The men's

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held at the North Greenwich Arena on 28 July and 7 August. It featured 70 competitors from 33 nations.

Epke Zonderland Epke Jan Zonderland (born 16 April 1986) is a Dutch artistic gymnast and the 2012 Olympic gold medallist on high bar. He is a 4-time Olympian (2008–20) and has also taken 3 World Championships golds on high bar at the 2013, 2014 and 2018 W ...

of the Netherlands won the event, his nation's first victory in the horizontal bar and first medal in any Olympic gymnastics event since

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

Fabian Hambüchen Fabian Hambüchen (also spelled Hambuechen; ; born 25 October 1987) is a retired German gymnast who was a four-time Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016) and was Olympic, World, and European champion. Fabian also won gold medals at European Games a ...

of Germany took silver, while

Zou Kai Zou Kai (; born February 25, 1988 in Luzhou, Sichuan) is a five-time Olympic and five-time World champion Chinese gymnast, specializing in floor exercise and the horizontal bar. Zou won his first three Olympic gold medals at the 2008 Olympic G ...

of China earned bronze. Hambüchen and Zou—the bronze and gold medalists, respectively, in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

—were the 11th and 12th men to win multiple medals in the event.

Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the men's horizontal bar event in the Olympics.

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 21st appearance, the most of any nation, having missed only the inaugural 1896 competition and the

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

1980 Games. Five of the eight finalists from

returned: gold medalist

of China, silver medalist

Jonathan Horton Jonathan Alan Horton (born December 31, 1985) is a former American artistic gymnast. He is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist on high bar, the 2010 World all-around bronze medalist, a two-time Olympian, a two-time U.S. National All-Around Champ ...

of the United States, bronze medalist (and 2004 finalist)

of Germany, seventh-place finisher

of the Netherlands, and eighth-place finisher

Yann Cucherat Yann Cucherat (born 2 October 1979) is a French gymnast. He won a bronze medal in parallel bars at the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics ...

of France.

Competition format

The top eight competitors in the qualification phase (with a limit of two per country) advanced to the apparatus final. Qualification scores were then erased, with only final-round scores counting.Format Competition – Artistic Gymnastic

Final results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's horizontal bar Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

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Men's 2012 Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics