Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

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Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Moscow Olympic Pool 1980.jpg
Olimpiysky Sports Complex pool
Venue Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex
Date26 July
Competitors25 from 16 nations
Winning time2:01.93
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Sándor Wladár Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Silver medal icon.svg Zoltán Verrasztó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Bronze medal icon.svg Mark Kerry Olympic flag.svg  Australia
  1976
1984  

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 26 July at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex. [1] There were 25 competitors from 16 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers. [2] The event was won by Sándor Wladár of Hungary, with his countryman Zoltán Verrasztó taking second. Mark Kerry of Australia earned bronze. They were the first medals in the event for both nations. The United States' four-Games podium streak (over which the nation earned 10 of 12 possible medals) ended due to the American-led boycott.

Background

This was the sixth appearance of the 200 metre backstroke event. It was first held in 1900. The event did not return until 1964; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. From 1904 to 1960, a men's 100 metre backstroke was held instead. In 1964, only the 200 metres was held. Beginning in 1968 and ever since, both the 100 and 200 metre versions have been held. [2]

Five of the 8 finalists from the 1976 Games (all but the medalists) returned: fourth-place finisher Mark Tonelli and fifth-place finisher Mark Kerry of Australia, sixth-place finisher Miloslav Roľko of Czechoslovakia, and seventh-place finisher Róbert Rudolf and eighth-place finisher Zoltán Verrasztó of Hungary. The medals in 1976 had been swept by American swimmers; the United States boycotted the 1980 Games. Verrasztó had earned medals at each of the three World Championships held so far (silver in 1973, gold in 1975, and bronze in 1978), and was favored with no American swimmers in the pool. [2]

Ireland, Romania, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event. The Netherlands made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event to that point.

Competition format

The competition used a two-round (heats and 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 4 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 backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  John Naber  (USA)1:59.19 Montreal, Canada 24 July 1976
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  John Naber  (USA)1:59.19 Montreal, Canada 24 July 1976

Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

DateTimeRound
Saturday, 26 July 198010:00
20:00
Heats
Final

Results

Heats

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
14 Sándor Wladár Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:02.62Q
24 Zoltán Verrasztó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:03.08Q
33 Mark Kerry Olympic flag.svg  Australia 2:03.60Q
41 Vladimir Shemetov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 2:04.20Q
53 Michael Söderlund Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 2:04.67Q
61 Douglas Campbell Olympic flag.svg  Great Britain 2:04.78Q
71 Fred Eefting Olympic flag.svg  Netherlands 2:04.84Q
82 Paul Moorfoot Olympic flag.svg  Australia 2:04.87Q
91 Vladimir Dolgov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 2:05.11
102 Miloslav Roľko Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 2:05.13
112 Viktor Kuznetsov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 2:05.14
123 Jörg Stingl Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 2:05.19
132 Frédéric Delcourt Olympic flag.svg  France 2:05.20
142 Franky De Groote Olympic flag.svg  Belgium 2:06.97
154 Mark Tonelli Olympic flag.svg  Australia 2:07.04
164 Bengt Baron Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 2:07.13
174 Nenad Miloš Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia 2:07.51
184 Mihai Mandache Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg  Romania 2:07.97
194 Zbigniew Januszkiewicz Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2:08.11
203 Róbert Rudolf Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:08.23
211 Jim Carter Olympic flag.svg  Great Britain 2:09.94
221 David Cummins Olympic flag.svg  Ireland 2:12.45
233 Dietmar Göhring Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 2:14.11
243 Daniel Ayora Flag of Peru.svg  Peru 2:17.12
252 Phạm Văn Thành Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam 2:28.40
1 Rui Abreu Flag of Portugal-1980-Olympics.svg  Portugal DNS
2 Djan Madruga Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil DNS
3 Rômulo Arantes Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil DNS

Final

RankSwimmerNationTime
Gold medal icon.svg Sándor Wladár Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:01.93
Silver medal icon.svg Zoltán Verrasztó Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:02.40
Bronze medal icon.svg Mark Kerry Olympic flag.svg  Australia 2:03.14
4 Vladimir Shemetov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 2:03.48
5 Fred Eefting Olympic flag.svg  Netherlands 2:03.92
6 Michael Söderlund Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 2:04.10
7 Douglas Campbell Olympic flag.svg  Great Britain 2:04.23
8 Paul Moorfoot Olympic flag.svg  Australia 2:06.15

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References

  1. "Games of the XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980 – Volume 3: Participants and Results". Fizkultura i sport. pp. 450, 464. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "200 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 July 2021.