Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars

Men's parallel bars at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Canary wharf and dome London
Venue	North Greenwich Arena 1
Dates	28 July (qualifying) 7 August (final)
Competitors	71 from 33 nations
Winning score	15.966
Medalists
Feng Zhe  China Marcel Nguyen  Germany Hamilton Sabot  France

The men's parallel bars competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the North Greenwich Arena 1 on 28 July and 7 August. There were 71 competitors from 33 nations. The event was won by Feng Zhe of China, the nation's second consecutive victory in the parallel bars and third overall (tying Switzerland for third-most all-time after Japan and the Soviet Union with four). Marcel Nguyen's silver was the first medal for united Germany in the event since 1936 and the first for any German gymnast in the parallel bars since 1988. Hamilton Sabot earned France's first parallel bars medal with his bronze.

The 2012 parallel bars was unusual in that it had nine gymnasts in the final, after a tie for the last place could not be resolved.

Background

This was the 23rd 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). Only one of the eight finalists from 2008 returned: fourth-place finisher Fabian Hambüchen of Germany. Reigning world champion Danell Leyva of the United States was favored, but the field was strong. Feng Zhe of China had won the world championship in 2010 and finished second in 2011. Marcel Nguyen of Germany was the two-time European champion.

Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Slovakia, and Vietnam each made their debut in the men's parallel bars. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation; the Americans had missed only the inaugural 1896 event and the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

Main article: Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Qualification for the men's artistic gymnastics in 2008 was based primarily on the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. The top 8 teams at the world championships could send a full team of 5 gymnasts to the Olympics. The next 8 teams (#9 through #16) competed in the 2012 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event, with the top 4 of those teams also qualifying a team of 5 gymnasts for the Olympics. The individual apparatus medalists from the World Championships also qualified, if their nation had not already qualified a team. The FIG Executive Board made invitational selections to ensure host country and continental representation and the Tripartite Commission made an invitation. The quota of 98 gymnasts was then filled through the individual all-around rankings at the Test Event, with each nation able to qualify only one gymnast in that manner (though this one gymnast could be added to the world championship apparatus medalists—for example, Brazil qualified Diego Hypólito as bronze medalist in the floor, Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti as silver medalist in the rings, and Sérgio Sasaki through the Test Event).

Competition format

The top eight qualifiers in the qualification phase (limit two per NOC) advanced to the apparatus final. Qualification scores were then erased, with only final round scores counting.

Scoring in artistic gymnastics under the Code of Points is based on two separate scores that are then combined in order to come to the final score. The A score measures the difficulty of each element (and combinations of elements) within the routine, while the B score evaluates the performance, ie, the "execution, composition and artistry" of the routine.

Schedule

North Greenwich Arena

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 28 July 2012	11:00	Qualifying
Tuesday, 7 August 2012	14:00	Final

Results

Qualifying

Main article: Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic qualification

The top eight, limited to two per nation, in the qualifying round advanced to the final. Japan had three men in the top eight; Kohei Uchimura finished fifth in qualifying, but was unable to advance because the Tanaka brothers had placed first and second. With Uchimura ineligible, the ninth-place gymnast would advance—except there were two. The tie-breakers that would normally separate tied gymnasts were unable to resolve the tie between Zhang and Sabot, so both advanced.

Final

Rank	Gymnast	Nation	D Score	E Score	Pen.	Total
	Feng Zhe	China	7.000	8.966		15.966
	Marcel Nguyen	Germany	6.800	9.000		15.800
	Hamilton Sabot	France	6.700	8.866		15.566
4	Kazuhito Tanaka	Japan	6.700	8.800		15.500
5	Daniel Corral	Mexico	6.600	8.733		15.333
6	Emin Garibov	Russia	6.500	8.800		15.300
	Vasileios Tsolakidis	Greece	6.500	8.800		15.300
8	Yusuke Tanaka	Japan	6.400	8.700		15.100
9	Zhang Chenglong	China	6.300	7.508		13.808