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

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Moscow Olympic Pool 1980.jpg
The pool at Olimpiysky Sports Complex
Venue Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex
Date21 July
Competitors42 from 24 nations
Winning time1:49.81 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Sergey Koplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Silver medal icon.svg Andrey Krylov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Bronze medal icon.svg Graeme Brewer Olympic flag.svg  Australia
  1976
1984  

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 21 July at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex. [1] There were 42 competitors from 24 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers. [2] The event was won by Sergey Koplyakov of the Soviet Union, with his fellow countryman Andrey Krylov finishing second. The medals were the first for the Soviet Union in the men's 200 metre freestyle. Graeme Brewer of Australia won that nation's first medal in the event since 1968 with his bronze.

Background

This was the sixth 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]

One of the 8 finalists from the 1976 Games returned: fourth-place finisher Andrey Krylov of the Soviet Union. The American-led boycott severely impacted swimming in 1980; the United States had swept this event in 1976. The 1978 World Aquatics Championships winner and runner-up were Americans; neither Bill Forrester nor Rowdy Gaines (who also held the world record) could compete. World bronze medalist Sergey Koplyakov of the Soviet Union was the favourite in their absence. [2]

Algeria, Angola, Czechoslovakia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Australia made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event other than the absent United States.

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

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

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Rowdy Gaines  (USA)1:49.16 Austin, United States 11 April 1980
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Bruce Furniss  (USA)1:50.29 Montreal, Canada 19 July 1976

The following records were established during the competition:

DateEventSwimmerNationTimeRecord
21 JulyFinal Sergey Koplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:49.81 OR

Schedule

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

DateTimeRound
Monday, 21 July 198010:00
20:00
Heats
Final

Results

Heats

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
16 Sergey Koplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:51.04Q
25 Andrey Krylov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:51.21Q
36 Graeme Brewer Olympic flag.svg  Australia 1:51.92Q
44 Jörg Woithe Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:52.33Q
51 Paolo Revelli Olympic flag.svg  Italy 1:52.56Q
62 Fabrizio Rampazzo Olympic flag.svg  Italy 1:52.62Q
74 Ron McKeon Olympic flag.svg  Australia 1:52.66Q
84 Thomas Lejdström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:53.04Q
93 David López-Zubero Spain Olympic Flag 1980.svg  Spain 1:53.22
102 Fabien Noël Olympic flag.svg  France 1:53.25
115 Detlev Grabs Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:53.38
123 Ivar Stukolkin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:53.44
131 Per Wikström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:53.59
146 Frank Kühne Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:53.63
154 Martin Smith Olympic flag.svg  Great Britain 1:54.17
163 Jorge Fernandes Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil 1:54.32
175 Marcus Mattioli Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil 1:54.39
186 Petar Kochanov Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 1:54.45
194 Cyro Delgado Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil 1:54.59
206 Jean-Marie François Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 1:54.76
211 Paulo Frischknecht Flag of Portugal-1980-Olympics.svg  Portugal 1:55.06
226 Radek Havel Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 1:55.07
231 Rui Abreu Flag of Portugal-1980-Olympics.svg  Portugal 1:55.25
242 Peter Drost Olympic flag.svg  Netherlands 1:55.41
252 Per-Ola Quist Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:55.38
262 Kevin Lee Olympic flag.svg  Great Britain 1:55.63
273 Alberto Mestre Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 1:55.69
285 Petr Adamec Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 1:55.84
296 Tsvetan Golomeev Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 1:55.88
301 Dominique Petit Olympic flag.svg  France 1:56.01
314 Cees Jan Winkel Olympic flag.svg  Netherlands 1:56.48
322 Borut Petrič Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg  Yugoslavia 1:56.51
331 Guy Goosen Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 1:56.58
343 Ramón Lavín Spain Olympic Flag 1980.svg  Spain 1:56.99
353 Kevin Williamson Olympic flag.svg  Ireland 1:57.37
365 Stéfan Voléry Olympic flag.svg  Switzerland 1:57.69
372 Reda Yadi Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 2:06.26
384Adham HemdanFlag of Kuwait (3-2).svg  Kuwait 2:07.51
393 Tô Văn Vệ Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam 2:11.51
402 Jorge Lima Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 2:14.37
411 Bilall Yamouth Flag of Lebanon (1943-1995).svg  Lebanon 2:27.94
424 Ntewane Machel Flag of Mozambique (1975-1983).svg  Mozambique 2:35.45
1 Mohamed Bendahmane Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria DNS
3 Mark Lazzaro Olympic flag.svg  France
5 Mark Tonelli Olympic flag.svg  Australia
5 Rafael Vidal Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela
5 Mohamed Halimi Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria
6 David Cummins Olympic flag.svg  Ireland

Final

RankSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Sergey Koplyakov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:49.81 OR
Silver medal icon.svg Andrey Krylov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1:50.76
Bronze medal icon.svg Graeme Brewer Olympic flag.svg  Australia 1:51.60
4 Jörg Woithe Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1:51.86
5 Ron McKeon Olympic flag.svg  Australia 1:52.60
6 Paolo Revelli Olympic flag.svg  Italy 1:52.76
7 Thomas Lejdström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:52.94
8 Fabrizio Rampazzo Olympic flag.svg  Italy 1:53.25

References

  1. "Games of the XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980 – Volume 3: Participants and Results". Fizkultura i sport. pp. 451, 460. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 June 2021.