Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars

Men's parallel bars at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Akinori Nakayama
Venue	Auditorio Nacional
Date	22–26 October
Competitors	117 from 28 nations
Winning score	19.475
Medalists
Akinori Nakayama  Japan Mikhail Voronin  Soviet Union Viktor Klimenko  Soviet Union

The men's parallel bars competition was one of eight events for male competitors in artistic gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. There were 117 competitors from 28 nations, with nations in the team competition having up to 6 gymnasts and other nations entering up to 3 gymnasts. The event was won by Akinori Nakayama of Japan, the nation's second consecutive victory in the parallel bars event, tying Germany and the Soviet Union for second-most all-time behind Switzerland at three gold medals. It was the second of four straight Games that the parallel bars would be won by a Japanese gymnast. Mikhail Voronin took silver and Viktor Klimenko took bronze to put the Soviet Union back on the podium after a one-Games absence.

Background

This was the 12th 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). Five of the six finalists from 1964 returned: gold medalist Yukio Endo of Japan, bronze medalist Franco Menichelli of Italy, fourth-place finisher Sergey Diomidov and fifth-place finisher Victor Lisitsky of the Soviet Union, and sixth-place finisher Miroslav Cerar of Yugoslavia. Diomidov had won the 1966 world championship, with fellow Soviet Mikhail Voronin second and Cerar third.

Ecuador and the Philippines each made their debut in the men's parallel bars; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 11th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 Games.

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 new 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; others were ranked 7th through 117th. In the final, each gymnast performed an additional voluntary exercise; half of the score from the preliminary carried over.

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 22 October 1968	8:30 17:00	Preliminary: Compulsory
Thursday, 24 October 1968	8:30 17:00	Preliminary: Voluntary
Saturday, 26 October 1968	19:00	Final

