# Parallel bars at the Olympics

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

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1896 Athens details | Alfred Flatow Germany | Louis Zutter Switzerland | Not awarded |
| 1900 Paris | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 1904 St. Louis details | George Eyser United States | Anton Heida United States | John Duha United States |
| 1908 London | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 1912 Stockholm | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 1920 Antwerp | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 1924 Paris details | August Güttinger Switzerland | Robert Pražák Czechoslovakia | Giorgio Zampori Italy |
| 1928 Amsterdam details | Ladislav Vácha Czechoslovakia | Josip Primožič Yugoslavia | Hermann Hänggi Switzerland |
| 1932 Los Angeles details | Romeo Neri Italy | István Pelle Hungary | Heikki Savolainen Finland |
| 1936 Berlin details | Konrad Frey Germany | Michael Reusch Switzerland | Alfred Schwarzmann Germany |
| 1948 London details | Michael Reusch Switzerland | Veikko Huhtanen Finland | Christian Kipfer SwitzerlandJosef Stalder Switzerland |
| 1952 Helsinki details | Hans Eugster Switzerland | Viktor Chukarin Soviet Union | Josef Stalder Switzerland |
| 1956 Melbourne details | Viktor Chukarin Soviet Union | Masumi Kubota Japan | Takashi Ono JapanMasao Takemoto Japan |
| 1960 Rome details | Boris Shakhlin Soviet Union | Giovanni Carminucci Italy | Takashi Ono Japan |
| 1964 Tokyo details | Yukio Endo Japan | Shuji Tsurumi Japan | Franco Menichelli Italy |
| 1968 Mexico City details | Akinori Nakayama Japan | Mikhail Voronin Soviet Union | Viktor Klimenko Soviet Union |
| 1972 Munich details | Sawao Kato Japan | Shigeru Kasamatsu Japan | Eizo Kenmotsu Japan |
| 1976 Montreal details | Sawao Kato Japan | Nikolai Andrianov Soviet Union | Mitsuo Tsukahara Japan |
| 1980 Moscow details | Aleksandr Tkachyov Soviet Union | Alexander Dityatin Soviet Union | Roland Brückner East Germany |
| 1984 Los Angeles details | Bart Conner United States | Nobuyuki Kajitani Japan | Mitchell Gaylord United States |
| 1988 Seoul details | Vladimir Artemov Soviet Union | Valeri Liukin Soviet Union | Sven Tippelt East Germany |
| 1992 Barcelona details | Vitaly Scherbo Unified Team | Li Jing China | Igor Korobchinski Unified TeamGuo Linyao ChinaMasayuki Matsunaga Japan |
| 1996 Atlanta details | Rustam Sharipov Ukraine | Jair Lynch United States | Vitaly Scherbo Belarus |
| 2000 Sydney details | Li Xiaopeng China | Lee Joo-Hyung South Korea | Alexei Nemov Russia |
| 2004 Athens details | Valeri Goncharov Ukraine | Hiroyuki Tomita Japan | Li Xiaopeng China |
| 2008 Beijing details | Li Xiaopeng China | Yoo Won-Chul South Korea | Anton Fokin Uzbekistan |
| 2012 London details | Feng Zhe China | Marcel Nguyen Germany | Hamilton Sabot France |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro details | Oleg Verniaiev Ukraine | Danell Leyva United States | David Belyavskiy Russia |
| 2020 Tokyo details | Zou Jingyuan China | Lukas Dauser Germany | Ferhat Arıcan Turkey |
| 2024 Paris details | Zou Jingyuan China | Illia Kovtun Ukraine | Shinnosuke Oka Japan |

#### Multiple medalists

| Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Li Xiaopeng | China (CHN) | 2000–2008 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Sawao Kato | Japan (JPN) | 1972–1976 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Zou Jingyuan | China (CHN) | 2020–2024 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Michael Reusch | Switzerland (SUI) | 1936–1948 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Viktor Chukarin | Soviet Union (URS) | 1952–1956 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | Vitaly Scherbo | Unified Team (EUN) Belarus (BLR) | 1992–1996 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Josef Stalder | Switzerland (SUI) | 1948–1952 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Takashi Ono | Japan (JPN) | 1956–1960 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |

#### Medalists by country

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China (CHN) | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | Japan (JPN) | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
| 3 | Soviet Union (URS) | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Switzerland (SUI) | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Ukraine (UKR) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | United States (USA) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | Germany (GER) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | South Korea (KOR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Finland (FIN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 | Belarus (BLR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Turkey (TUR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 | Uzbekistan (UZB) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

## 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.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1896 Athens details | Germany (GER) | Panellinios G.S. (GRE) | Ethnikos G.S. Athens (GRE) |