# Gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars

The men's parallel bars competition at the 1952 Summer Olympics was held at Messuhalli, 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 Hans Eugster of Switzerland, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the parallel bars, breaking a tie with Germany for most all-time. Switzerland also took bronze, as Josef Stalder repeated his 1948 third-place performance (making him the second man to win multiple medals in the event, after fellow Swiss Michael Reusch). The Soviet Union's debut resulted in a silver medal for Viktor Chukarin, who would become the third multi-medalist in 1956.

## 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). Six of the top 10 gymnasts from 1948 returned: bronze medalist Josef Stalder of Switzerland, sixth-place finisher Heikki Savolainen of Finland, seventh-place finishers Paavo Aaltonen of Finland and Zdeněk Růžička of Czechoslovakia, ninth-place finisher Lajos Sántha of Hungary, and tenth-place finisher Olavi Rove of Finland. Swiss gymnast Hans Eugster was the reigning (1950) world champion, with Rove the runner-up.
Belgium, India, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saar, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Spain, and Sweden each made their debut in the men's parallel bars. 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 |
| | Hans Eugster | Switzerland | 9.85 | 9.80 | 19.65 |
| | Viktor Chukarin | Soviet Union | 9.80 | 9.80 | 19.60 |
| | Josef Stalder | Switzerland | 9.80 | 9.70 | 19.50 |
| 4 | Hrant Shahinyan | Soviet Union | 9.50 | 9.85 | 19.35 |
| 5 | Ferdinand Daniš | Czechoslovakia | 9.70 | 9.60 | 19.30 |
| 5 | Yevgeny Korolkov | Soviet Union | 9.50 | 9.80 | 19.30 |
| 5 | Jean Tschabold | Switzerland | 9.65 | 9.65 | 19.30 |
| 8 | Vladimir Belyakov | Soviet Union | 9.45 | 9.80 | 19.25 |
| 8 | Valentin Muratov | Soviet Union | 9.55 | 9.70 | 19.25 |
| 10 | Akitomo Kaneko | Japan | 9.50 | 9.70 | 19.20 |
| 11 | Iosif Berdiev | Soviet Union | 9.45 | 9.70 | 19.15 |
| 12 | Helmut Bantz | Germany | 9.60 | 9.50 | 19.10 |
| 13 | Jack Günthard | Switzerland | 9.55 | 9.50 | 19.05 |
| 13 | Onni Lappalainen | Finland | 9.45 | 9.60 | 19.05 |
| 15 | Mikhail Perelman | Soviet Union | 9.25 | 9.75 | 19.00 |
| 15 | Alfred Schwarzmann | Germany | 9.55 | 9.45 | 19.00 |
| 15 | Theo Wied | Germany | 9.45 | 9.55 | 19.00 |
| 18 | Hans Schwarzentruber | Switzerland | 9.55 | 9.40 | 18.95 |
| 19 | Adalbert Dickhut | Germany | 9.40 | 9.45 | 18.85 |
| 19 | Olavi Rove | Finland | 9.40 | 9.45 | 18.85 |
| 21 | Ed Scrobe | United States | 9.35 | 9.45 | 18.80 |
| 21 | Ali Zaky | Egypt | 9.40 | 9.40 | 18.80 |
| 23 | Hans Pfann | Germany | 9.45 | 9.30 | 18.75 |
| 23 | Hans Sauter | Austria | 9.40 | 9.35 | 18.75 |
| 23 | Melchior Thalmann | Switzerland | 9.40 | 9.35 | 18.75 |
| 26 | Josy Stoffel | Luxembourg | 9.40 | 9.30 | 18.70 |
| 27 | Paavo Aaltonen | Finland | 9.00 | 9.65 | 18.65 |
| 27 | Jakob Kiefer | Germany | 9.45 | 9.20 | 18.65 |
| 27 | Jindřich Mikulec | Czechoslovakia | 9.35 | 9.30 | 18.65 |
| 27 | Erich Wied | Germany | 9.30 | 9.35 | 18.65 |
| 31 | Tetsumi Nabeya | Japan | 9.40 | 9.20 | 18.60 |
| 31 | Takashi Ono | Japan | 9.45 | 9.15 | 18.60 |
| 31 | Lajos Sántha | Hungary | 9.45 | 9.15 | 18.60 |
| 31 | Josef Škvor | Czechoslovakia | 9.20 | 9.40 | 18.60 |
| 35 | Guido Figone | Italy | 9.20 | 9.35 | 18.55 |
| 35 | Michel Mathiot | France | 9.35 | 9.20 | 18.55 |
| 35 | Bob Stout | United States | 9.30 | 9.25 | 18.55 |
| 38 | Ernst Gebendinger | Switzerland | 9.65 | 8.85 | 18.50 |
| 38 | Tadao Uesako | Japan | 9.20 | 9.30 | 18.50 |
| 40 | Friedel Overwien | Germany | 9.35 | 9.10 | 18.45 |
| 40 | Ferenc Pataki | Hungary | 9.40 | 9.05 | 18.45 |
| 40 | Kalevi Viskari | Finland | 9.45 | 9.00 | 18.45 |
| 40 | Willi Welt | Austria | 9.35 | 9.10 | 18.45 |
| 44 | Raymond Dot | France | 9.30 | 9.10 | 18.40 |
| 44 | Josef Svoboda | Czechoslovakia | 9.25 | 9.15 | 18.40 |
| 44 | Lajos Tóth | Hungary | 9.30 | 9.10 | 18.40 |
| 47 | Littorio Sampieri | Italy | 9.00 | 9.35 | 18.35 |
| 47 | Börje Stattin | Sweden | 9.30 | 9.05 | 18.35 |
| 49 | Ernst Fivian | Switzerland | 8.70 | 9.60 | 18.30 |
| 49 | Wolfgang Girardi | Austria | 9.15 | 9.15 | 18.30 |
| 49 | Jean Guillou | France | 9.35 | 8.95 | 18.30 |
| 52 | Kalevi Laitinen | Finland | 9.10 | 9.15 | 18.25 |
| 52 | Ernst Wister | Austria | 9.05 | 9.20 | 18.25 |
| 54 | Hans Friedrich | Austria | 9.25 | 8.95 | 18.20 |
| 54 | Heikki Savolainen | Finland | 9.00 | 9.20 | 18.20 |
| 54 | Todor Todorov | Bulgaria | 9.00 | 9.20 | 18.20 |
| 57 | Alf Olsen | Norway | 9.10 | 9.05 | 18.15 |
| 57 | Szymon Sobala | Poland | 9.20 | 8.95 | 18.15 |
| 57 | William Thoresson | Sweden | 9.15 | 9.00 | 18.15 |
| 60 | Raymond Badin | France | 9.20 | 8.90 | 18.10 |
| 60 | Joaquín Blume | Spain | 9.00 | 9.10 | 18.10 |
| 60 | Bill Roetzheim | United States | 9.15 | 8.95 | 18.10 |
| 60 | Leo Sotorník | Czechoslovakia | 9.35 | 8.75 | 18.10 |
| 60 | André Weingand | France | 9.20 | 8.90 | 18.10 |
| 65 | Kaino Lempinen | Finland | 9.35 | 8.70 | 18.05 |
| 65 | Dimitar Yordanov | Bulgaria | 8.90 | 9.15 | 18.05 |
| 67 | Ahmed Issam Allam | Egypt | 9.10 | 8.90 | 18.00 |
| 67 | Arne Carlsson | Sweden | 9.00 | 9.00 | 18.00 |
| 67 | Anders Lindh | Sweden | 9.00 | 9.00 | 18.00 |
| 67 | Frederic Orendi | Romania | 9.05 | 8.95 | 18.00 |
| 71 | Zdeněk Růžička | Czechoslovakia | 9.05 | 8.90 | 17.95 |
| 71 | Masao Takemoto | Japan | 9.10 | 8.85 | 17.95 |
| 71 | Mincho Todorov | Bulgaria | 9.00 | 8.95 | 17.95 |
| 74 | Vincent D'Autorio | United States | 9.00 | 8.90 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Paweł Gaca | Poland | 8.90 | 9.00 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Franz Kemter | Austria | 9.20 | 8.70 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Miloš Kolejka | Czechoslovakia | 9.20 | 8.70 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Vasil Konstantinov | Bulgaria | 8.95 | 8.95 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Nikolay Milev | Bulgaria | 9.15 | 8.75 | 17.90 |
| 74 | Erich Peters | Sweden | 8.90 | 9.00 | 17.90 |
| 81 | Jack Beckner | United States | 8.85 | 9.00 | 17.85 |
| 81 | Mihai Botez | Romania | 8.90 | 8.95 | 17.85 |
| 81 | René Changeat | France | 8.90 | 8.95 | 17.85 |
| 81 | József Fekete | Hungary | 9.15 | 8.70 | 17.85 |
| 81 | Paweł Gawron | Poland | 8.85 | 9.00 | 17.85 |
| 86 | Károly Kocsis | Hungary | 9.30 | 8.50 | 17.80 |
| 87 | Magdy Gheriani | Egypt | 8.90 | 8.85 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Vladimír Kejř | Czechoslovakia | 9.20 | 8.55 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Ferenc Kemény | Hungary | 8.75 | 9.00 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Berndt Lindfors | Finland | 9.05 | 8.70 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Paweł Świętek | Poland | 8.80 | 8.95 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Frank Turner | Great Britain | 9.10 | 8.65 | 17.75 |
| 87 | Luigi Zanetti | Italy | 9.00 | 8.75 | 17.75 |
| 94 | Fabio Bonacina | Italy | 9.00 | 8.70 | 17.70 |
| 94 | Armand Huberty | Luxembourg | 8.90 | 8.80 | 17.70 |
| 96 | Silvio Brivio | Italy | 8.75 | 8.90 | 17.65 |
| 96 | Mathias Jamtvedt | Norway | 8.85 | 8.80 | 17.65 |
| 96 | Jey Kugeler | Luxembourg | 8.85 | 8.80 | 17.65 |
| 96 | Jack Whitford | Great Britain | 9.10 | 8.55 | 17.65 |
| 100 | Walter Blattmann | United States | 9.10 | 8.50 | 17.60 |
| 100 | Dušan Furlan | Yugoslavia | 9.00 | 8.60 | 17.60 |
| 100 | Paul Grubenthal | Austria | 9.10 | 8.50 | 17.60 |
| 100 | János Mogyorósi-Klencs | Hungary | 9.10 | 8.50 | 17.60 |
| 100 | Orlando Polmonari | Italy | 8.90 | 8.70 | 17.60 |
| 100 | Nils Sjöberg | Sweden | 8.85 | 8.75 | 17.60 |
| 106 | Arthur Schmitt | Saar | 8.95 | 8.60 | 17.55 |
| 107 | Georges Floquet | France | 9.15 | 8.30 | 17.45 |
| 107 | Jerzy Solarz | Poland | 8.80 | 8.65 | 17.45 |
| 107 | Quinto Vadi | Italy | 8.50 | 8.95 | 17.45 |
| 110 | Sándor Réthy | Hungary | 8.60 | 8.80 | 17.40 |
| 111 | Georg Johansen | Norway | 8.65 | 8.60 | 17.25 |
| 111 | Alf Nørgaard | Norway | 8.80 | 8.45 | 17.25 |
| 111 | Volmer Thomsen | Denmark | 9.00 | 8.25 | 17.25 |
| 111 | Kurt Wigartz | Sweden | 8.95 | 8.30 | 17.25 |
| 115 | Ryszard Kucjas | Poland | 8.40 | 8.80 | 17.20 |
| 116 | Jerzy Jokiel | Poland | 8.50 | 8.60 | 17.10 |
| 116 | Børge Nielsen | Denmark | 8.70 | 8.40 | 17.10 |
| 118 | Ivan Čaklec | Yugoslavia | 8.65 | 8.40 | 17.05 |
| 118 | Don Holder | United States | 9.05 | 8.00 | 17.05 |
| 120 | Franjo Jurjević | Yugoslavia | 9.00 | 8.00 | 17.00 |
| 121 | Nikolay Atanasov | Bulgaria | 8.65 | 8.30 | 16.95 |
| 121 | Sreten Stefanović | Yugoslavia | 8.55 | 8.40 | 16.95 |
| 123 | Antun Kropivšek | Yugoslavia | 8.65 | 8.25 | 16.90 |
| 124 | Bjarne Jørgensen | Denmark | 8.85 | 7.95 | 16.80 |
| 124 | Arne Knudsen | Norway | 9.10 | 7.70 | 16.80 |
| 126 | Ernst Madland | Norway | 8.75 | 8.00 | 16.75 |
| 127 | Dmytro Leonkin | Soviet Union | 7.10 | 9.60 | 16.70 |
| 128 | Poul Jessen | Denmark | 8.85 | 7.80 | 16.65 |
| 128 | Odd Lie | Norway | 8.60 | 8.05 | 16.65 |
| 130 | César Bonoris | Argentina | 8.75 | 7.85 | 16.60 |
| 130 | Andrei Kerekes | Romania | 8.95 | 7.65 | 16.60 |
| 132 | Ivica Jelić | Yugoslavia | 8.40 | 8.15 | 16.55 |
