.15 | 9.30 | 18.45 |
| 40 | Josy Stoffel | Luxembourg | 9.35 | 9.10 | 18.45 |
| 40 | Lajos Tóth | Hungary | 9.15 | 9.30 | 18.45 |
| 43 | Raymond Dot | France | 9.05 | 9.30 | 18.35 |
| 43 | Dmytro Leonkin | Soviet Union | 9.05 | 9.30 | 18.35 |
| 43 | Mahmoud Safwat | Egypt | 9.25 | 9.10 | 18.35 |
| 43 | Mincho Todorov | Bulgaria | 9.30 | 9.05 | 18.35 |
| 47 | Zdeněk Růžička | Czechoslovakia | 8.95 | 9.35 | 18.30 |
| 48 | Antun Kropivšek | Yugoslavia | 9.20 | 9.05 | 18.25 |
| 48 | Michel Mathiot | France | 8.95 | 9.30 | 18.25 |
| 48 | Dimitar Yordanov | Bulgaria | 9.10 | 9.15 | 18.25 |
| 51 | Wolfgang Girardi | Austria | 9.10 | 9.10 | 18.20 |
| 51 | Frederic Orendi | Romania | 9.25 | 8.95 | 18.20 |
| 51 | Hans Pfann | Germany | 9.60 | 8.60 | 18.20 |
| 51 | Hans Schwarzentruber | Switzerland | 9.35 | 8.85 | 18.20 |
| 55 | Josef Svoboda | Czechoslovakia | 9.35 | 8.80 | 18.15 |
| 56 | Ferenc Kemény | Hungary | 9.05 | 9.05 | 18.10 |
| 56 | Friedel Overwien | Germany | 9.35 | 8.75 | 18.10 |
| 58 | Jindřich Mikulec | Czechoslovakia | 9.20 | 8.85 | 18.05 |
| 59 | Jack Beckner | United States | 9.10 | 8.90 | 18.00 |
| 60 | Guido Figone | Italy | 9.05 | 8.90 | 17.95 |
| 61 | Ferdinand Daniš | Czechoslovakia | 9.10 | 8.80 | 17.90 |
| 61 | Bjarne Jørgensen | Denmark | 9.25 | 8.65 | 17.90 |
| 63 | Alf Olsen | Norway | 8.85 | 9.00 | 17.85 |
| 63 | Szymon Sobala | Poland | 8.80 | 9.05 | 17.85 |
| 63 | Ernst Wister | Austria | 8.60 | 9.25 | 17.85 |
| 66 | Ken Buffin | Great Britain | 9.45 | 8.35 | 17.80 |
| 67 | Paweł Gaca | Poland | 9.05 | 8.70 | 17.75 |
| 67 | Freddy Jensen | Denmark | 8.70 | 9.05 | 17.75 |
| 67 | Miloš Kolejka | Czechoslovakia | 9.15 | 8.60 | 17.75 |
| 70 | Ahmed Issam Allam | Egypt | 8.75 | 8.95 | 17.70 |
| 70 | Vladimír Kejř | Czechoslovakia | 8.80 | 8.90 | 17.70 |
| 70 | János Mogyorósi-Klencs | Hungary | 9.00 | 8.70 | 17.70 |
| 73 | Paul Grubenthal | Austria | 9.00 | 8.65 | 17.65 |
| 73 | Armand Huberty | Luxembourg | 8.65 | 9.00 | 17.65 |
| 75 | Adalbert Dickhut | Germany | 7.95 | 9.65 | 17.60 |
| 75 | Poul Jessen | Denmark | 8.80 | 8.80 | 17.60 |
| 75 | Leo Sotorník | Czechoslovakia | 9.05 | 8.55 | 17.60 |
| 78 | Károly Kocsis | Hungary | 9.25 | 8.30 | 17.55 |
| 79 | René Changeat | France | 8.60 | 8.85 | 17.45 |
| 79 | Ernst Fivian | Switzerland | 8.10 | 9.35 | 17.45 |
| 79 | Paweł Gawron | Poland | 9.05 | 8.40 | 17.45 |
| 79 | Nils Sjöberg | Sweden | 8.90 | 8.55 | 17.45 |
| 83 | Mathias Jamtvedt | Norway | 8.90 | 8.50 | 17.40 |
| 83 | Anders Lindh | Sweden | 8.80 | 8.60 | 17.40 |
| 83 | Volmer Thomsen | Denmark | 8.80 | 8.60 | 17.40 |
| 86 | Dušan Furlan | Yugoslavia | 8.45 | 8.90 | 17.35 |
| 87 | Jerzy Jokiel | Poland | 9.00 | 8.30 | 17.30 |
| 87 | Arthur Schmitt | Saar | 9.05 | 8.25 | 17.30 |
