# Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars

The men's parallel bars 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 Aleksandr Tkachyov of the Soviet Union, the nation's first victory in the parallel bars since 1960 and third overall, tying Switzerland for second-most all-time behind Japan's four. Fellow Soviet Alexander Dityatin took silver, while Roland Brückner earned East Germany's first medal in the event (and first medal for any German gymnast in the parallel bars since 1936). Japan's four-Games gold medal streak in the event 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: silver medalist Nikolai Andrianov of the Soviet Union and sixth-place finisher Andrzej Szajna of Poland. The two most recent world champions, Eizo Kenmotsu of Japan (1978) and Bart Conner of the United States (1979), did not compete in Moscow due to the boycott. Andrianov had shared silver at the 1978 world championships and Aleksandr Tkachyov, also of the Soviet Union, had shared silver in 1979.
Brazil made its debut in the men's parallel bars. 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.

## Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 20 July 1980 | 10:00 17:00 | Preliminary: Compulsory |
| Tuesday, 22 July 1980 | 10:00 17:00 | 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 | Preliminary | Preliminary | Final | Final | Final |
| Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Compulsory | Voluntary | Total | 1⁄2 Prelim. | Final | Total |
| | Aleksandr Tkachyov | Soviet Union | 9.85 | 9.90 | 19.75 | 9.875 | 9.900 | 19.775 |
| | Alexander Dityatin | Soviet Union | 9.80 | 9.90 | 19.70 | 9.850 | 9.900 | 19.750 |
| | Roland Brückner | East Germany | 9.70 | 9.90 | 19.60 | 9.800 | 9.850 | 19.650 |
| 4 | Michael Nikolay | East Germany | 9.60 | 9.80 | 19.40 | 9.700 | 9.900 | 19.600 |
| 5 | Stoyan Deltchev | Bulgaria | 9.85 | 9.90 | 19.75 | 9.875 | 9.700 | 19.575 |
| 6 | Roberto Leon | Cuba | 9.70 | 9.90 | 19.60 | 9.800 | 9.700 | 19.500 |
| 7 | Nikolai Andrianov | Soviet Union | 9.80 | 9.90 | 19.70 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 8 | Bohdan Makuts | Soviet Union | 9.60 | 9.90 | 19.50 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 9 | Dan Grecu | Romania | 9.65 | 9.80 | 19.45 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 10 | Eduard Azaryan | Soviet Union | 9.65 | 9.75 | 19.40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 11 | Andreas Bronst | East Germany | 9.50 | 9.80 | 19.30 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 11 | Sorin Cepoi | Romania | 9.60 | 9.70 | 19.30 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 11 | Ralf-Peter Hemmann | East Germany | 9.60 | 9.70 | 19.30 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 14 | Ferenc Donáth | Hungary | 9.55 | 9.65 | 19.20 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 14 | Zoltán Magyar | Hungary | 9.45 | 9.75 | 19.20 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 14 | Dancho Yordanov | Bulgaria | 9.45 | 9.75 | 19.20 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 17 | Aurelian Georgescu | Romania | 9.55 | 9.60 | 19.15 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 18 | Jozef Konečný | Czechoslovakia | 9.50 | 9.60 | 19.10 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 18 | Lutz Mack | East Germany | 9.50 | 9.60 | 19.10 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 18 | Plamen Petkov | Bulgaria | 9.40 | 9.70 | 19.10 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 21 | Michel Boutard | France | 9.50 | 9.55 | 19.05 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 21 | Miguel Arroyo | Cuba | 9.45 | 9.60 | 19.05 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 21 | Jiří Tabák | Czechoslovakia | 9.35 | 9.70 | 19.05 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 24 | Mario Castro | Cuba | 9.30 | 9.70 | 19.00 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 24 | Cho Hun | North Korea | 9.40 | 9.60 | 19.00 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 24 | Han Gwang-song | North Korea | 9.50 | 9.50 | 19.00 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 24 | Lutz Hoffmann | East Germany | 9.30 | 9.70 | 19.00 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 28 | György Guczoghy | Hungary | 9.40 | 9.55 | 18.95 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 28 | Jan Zoulik | Czechoslovakia | 9.40 | 9.55 | 18.95 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 28 | Ognyan Bangiev | Bulgaria | 9.35 | 9.60 | 18.95 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 28 | Sergio Suarez | Cuba | 9.25 | 9.70 | 18.95 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 32 | Kim Gwang-jin | North Korea | 9.30 | 9.60 | 18.90 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 32 | Vladimir Markelov | Soviet Union | 9.10 | 9.80 | 18.90 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 32 | Nicolae Oprescu | Romania | 9.45 | 9.45 | 18.90 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 32 | Rumen Petkov | Bulgaria | 9.35 | 9.55 | 18.90 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 36 | Rudolf Babiak | Czechoslovakia | 9.40 | 9.45 | 18.85 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 36 | Gabriel Calvo | Spain | 9.25 | 9.60 | 18.85 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 36 | Péter Kovács | Hungary | 9.00 | 9.85 | 18.85 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 39 | Miloslav Kučeřík | Czechoslovakia | 9.40 | 9.40 | 18.80 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 40 | Kang Gwang-song | North Korea | 8.95 | 9.80 | 18.75 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 41 | José de la Casa | Spain | 9.15 | 9.55 | 18.70 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 41 | Jan Migdau | Czechoslovakia | 9.30 | 9.40 | 18.70 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 43 | Fernando Bertrand | Spain | 9.25 | 9.40 | 18.65 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 43 | Romulus Bucuroiu | Romania | 9.10 | 9.55 | 18.65 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 43 | Joël Suty | France | 9.15 | 9.50 | 18.65 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 43 | Kurt Szilier | Romania | 9.65 | 9.00 | 18.65 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 47 | Enrique Bravo | Cuba | 9.15 | 9.40 | 18.55 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 47 | Lindsay Nylund | Australia | 9.30 | 9.25 | 18.55 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 47 | Waldemar Woźniak | Poland | 9.15 | 9.40 | 18.55 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 50 | Zoltán Kelemen | Hungary | 9.20 | 9.30 | 18.50 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 50 | István Vámos | Hungary | 9.35 | 9.15 | 18.50 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 52 | Krzysztof Potaczek | Poland | 9.05 | 9.40 | 18.45 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 53 | Li Su-gil | North Korea | 8.95 | 9.45 | 18.40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 53 | Yanko Radanchev | Bulgaria | 9.25 | 9.15 | 18.40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 55 | Willi Moy | France | 9.25 | 9.10 | 18.35 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 55 | Barry Winch | Great Britain | 9.20 | 9.15 | 18.35 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 57 | Henri Boerio | France | 8.55 | 9.60 | 18.15 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 58 | Andrzej Szajna | Poland | 8.55 | 9.55 | 18.10 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 59 | Yves Bouquel | France | 8.85 | 8.75 | 17.60 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 60 | Keith Langley | Great Britain | 9.10 | 8.40 | 17.50 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 61 | Thomas Wilson | Great Britain | 8.25 | 9.15 | 17.40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 62 | Song Sun-bong | North Korea | 8.15 | 9.00 | 17.15 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 63 | João Luiz Ribeiro | Brazil | 8.20 | 8.85 | 17.05 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 64 | Marc Touchais | France | 8.30 | 8.55 | 16.85 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| 65 | Jorge Roche | Cuba | 9.45 | 0.00 | 9.45 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| — | Moustapha Chouara | Lebanon | DNS | DNS | DNS | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| — | Adnan Horns | Lebanon | DNS | DNS | DNS | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| — | Maurizio Zonzini | San Marino | DNS | DNS | DNS | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |