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

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.

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Gold medalist Yevgeny Sadovyi
VenuePiscines Bernat Picornell
Date26 July 1992 (heats & finals)
Competitors55 from 39 nations
Winning time1:46.70 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Yevgeny Sadovyi  Unified Team
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Anders Holmertz  Sweden
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Antti Kasvio  Finland
← 1988
1996 →

Background

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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

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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

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

World record   Giorgio Lamberti (ITA) 1:46.69 Bonn, West Germany 15 August 1989
Olympic record   Duncan Armstrong (AUS) 1:47.25 Seoul, South Korea 19 September 1988

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Swimmer Nation Time Record
26 July Heat 8 Yevgeny Sadovyi   Unified Team 1:46.74 OR
26 July Final A Yevgeny Sadovyi   Unified Team 1:46.70 OR

Schedule

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

Date Time Round
Sunday, 26 July 1992 11:30
18:45
Heats
Finals

Results

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Heats

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

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 6 5 Yevgeny Sadovyi   Unified Team 1:46.74 QA, OR
2 6 4 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:46.76 QA, NR
3 7 6 Vladimir Pyshnenko   Unified Team 1:47.94 QA
4 6 3 Steffen Zesner   Germany 1:48.12 QA
5 8 6 Antti Kasvio   Finland 1:48.31 QA
6 8 5 Joe Hudepohl   United States 1:48.52 QA
7 8 4 Artur Wojdat   Poland 1:48.60 QA
8 8 3 Doug Gjertsen   United States 1:48.65 QA
9 7 5 Roberto Gleria   Italy 1:49.19 QB, WD
10 8 1 Paul Palmer   Great Britain 1:49.21 QB
11 7 3 Kieren Perkins   Australia 1:49.26 QB
12 8 2 Ian Brown   Australia 1:49.32 QB
13 7 4 Massimo Trevisan   Italy 1:49.80 QB
14 7 1 Paul Howe   Great Britain 1:49.86 QB
15 6 8 Tommy Werner   Sweden 1:50.01 QB, WD
16 7 2 Christian Keller   Germany 1:50.07 QB
17 8 8 Turlough O'Hare   Canada 1:50.42 QB
18 4 6 John Steel   New Zealand 1:50.56 QB
19 8 7 Jarl Inge Melberg   Norway 1:50.70
20 6 6 Uğur Taner   Turkey 1:50.95
21 6 1 Cristiano Michelena   Brazil 1:51.04
22 6 2 Gustavo Borges   Brazil 1:51.42
23 7 7 Darren Ward   Canada 1:51.62
24 7 8 Stefaan Maene   Belgium 1:51.85
25 5 2 Robert Pinter   Romania 1:52.24
26 5 4 Trent Bray   New Zealand 1:52.49
27 6 7 Béla Szabados   Hungary 1:52.50
28 4 3 Vesa Hanski   Finland 1:53.17
29 5 3 Jure Bučar   Slovenia 1:53.19
30 5 6 Shigeo Ogata   Japan 1:53.42
31 5 1 Toshiaki Kurasawa   Japan 1:53.75
32 4 4 Franz Mortensen   Denmark 1:53.86
33 3 4 Arthur Li Kai Yien   Hong Kong 1:54.35
34 4 7 Yves Clausse   Luxembourg 1:54.45
35 4 1 Nace Majcen   Slovenia 1:54.57
36 3 3 Jeffrey Ong   Malaysia 1:55.37
37 5 5 Xie Jun   China 1:55.51
38 4 2 Ivor Le Roux   Zimbabwe 1:56.17
39 3 5 Kenneth Yeo   Singapore 1:57.80
40 3 7 Gustavo Bucaro   Guatemala 1:58.13
41 3 1 Kelvin Li   Hong Kong 1:59.40
42 3 6 Benoît Fleurot   Mauritius 1:59.73
43 2 6 Plutarco Castellanos   Honduras 1:59.91
44 2 3 Helder Torres   Guatemala 2:00.04
45 2 5 Frank Flores   Guam 2:00.48
46 3 2 Luis Medina   Bolivia 2:00.87
47 1 3 Émile Lahoud   Lebanon 2:01.06
48 1 4 Hussein Al-Sadiq   Saudi Arabia 2:01.31
49 2 2 Julian Bolling   Sri Lanka 2:02.01
50 1 6 Carl Probert   Fiji 2:04.52
51 2 7 Laurent Alfred   Virgin Islands 2:04.59
52 1 5 Daniele Casadei   San Marino 2:06.14
53 1 2 Ahmad Faraj   United Arab Emirates 2:07.61
54 1 7 Jean-Paul Adam   Seychelles 2:09.99
5 7 Zoltán Szilágyi   Hungary DSQ
2 4 Nayef Al-Hasawi   Kuwait DNS

Finals

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

Final B

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time
9 4 Paul Palmer   Great Britain 1:48.92
10 5 Kieren Perkins   Australia 1:49.75
11 3 Ian Brown   Australia 1:49.77
12 6 Massimo Trevisan   Italy 1:49.85
13 2 Paul Howe   Great Britain 1:50.15
14 7 Christian Keller   Germany 1:50.46
15 1 Turlough O'Hare   Canada 1:51.01
16 8 John Steel   New Zealand 1:51.12

Final A

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  4 Yevgeny Sadovyi   Unified Team 1:46.70 OR
  5 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:46.86
  2 Antti Kasvio   Finland 1:47.63 NR
4 1 Artur Wojdat   Poland 1:48.24
5 3 Vladimir Pyshnenko   Unified Team 1:48.32
6 7 Joe Hudepohl   United States 1:48.36
7 6 Steffen Zesner   Germany 1:48.84
8 8 Doug Gjertsen   United States 1:50.57

References

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  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. ^ a b c "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.
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