Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place September 1.[1] 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 eight lengths of the pool.

Rick DeMont of the United States originally won the gold medal in 4:00.26. Following the race, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped DeMont of his gold medal[2] after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance ephedrine contained in his prescription asthma medication, Marax. The positive test following the 400-meter freestyle final also deprived him of a chance at multiple medals, as he was not permitted to swim in any other events at the 1972 Olympics, including the 1,500-meter freestyle for which he was the then-current world record-holder. Before the Olympics, DeMont had properly declared his asthma medications on his medical disclosure forms, but the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) had not cleared them with the IOC's medical committee. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has recognized his gold medal performance in the 1972 Summer Olympics in 2001, but only the IOC has the power to restore his rankings, and it has not done so.[3]

Medalists

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Gold Brad Cooper
  Australia
Silver Steve Genter
  United States
Bronze Tom McBreen
  United States

Results

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Heats

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Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Gunnar Larsson   Sweden 4:09.88
2 Ton van Klooster   Netherlands 4:11.72
3 Guillermo García   Mexico 4:15.33
4 Alain Charmey   Switzerland 4:18.25
5 Bruce Robertson   Canada 4:20.31
6 Neil Dexter   Great Britain 4:24.80
7 Kamal Kenawi Ali Moustafa   Egypt 4:24.97

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Bengt Gingsjö   Sweden 4:06.59 OR, Q
2 Hans Fassnacht   West Germany 4:09.23
3 Udo Poser   East Germany 4:09.62
4 Peter Rosenkranz   West Germany 4:14.01
5 Tomás Becerra   Colombia 4:20.78
6 Dae Imlani   Philippines 4:24.01
7 Dimitrios Theodoropoulos   Greece 4:30.54

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Steve Genter   United States 4:05.89 OR, Q
2 Anders Bellbring   Sweden 4:08.38
3 Aleksandr Samsonov   Soviet Union 4:11.46
4 Wolfram Sperling   East Germany 4:14.73
5 Sverre Kile   Norway 4:20.86
6 José Luis Prado   Mexico 4:22.31
7 Friðrik Guðmundsson   Iceland 4:26.25

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Brad Cooper   Australia 4:04.59 OR, Q
2 Werner Lampe   West Germany 4:04.80 Q
3 Ralph Hutton   Canada 4:09.27
4 Władysław Wojtakajtis   Poland 4:16.04
5 Alfredo Machado   Brazil 4:18.05
6 Arnaldo Cinquetti   Italy 4:19.49
7 Gustavo González   Argentina 4:21.22

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Rick DeMont   United States 4:05.70 Q
2 Graham Windeatt   Australia 4:05.92 Q
3 Gerardo Vera   Venezuela 4:11.37
4 Jorge Delgado   Ecuador 4:12.29
5 Mark Treffers   New Zealand 4:14.10
6 Antonio Corell   Spain 4:17.81
7 Jo O-ryeon   South Korea 4:21.78

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Tom McBreen   United States 4:06.09 Q
2 Brian Brinkley   Great Britain 4:06.44 Q
3 Graham White   Australia 4:08.29
4 Ron Jacks   Canada 4:16.08
5 Viktor Aboimov   Soviet Union 4:17.04
6 Klaus Dockhorn   East Germany 4:17.98
7 Guillermo Pacheco   Peru 4:18.78
8 François Deley   Belgium 4:24.73

Final

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Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
  Brad Cooper   Australia 4:00.27 OR
  Steve Genter   United States 4:01.94
  Tom McBreen   United States 4:02.64
4 Graham Windeatt   Australia 4:02.93
5 Brian Brinkley   Great Britain 4:06.69
6 Bengt Gingsjö   Sweden 4:06.75
7 Werner Lampe   West Germany 4:06.97
Rick DeMont   United States 4:00.26 DSQ

Key: DSQ = Disqualified, OR = Olympic record

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ^ Neil Amdur, "Of Gold and Drugs," The New York Times (September 4, 1972). Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "Better late than never". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Associated Press. 30 January 2001. Archived from the original on 7 May 2001.