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.