Results

Rank	Gymnast	Nation	Preliminary			Final
			Compulsory	Voluntary	Total	1⁄2 Prelim.	Final	Total
	Akinori Nakayama	Japan	9.70	9.85	19.55	9.775	9.700	19.475
	Mikhail Voronin	Soviet Union	9.75	9.70	19.45	9.725	9.700	19.425
	Viktor Klimenko	Soviet Union	9.60	9.65	19.25	9.625	9.600	19.225
4	Takeshi Katō	Japan	9.60	9.70	19.30	9.650	9.550	19.200
5	Eizo Kenmotsu	Japan	9.60	9.65	19.25	9.625	9.550	19.175
6	Václav Kubíčka	Czechoslovakia	9.60	9.60	19.20	9.600	9.350	18.950
7	Sawao Kato	Japan	9.65	9.70	19.35	did not compete
8	Christian Guiffroy	France	9.55	9.65	19.20	did not advance
9	Yukio Endo	Japan	9.65	9.50	19.15	did not advance
	Valery Karasyov	Soviet Union	9.55	9.60	19.15	did not advance
	Wilhelm Kubica	Poland	9.50	9.65	19.15	did not advance
12	Matthias Brehme	East Germany	9.60	9.50	19.10	did not advance
	Miroslav Cerar	Yugoslavia	9.60	9.50	19.10	did not advance
	Roland Hürzeler	Switzerland	9.50	9.60	19.10	did not advance
15	Hans Ettlin	Switzerland	9.55	9.50	19.05	did not advance
	Mikołaj Kubica	Poland	9.45	9.60	19.05	did not advance
	Olli Laiho	Finland	9.50	9.55	19.05	did not advance
	Miloslav Netušil	Czechoslovakia	9.45	9.60	19.05	did not advance
19	Milenko Kersnić	Yugoslavia	9.50	9.50	19.00	did not advance
	Mauno Nissinen	Finland	9.40	9.60	19.00	did not advance
21	Valery Ilyinykh	Soviet Union	9.50	9.45	18.95	did not advance
	Peter Weber	East Germany	9.50	9.45	18.95	did not advance
23	Meinrad Berchtold	Switzerland	9.45	9.45	18.90	did not advance
	Sergey Diomidov	Soviet Union	9.45	9.45	18.90	did not advance
	Helmut Tepasse	West Germany	9.45	9.45	18.90	did not advance
26	Giovanni Carminucci	Italy	9.45	9.40	18.85	did not advance
	Siegfried Fülle	East Germany	9.40	9.45	18.85	did not advance
	Willi Jaschek	West Germany	9.35	9.50	18.85	did not advance
	Konrád Mentsik	Hungary	9.35	9.50	18.85	did not advance
	Bohumil Mudřík	Czechoslovakia	9.35	9.50	18.85	did not advance
31	Georgi Adamov	Bulgaria	9.35	9.45	18.80	did not advance
	Dezső Bordán	Hungary	9.30	9.50	18.80	did not advance
33	Sándor Kiss	Hungary	9.40	9.35	18.75	did not advance
	Klaus Köste	East Germany	9.45	9.30	18.75	did not advance
35	František Bočko	Czechoslovakia	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Christian Deuza	France	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Sylwester Kubica	Poland	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
	Peter Rohner	Switzerland	9.30	9.40	18.70	did not advance
39	Janez Brodnik	Yugoslavia	9.30	9.35	18.65	did not advance
	Christer Jönsson	Sweden	9.20	9.45	18.65	did not advance
41	Steve Cohen	United States	9.10	9.50	18.60	did not advance
	Viktor Lisitsky	Soviet Union	9.60	9.00	18.60	did not advance
	Fred Roethlisberger	United States	9.10	9.50	18.60	did not advance
	Václav Skoumal	Czechoslovakia	9.30	9.30	18.60	did not advance
45	Andrzej Gonera	Poland	9.05	9.50	18.55	did not advance
	Béla Herczeg	Hungary	9.25	9.30	18.55	did not advance
	Paul Müller	Switzerland	9.30	9.25	18.55	did not advance
	Juhani Rahikainen	Finland	9.30	9.25	18.55	did not advance
49	Chung-tae Kim	South Korea	9.05	9.45	18.50	did not advance
	Heiko Reinemer	West Germany	9.20	9.30	18.50	did not advance
51	István Aranyos	Hungary	9.25	9.20	18.45	did not advance
	Günter Beier	East Germany	9.10	9.35	18.45	did not advance
	Luigi Cimnaghi	Italy	9.30	9.15	18.45	did not advance
	Steve Hug	United States	9.05	9.40	18.45	did not advance
55	Pasquale Carminucci	Italy	9.20	9.20	18.40	did not advance
	Aleksander Rokosa	Poland	9.15	9.25	18.40	did not advance
57	Edwin Greutmann	Switzerland	9.10	9.25	18.35	did not advance
