Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Bruce Furniss.jpg
Gold medalist Bruce Furniss
Venue Olympic Pool, Montreal
Date19 July
Competitors55 from 33 nations
Winning time1:50.29 WR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Bruce Furniss Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg John Naber Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Jim Montgomery Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1972
1980  

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place on July 19 at the Olympic Pool, Montreal. [1] [2] There were 55 competitors from 33 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers. [2] The medals were swept the United States, the only time there has been a medal sweep in the men's 200 metre freestyle (in 1984, nations were limited to two swimmers, making sweeps impossible). Bruce Furniss took gold, John Naber silver, and Jim Montgomery bronze. It was the second consecutive and third overall victory by an American swimmer.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. [2]

Two of the 8 finalists from the 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist Werner Lampe and sixth-place finisher Klaus Steinbach, both of West Germany. Reigning Olympic champion Mark Spitz had retired at the age of 22 after winning 7 gold medals in 1972. The American team was still strong, however. Jim Montgomery had won the inaugural 1973 World Aquatics Championships. Tim Shaw, the 1975 World Champion who had broken Spitz's world record, did not swim in this event after finishing 5th in the U.S. trials (he competed in longer races in 1976). The 1975 runner-up, Bruce Furniss, however, had broken Shaw's record three times and was a favourite in this event. Montgomery and Furniss were joined by backstroke specialist John Naber. [2] [3]

The Bahamas, Bulgaria, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. Australia and the United States made their fifth appearance each, the only two nations to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Competition format

The competition used a two-round (heats, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 8 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records

The standing world and Olympic records prior to this competition were as follows. Clark's Olympic record was set as the first leg in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay final.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Bruce Furniss  (USA)1:50.32 Kansas City, United States 21 August 1975
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Mark Spitz  (USA)1:52.78 Munich, West Germany 29 August 1972

Making the final in the 1976 event required at least matching the Olympic record, with seven men coming in under that time and an eighth equaling it. Andrey Bogdanov held a new record briefly, swimming 1:52.71 in the second heat. Klaus Steinbach dropped more than a full second off that time in the next heat, though, with a time of 1:51.41. The fourth, fifth, and sixth heats saw four men swim between Bogdanov's and Steinbach's times. Bruce Furniss, swimming in the eighth heat, cut almost half a second off Steinbach's record, coming in at 1:50.93.

That record would not stand long; four men beat it in the final. Only one of those men came in under the world record however: Furniss bettered his own world and Olympic records with 1:50.29 to win gold.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

DateTimeRound
Monday, 19 July 19769:30
20:00
Heats
Final

Results

Heats

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
18 Bruce Furniss Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:50.93Q, OR
23 Klaus Steinbach Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1:51.41Q, OR
34 Andrey Krylov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:51.42Q
46 Jim Montgomery Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:51.77Q
55 Peter Nocke Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1:52.16Q
65 Gordon Downie Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:52.47Q
72 Andrey Bogdanov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:52.71Q, OR
87 John Naber Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:52.78Q
92 Brian Brinkley Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:53.07
101 Sergey Koplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:53.44
113 Marcello Guarducci Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:53.72
125 Steve Badger Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:53.86
136 Bill Sawchuk Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:54.07
147 Jorge Delgado, Jr. Flag of Ecuador (1900-2009).svg  Ecuador 1:54.23
154 Graham Windeatt Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:54.35
168 Mark Kerry Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:54.86
172 David López-Zubero Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 1:54.88
188 Peter Dawson Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:55.16
196 Rainer Strohbach Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:55.25
203 Roberto Pangaro Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:55.30
217 Frank Pfütze Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:55.57
224 James Hett Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:55.58
231 René van der Kuil Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:55.59
244 Ali Gharbi Flag of Tunisia (1959-1999).svg  Tunisia 1:55.82
257 Alan McClatchey Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:55.84
263 Werner Lampe Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1:56.01
271 Bengt Gingsjö Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:56.31
288 Peter Pettersson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:56.51
297 Anders Bellbring Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:57.20
306 Paolo Revelli Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:57.25
311 Fritz Warncke Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:57.59
325 Andre in het Veld Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:57.60
335 John McConnochie Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:57.77
341 Tsuyoshi Yanagidate Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 1:58.04
358 Guillermo García Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 1:58.20
362 Georgios Karpouzis Flag of Greece (1828-1978).svg  Greece 1:59.25
372 Eduardo Pérez Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 1:59.53
387 Francisco Cañales Flag of Puerto Rico (1952-1995).svg  Puerto Rico 1:59.62
391 Luis Goicoechea Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 1:59.68
404 Steven Newkirk Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 1:59.95
413 Kevin Williamson Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 2:00.08
426 Andy Knowles Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 2:00.18
433 Nikolay Ganev Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 2:00.54
447 Petar Georgiev Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 2:00.70
452 Tomas Becerra Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 2:00.72
465 Mark Crocker Flag of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg  Hong Kong 2:00.81
476 Lutz Löscher Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 2:01.00
481 Kris Sumono Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 2:01.12
498 Sigurður Ólafsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 2:01.18
506 Gianni Versari Flag of Panama.svg  Panama 2:02.25
515 Paulo Frischknecht Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2:02.65
528 Gerardo Rosario Flag of the Philippines (1936-1985, 1986-1998).svg  Philippines 2:02.81
534 José Pereira Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2:03.03
547 Patrick Novaretti Flag of Monaco.svg  Monaco 2:04.29
553 Frank Richardson Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua 2:12.33

Final

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Bruce Furniss Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:50.29 WR
Silver medal icon.svg John Naber Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:50.50
Bronze medal icon.svg Jim Montgomery Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:50.58
4 Andrey Krylov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:50.73
5 Klaus Steinbach Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1:51.09
6 Peter Nocke Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1:51.71
7 Gordon Downie Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:52.78
8 Andrey Bogdanov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:53.33

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References

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