This was the first 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). The field consisted of 10 Germans and 8 gymnasts from 5 other nations.[2][3]
Competition format
Judges awarded the prizes, but little is known of the scoring and rankings.[2][4]
Schedule
The men's parallel bars was held in the morning of the fifth day of events, having been moved from the fourth day as the other gymnastics events went too long to finish the full programme.[4]
Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J.; Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at [1])