Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Yevgeny Sadovyi 002.JPG
Gold medalist Yevgeny Sadovyi
Venue Piscines Bernat Picornell
Date26 July 1992 (heats & finals)
Competitors55 from 39 nations
Winning time1:46.70 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Yevgeny Sadovyi Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team
Silver medal icon.svg Anders Holmertz Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Bronze medal icon.svg Antti Kasvio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
  1988
1996  

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 26 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain. [1] There were 55 competitors from 39 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers (a limit in place since 1984). [2] The event was won by Yevgeny Sadovyi of the Unified Team; it was the first victory in the men's 200 metre freestyle by an athlete from the former Soviet Union since Moscow 1980. Anders Holmertz of Sweden repeated as the silver medalist, becoming the first man to win multiple medals in the event. Antti Kasvio earned a bronze medal in Finland's debut in the event.

Background

This was the ninth 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]

Three of the 8 finalists from the 1988 Games returned: silver medalist Anders Holmertz of Sweden, fourth-place finisher Artur Wojdat of Poland, and sixth-place finisher Steffen Zesner of East Germany (now competing for unified Germany). Reigning World Champion and world record holder Giorgio Lamberti of Italy competed in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay but not this event after a bout of flu at the Italian trials kept him from qualifying. Reigning Olympic champion and Olympic record holder Duncan Armstrong of Australia also competed only in the relay. The other two medalists from the 1991 World Aquatics Championships were Zesner (silver) and Wojdat (bronze). [2]

Bolivia, Finland, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Slovenia, and Sri Lanka each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. Australia made its ninth appearance, the only nation 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. The 1984 event had also introduced a consolation or "B" final; the swimmers placing 9th through 16th in the heats competed in this "B" final for placing. 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 Italy.svg  Giorgio Lamberti  (ITA)1:46.69 Bonn, West Germany 15 August 1989
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Duncan Armstrong  (AUS)1:47.25 Seoul, South Korea 19 September 1988

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundSwimmerNationTimeRecord
26 JulyHeat 8 Yevgeny Sadovyi Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:46.74 OR
26 JulyFinal A Yevgeny Sadovyi Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:46.70 OR

Schedule

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

DateTimeRound
Sunday, 26 July 199211:30
18:45
Heats
Finals

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q). [3]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
165 Yevgeny Sadovyi Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:46.74QA, OR
264 Anders Holmertz Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:46.76QA, NR
376 Vladimir Pyshnenko Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:47.94QA
463 Steffen Zesner Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:48.12QA
586 Antti Kasvio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1:48.31QA
685 Joe Hudepohl Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:48.52QA
784 Artur Wojdat Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1:48.60QA
883 Doug Gjertsen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:48.65QA
975 Roberto Gleria Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:49.19QB, WD
1081 Paul Palmer Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 1:49.21QB
1173 Kieren Perkins Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:49.26QB
1282 Ian Brown Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:49.32QB
1374 Massimo Trevisan Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:49.80QB
1471 Paul Howe Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 1:49.86QB
1568 Tommy Werner Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:50.01QB, WD
1672 Christian Keller Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:50.07QB
1788 Turlough O'Hare Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:50.42QB
1846 John Steel Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:50.56QB
1987 Jarl Inge Melberg Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1:50.70
2066 Uğur Taner Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 1:50.95
2161 Cristiano Michelena Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:51.04
2262 Gustavo Borges Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:51.42
2377 Darren Ward Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:51.62
2478 Stefaan Maene Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 1:51.85
2552 Robert Pinter Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:52.24
2654 Trent Bray Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:52.49
2767 Béla Szabados Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 1:52.50
2843 Vesa Hanski Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1:53.17
2953 Jure Bučar Civil Ensign of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:53.19
3056 Shigeo Ogata Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 1:53.42
3151 Toshiaki Kurasawa Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 1:53.75
3244 Franz Mortensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 1:53.86
3334 Arthur Li Kai Yien Flag of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg  Hong Kong 1:54.35
3447 Yves Clausse Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 1:54.45
3541 Nace Majcen Civil Ensign of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:54.57
3633 Jeffrey Ong Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 1:55.37
3755 Xie Jun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1:55.51
3842 Ivor Le Roux Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 1:56.17
3935 Kenneth Yeo Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 1:57.80
4037 Gustavo Bucaro Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala 1:58.13
4131 Kelvin Li Flag of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg  Hong Kong 1:59.40
4236 Benoît Fleurot Flag of Mauritius.svg  Mauritius 1:59.73
4326 Plutarco Castellanos Flag of Honduras (before 2022).svg  Honduras 1:59.91
4423 Helder Torres Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala 2:00.04
4525 Frank Flores Flag of Guam.svg  Guam 2:00.48
4632 Luis Medina Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia 2:00.87
4713 Émile Lahoud Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon 2:01.06
4814 Hussein Al-Sadiq Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia 2:01.31
4922 Julian Bolling Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka 2:02.01
5016 Carl Probert Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 2:04.52
5127 Laurent Alfred Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 2:04.59
5215Daniele CasadeiFlag of San Marino (before 2011).svg  San Marino 2:06.14
5312 Ahmad Faraj Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 2:07.61
5417 Jean-Paul Adam Flag of Seychelles (1977-1996).svg  Seychelles 2:09.99
57 Zoltán Szilágyi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DSQ
24 Nayef Al-Hasawi Flag of Kuwait (3-2).svg  Kuwait DNS

Finals

There were two finals, one for the top 8 swimmers and one for the next 8 (9th through 16th). [4]

Final B

RankLaneSwimmerNationTime
94 Paul Palmer Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 1:48.92
105 Kieren Perkins Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:49.75
113 Ian Brown Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:49.77
126 Massimo Trevisan Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:49.85
132 Paul Howe Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 1:50.15
147 Christian Keller Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:50.46
151 Turlough O'Hare Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:51.01
168 John Steel Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:51.12

Final A

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Yevgeny Sadovyi Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:46.70 OR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Anders Holmertz Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 1:46.86
Bronze medal icon.svg2 Antti Kasvio Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1:47.63 NR
41 Artur Wojdat Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 1:48.24
53 Vladimir Pyshnenko Olympic flag.svg  Unified Team 1:48.32
67 Joe Hudepohl Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:48.36
76 Steffen Zesner Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:48.84
88 Doug Gjertsen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:50.57

References

  1. "Swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Barcelona 1992 . LA84 Foundation. p. 359. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  4. "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Barcelona 1992 . LA84 Foundation. p. 359. Retrieved 27 August 2017.