	Bozhidar Ivanov	Bulgaria	9.10	9.25	18.35	did not advance
	Hannu Rantakari	Finland	9.15	9.20	18.35	did not advance
60	Bruno Franceschetti	Italy	9.15	9.15	18.30	did not advance
	Heinz Häussler	West Germany	9.20	9.10	18.30	did not advance
	Hermann Höpfner	West Germany	9.10	9.20	18.30	did not advance
63	Sid Freudenstein	United States	8.85	9.40	18.25	did not advance
	Miloš Vratič	Yugoslavia	8.90	9.35	18.25	did not advance
65	Evert Lindgren	Sweden	8.75	9.45	18.20	did not advance
	Hans Peter Nielsen	Denmark	9.00	9.20	18.20	did not advance
67	Heikki Sappinen	Finland	9.05	9.10	18.15	did not advance
	Endre Tihanyi	Hungary	9.10	9.05	18.15	did not advance
69	Jiří Fejtek	Czechoslovakia	8.60	9.50	18.10	did not advance
	Reino Heino	Finland	9.00	9.10	18.10	did not advance
	Jerzy Kruża	Poland	8.95	9.15	18.10	did not advance
72	Gerhard Dietrich	East Germany	8.70	9.35	18.05	did not advance
73	Dave Thor	United States	8.70	9.30	18.00	did not advance
74	Rumen Gabrovski	Bulgaria	8.95	9.00	17.95	did not advance
	Finn Johannesson	Sweden	8.95	9.00	17.95	did not advance
	Mitsuo Tsukahara	Japan	8.35	9.60	17.95	did not advance
	Stefan Zoev	Bulgaria	9.10	8.85	17.95	did not advance
78	Arne Thomsen	Denmark	9.15	8.75	17.90	did not advance
79	Damir Anić	Yugoslavia	8.85	9.00	17.85	did not advance
	Ivan Kondev	Bulgaria	8.85	9.00	17.85	did not advance
81	Michel Bouchonnet	France	8.55	9.25	17.80	did not advance
	Stan Wild	Great Britain	9.10	8.70	17.80	did not advance
83	José González	Mexico	9.00	8.70	17.70	did not advance
	Roberto Pumpido	Cuba	8.70	9.00	17.70	did not advance
85	Michael Booth	Great Britain	8.70	8.95	17.65	did not advance
	Raycho Khristov	Bulgaria	8.50	9.15	17.65	did not advance
	Rogelio Mendoza	Mexico	8.90	8.75	17.65	did not advance
88	José Filipe Abreu	Portugal	8.65	8.95	17.60	did not advance
89	Armando Valles	Mexico	8.70	8.85	17.55	did not advance
90	Sid Jensen	Canada	9.05	8.35	17.40	did not advance
	Gilbert Larose	Canada	8.20	9.20	17.40	did not advance
	Tine Šrot	Yugoslavia	8.20	9.20	17.40	did not advance
93	Vincenzo Mori	Italy	8.95	8.40	17.35	did not advance
94	Erich Hess	West Germany	8.85	8.45	17.30	did not advance
95	Luis Ramírez	Cuba	8.55	8.65	17.20	did not advance
	Octavio Suárez	Cuba	8.00	9.20	17.20	did not advance
97	Steve Mitruk	Canada	8.35	8.80	17.15	did not advance
98	Jorge Rodríguez	Cuba	8.95	8.15	17.10	did not advance
99	Davaanyam Zagdbazaryn	Mongolia	8.50	8.50	17.00	did not advance
100	Enrique García	Mexico	8.00	8.90	16.90	did not advance
101	Roger Dion	Canada	7.70	9.10	16.80	did not advance
102	Kanati Allen	United States	7.70	9.05	16.75	did not advance
	Larbi Lazhari	Algeria	9.00	7.75	16.75	did not advance
104	José Vilchis	Mexico	8.00	8.70	16.70	did not advance
105	Sergio Luna	Ecuador	7.70	8.95	16.65	did not advance
106	Fu Cheng	Taiwan	8.55	8.05	16.60	did not advance
107	Héctor Ramírez	Cuba	8.00	8.55	16.55	did not advance
108	Murray Chessell	Australia	7.55	8.90	16.45	did not advance
109	Chu-Long Lai	Taiwan	8.70	7.70	16.40	did not advance
110	Luis Navarrete	Cuba	7.40	8.60	16.00	did not advance
111	Fernando Valles	Mexico	7.20	8.45	15.65	did not advance
112	Barry Brooker	Canada	7.20	8.05	15.25	did not advance
113	Pedro Rendón	Ecuador	5.70	7.55	13.25	did not advance
114	Eduardo Nájera	Ecuador	5.50	7.20	12.70	did not advance
115	Franco Menichelli	Italy	9.60	—	9.60	did not advance
116	Ernesto Beren	Philippines	6.65	—	6.65	did not advance
117	Norman Henson	Philippines	4.95	—	4.95	did not advance

References

• Official Olympic Report
• www.gymnasticsresults.com
• www.gymn-forum.net