Eighty-nine gymnasts competed in the uneven bars event during the compulsory and optional rounds on July 21 and 23. The eight highest scoring gymnasts advanced to the final on July 28. Each country was limited to two competitors in the final.
The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was also the last games to allow awarding of joint medals for identical scores in artistic gymnastics as there were no tie-breaking rules established yet by the International Gymnastics Federation at the time to separate gymnasts who tied with the same scores.