| 89 | Børge Minerth | Denmark | 8.85 | 8.40 | 17.25 |
| 89 | Alf Nørgaard | Norway | 8.55 | 8.70 | 17.25 |
| 89 | Stoyan Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 9.60 | 7.65 | 17.25 |
| 92 | Silvio Brivio | Italy | 8.95 | 8.25 | 17.20 |
| 92 | Franz Kemter | Austria | 8.95 | 8.25 | 17.20 |
| 92 | Sándor Réthy | Hungary | 8.65 | 8.55 | 17.20 |
| 95 | Børge Nielsen | Denmark | 8.75 | 8.40 | 17.15 |
| 96 | Arne Carlsson | Sweden | 8.45 | 8.65 | 17.10 |
| 97 | Don Holder | United States | 9.05 | 8.00 | 17.05 |
| 98 | Arne Knudsen | Norway | 8.40 | 8.60 | 17.00 |
| 98 | Ronnie Lombard | South Africa | 8.40 | 8.60 | 17.00 |
| 100 | Andrei Kerekes | Romania | 8.30 | 8.65 | 16.95 |
| 100 | Josef Škvor | Czechoslovakia | 9.15 | 7.80 | 16.95 |
| 100 | Ali Zaky | Egypt | 7.65 | 9.30 | 16.95 |
| 100 | Luigi Zanetti | Italy | 7.80 | 9.15 | 16.95 |
| 104 | Vasil Konstantinov | Bulgaria | 8.55 | 8.35 | 16.90 |
| 105 | Arrigo Carnoli | Italy | 8.10 | 8.75 | 16.85 |
| 106 | Rafael Lecuona | Cuba | 8.10 | 8.70 | 16.80 |
| 106 | Walter Müller | Saar | 9.05 | 7.75 | 16.80 |
| 106 | Frank Turner | Great Britain | 8.25 | 8.55 | 16.80 |
| 109 | Vincent D'Autorio | United States | 8.75 | 8.00 | 16.75 |
| 109 | Manuel Gouveia | Portugal | 8.25 | 8.50 | 16.75 |
| 109 | Georg Johansen | Norway | 8.90 | 7.85 | 16.75 |
| 112 | Walter Blattmann | United States | 8.25 | 8.45 | 16.70 |
| 112 | József Fekete | Hungary | 8.65 | 8.05 | 16.70 |
| 114 | Nikolay Atanasov | Bulgaria | 8.20 | 8.45 | 16.65 |
| 114 | Gunnar Pedersen | Denmark | 8.40 | 8.25 | 16.65 |
| 116 | Raymond Badin | France | 7.55 | 9.00 | 16.55 |
| 117 | William Thoresson | Sweden | 9.30 | 7.20 | 16.50 |
| 118 | Jean Guillou | France | 8.45 | 8.00 | 16.45 |
| 119 | Ryszard Kucjas | Poland | 8.25 | 8.10 | 16.35 |
| 119 | Kurt Wigartz | Sweden | 8.00 | 8.35 | 16.35 |
| 121 | Jey Kugeler | Luxembourg | 7.80 | 8.50 | 16.30 |
| 122 | Friedrich Fetz | Austria | 7.80 | 8.45 | 16.25 |
| 122 | Mohamed Sayed Hamdi | Egypt | 8.10 | 8.15 | 16.25 |
| 124 | Ahmed Khalil El-Giddawi | Egypt | 7.70 | 8.50 | 16.20 |
| 124 | René Schroeder | Luxembourg | 7.85 | 8.35 | 16.20 |
| 126 | Raúl Caldeira | Portugal | 7.80 | 8.35 | 16.15 |
| 127 | Marcel Coppin | Luxembourg | 8.30 | 7.80 | 16.10 |
| 127 | Zdzisław Lesiński | Poland | 8.80 | 7.30 | 16.10 |
| 129 | Nikolay Milev | Bulgaria | 9.05 | 7.00 | 16.05 |
| 129 | Littorio Sampieri | Italy | 8.30 | 7.75 | 16.05 |
| 131 | César Bonoris | Argentina | 8.00 | 8.00 | 16.00 |
| 131 | Hubert Erang | Luxembourg | 8.20 | 7.80 | 16.00 |
| 133 | Norbert Dietrich | Saar | 8.85 | 7.10 | 15.95 |
| 134 | Georges Floquet | France | 7.35 | 8.55 | 15.90 |
| 135 | Fabio Bonacina | Italy | 8.95 | 6.90 | 15.85 |
| 136 | Orlando Polmonari | Italy | 8.20 | 7.55 | 15.75 |
| 137 | Willi Welt | Austria | 8.75 | 6.95 | 15.70 |
| 138 | Jack Whitford | Great Britain | 7.25 | 8.40 | 15.65 |
| 139 | Todor Todorov | Bulgaria | 8.40 | 7.15 | 15.55 |
| 140 | André Weingand | France | 6.50 | 9.00 | 15.50 |
| 141 | Rolf Yelseth | South Africa | 7.60 | 7.80 | 15.40 |
| 142 | Ivica Jelić | Yugoslavia | 7.20 | 8.10 | 15.30 |
| 143 | Rolf Lauer | Saar | 8.35 | 6.90 | 15.25 |
| 143 | Fred Wiedersporn | Saar | 8.00 | 7.25 | 15.25 |
| 145 | Joaquim Granger | Portugal | 7.65 | 7.55 | 15.20 |
| 145 | Magne Kleiven | Norway | 6.50 | 8.70 | 15.20 |
| 145 | Erich Peters | Sweden | 6.60 | 8.60 | 15.20 |
| 148 | Odd Lie | Norway | 7.00 | 8.10 | 15.10 |
| 148 | Paweł Świętek | Poland | 8.20 | 6.90 | 15.10 |
| 150 | Ede Mađar | Yugoslavia | 7.45 | 7.50 | 14.95 |
| 151 | Juan Caviglia | Argentina | 6.90 | 7.85 | 14.75 |
| 151 | Franjo Jurjević | Yugoslavia | 6.15 | 8.60 | 14.75 |
| 153 | Quinto Vadi | Italy | 6.00 | 8.70 | 14.70 |
| 154 | Magdy Gheriani | Egypt | 6.40 | 8.25 | 14.65 |
| 155 | Frederik De Waele | Belgium | 6.60 | 7.75 | 14.35 |
| 156 | Graham Harcourt | Great Britain | 7.80 | 6.45 | 14.25 |
| 157 | Maurice De Groote | Belgium | 7.10 | 7.00 | 14.10 |
| 157 | George Weedon | Great Britain | 8.20 | 5.90 | 14.10 |
| 159 | Peter Starling | Great Britain | 7.00 | 7.00 | 14.00 |
| 160 | Ivan Čaklec | Yugoslavia | 7.25 | 6.65 | 13.90 |
| 161 | Ragai Youssef | Egypt | 7.10 | 6.75 | 13.85 |
| 162 | Sreten Stefanović | Yugoslavia | 6.90 | 6.90 | 13.80 |
| 163 | Mihai Botez | Romania | 5.50 | 8.15 | 13.65 |
| 164 | Karel Janež | Yugoslavia | 6.50 | 6.60 | 13.10 |
| 165 | Marcel de Wolf | France | 6.50 | 6.40 | 12.90 |
| 166 | Jack Wells | South Africa | 6.45 | 6.10 | 12.55 |
| 167 | Ernst Madland | Norway | 2.90 | 8.85 | 11.75 |
| 168 | Francisc Cocis | Romania | 4.50 | 7.00 | 11.50 |
| 169 | Aurel Losnita | Romania | 5.30 | 6.10 | 11.40 |
| 169 | Iliya Topalov | Bulgaria | 6.90 | 4.50 | 11.40 |
| 171 | Manuel Prazeres | Portugal | 4.65 | 6.65 | 11.30 |
| 172 | Eugen Balint | Romania | 4.50 | 6.75 | 11.25 |
| 173 | Jeroom Riske | Belgium | 7.65 | 3.50 | 11.15 |
| 174 | António Leite | Portugal | 3.00 | 7.25 | 10.25 |
| 175 | Ángel Aguiar | Cuba | 4.50 | 5.70 | 10.20 |
| 176 | Manuel Cardoso | Portugal | 3.50 | 6.60 | 10.10 |
| 177 | Heinz Ostheimer | Saar | 2.00 | 7.80 | 9.80 |
| 178 | Jerzy Solarz | Poland | 3.25 | 6.25 | 9.50 |
| 179 | Vir Singh | India | 2.00 | 5.75 | 7.75 |
| 180 | Carol Bedö | Romania | 1.75 | 5.50 | 7.25 |
| 181 | Francisco Cascante | Cuba | 3.00 | 4.00 | 7.00 |
| 182 | Zoltan Balogh | Romania | 1.25 | 5.50 | 6.75 |
| 183 | Khushi Ram | India | 1.25 | 4.50 | 5.75 |
| 184 | Hans Friedrich | Austria | 4.00 | — | 4.00 |
| 185 | Mahmoud Mohamed Reda | Egypt | 0.50 | — | 0.50 |