| 133 | Karel Janež | Yugoslavia | 7.85 | 8.60 | 16.45 |
| 133 | Freddy Jensen | Denmark | 7.55 | 8.90 | 16.45 |
| 133 | Ragai Youssef | Egypt | 8.55 | 7.90 | 16.45 |
| 136 | Ahmed Khalil El-Giddawi | Egypt | 8.20 | 8.20 | 16.40 |
| 136 | Ede Mađar | Yugoslavia | 8.05 | 8.35 | 16.40 |
| 138 | Ken Buffin | Great Britain | 8.85 | 7.50 | 16.35 |
| 139 | Joaquim Granger | Portugal | 8.45 | 7.80 | 16.25 |
| 140 | Walter Müller | Saar | 8.40 | 7.80 | 16.20 |
| 141 | Frederik De Waele | Belgium | 7.85 | 8.25 | 16.10 |
| 142 | Marcel Coppin | Luxembourg | 8.65 | 7.40 | 16.05 |
| 142 | Charles Simms | United States | 7.25 | 8.80 | 16.05 |
| 144 | Rafael Lecuona | Cuba | 8.90 | 7.10 | 16.00 |
| 145 | Eugen Balint | Romania | 7.55 | 8.40 | 15.95 |
| 145 | Graham Harcourt | Great Britain | 8.70 | 7.25 | 15.95 |
| 147 | Norbert Dietrich | Saar | 8.20 | 7.65 | 15.85 |
| 147 | Hubert Erang | Luxembourg | 8.40 | 7.45 | 15.85 |
| 149 | Zoltan Balogh | Romania | 7.90 | 7.90 | 15.80 |
| 149 | Arrigo Carnoli | Italy | 7.50 | 8.30 | 15.80 |
| 149 | Mahmoud Safwat | Egypt | 8.45 | 7.35 | 15.80 |
| 152 | Iliya Topalov | Bulgaria | 9.25 | 6.50 | 15.75 |
| 153 | Magne Kleiven | Norway | 7.90 | 7.70 | 15.60 |
| 154 | Aurel Losnita | Romania | 7.00 | 8.50 | 15.50 |
| 155 | Ángel Aguiar | Cuba | 7.45 | 8.00 | 15.45 |
| 155 | René Schroeder | Luxembourg | 7.90 | 7.55 | 15.45 |
| 157 | Rolf Lauer | Saar | 7.70 | 7.70 | 15.40 |
| 158 | Carol Bedö | Romania | 7.70 | 7.55 | 15.25 |
| 158 | Gunnar Pedersen | Denmark | 8.75 | 6.50 | 15.25 |
| 158 | Jeroom Riske | Belgium | 8.10 | 7.15 | 15.25 |
| 161 | Rolf Yelseth | South Africa | 7.70 | 7.50 | 15.20 |
| 162 | Marcel de Wolf | France | 8.10 | 7.00 | 15.10 |
| 163 | Ronnie Lombard | South Africa | 8.05 | 7.00 | 15.05 |
| 164 | Manuel Gouveia | Portugal | 6.70 | 8.25 | 14.95 |
| 165 | Zdzisław Lesiński | Poland | 6.00 | 8.85 | 14.85 |
| 166 | Juan Caviglia | Argentina | 7.90 | 6.75 | 14.65 |
| 167 | Heinz Ostheimer | Saar | 6.70 | 7.90 | 14.60 |
| 168 | Francisc Cocis | Romania | 6.25 | 8.20 | 14.45 |
| 169 | Francisco Cascante | Cuba | 8.30 | 6.00 | 14.30 |
| 170 | George Weedon | Great Britain | 6.15 | 7.75 | 13.90 |
| 171 | Mohamed Sayed Hamdi | Egypt | 8.65 | 5.00 | 13.65 |
| 172 | Peter Starling | Great Britain | 7.05 | 6.50 | 13.55 |
| 173 | Raúl Caldeira | Portugal | 6.95 | 6.30 | 13.25 |
| 173 | Jack Wells | South Africa | 8.25 | 5.00 | 13.25 |
| 175 | Manuel Prazeres | Portugal | 6.25 | 6.90 | 13.15 |
| 176 | Fred Wiedersporn | Saar | 6.60 | 6.30 | 12.90 |
| 177 | António Leite | Portugal | 7.00 | 5.75 | 12.75 |
| 178 | Børge Minerth | Denmark | 7.10 | 5.45 | 12.55 |
| 179 | Manuel Cardoso | Portugal | 5.00 | 5.00 | 10.00 |
| 180 | Mahmoud Mohamed Reda | Egypt | 6.50 | 3.00 | 9.50 |
| 181 | Stoyan Stoyanov | Bulgaria | 9.15 | – | 9.15 |
| 182 | Friedrich Fetz | Austria | 8.40 | – | 8.40 |
| 183 | Maurice De Groote | Belgium | 0.00 | 8.10 | 8.10 |
| 184 | Vir Singh | India | 2.25 | 4.00 | 6.25 |
| 185 | Khushi Ram | India | 0.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 |