Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Summer Olympics took place on August 29 at the Olympia Schwimmhalle.[1][2] There were 46 competitors from 27 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers.[2] The event was won by Mark Spitz of the United States, the nation's second victory in the event (68 years, but only two appearances of the event, apart). It was the third gold medal for Spitz in 1972, halfway to his goal of six (he would ultimately finish the Games with seven). His teammate Steve Genter took silver, with Werner Lampe of West Germany earning bronze. Defending champion Michael Wenden of Australia finished fourth.

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
The medalists on the podium
VenueOlympia Schwimmhalle
Date29 August
Competitors46 from 27 nations
Winning time1:52.78 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mark Spitz  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Steve Genter  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Werner Lampe  West Germany
← 1968
1976 →

Background

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This was the fourth 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]

Two of the 8 finalists from the 1968 Games returned: gold medalist Michael Wenden of Australia and fourth-place finisher Ralph Hutton of Canada. Mark Spitz was the world record holder and a heavy favourite coming into the Games, aiming for at least six gold medals. He had won the 200 fly and 4x100 free relay the day before this event. His biggest challenger was countryman Steve Genter, though Genter was hampered by pneumothorax while in Munich.[2]

Brazil, Cambodia (then Khmer Republic), East Germany, Egypt, Iceland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Australia and the United States made their fourth appearance each, the only two nations 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 7 heats of between 5 and 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

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The standing world and Olympic records prior to this competition were as follows. Clark's Olympic record was set as the first leg in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay final.

World record   Mark Spitz (USA) 1:53.5 Minsk, Soviet Union 10 September 1971
Olympic record   Michael Wenden (AUS) 1:55.2 Mexico City, Mexico 24 October 1968

Mark Spitz beat his own world record in the final, swimming 1:52.78.

Schedule

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All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 29 August 1972 10:00
18:40
Heats
Final

Results

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Heats

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The 8 fastest swimmers from the seven heats, without regard to place in heat, advanced to final.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 7 Mark Spitz   United States 1:55.29 Q
2 6 Steve Genter   United States 1:55.42 Q
3 4 Klaus Steinbach   West Germany 1:55.80 Q
4 3 Werner Lampe   West Germany 1:55.97 Q
5 5 Fred Tyler   United States 1:56.04 Q
6 2 Vladimir Bure   Soviet Union 1:56.15 Q
7 1 Mike Wenden   Australia 1:56.66 Q
8 7 Ralph Hutton   Canada 1:56.84 Q
9 4 Wilfried Hartung   East Germany 1:56.95
10 6 Brian Brinkley   Great Britain 1:56.99
11 2 Georgijs Kuļikovs   Soviet Union 1:57.04
12 7 Udo Poser   East Germany 1:57.23
13 4 Gerardo Vera   Venezuela 1:57.33
14 1 Robert Nay   Australia 1:57.69
15 1 Viktor Mazanov   Soviet Union 1:57.92
16 5 Peter Bruch   East Germany 1:58.49
17 3 Graham White   Australia 1:58.60
18 6 Peter Prijdekker   Netherlands 1:58.78
19 5 Bruce Robertson   Canada 1:59.02
20 1 Hans Ljungberg   Sweden 1:59.42
21 7 Rolf Pettersson   Sweden 2:00.02
22 1 Alfredo Machado   Brazil 2:00.14
23 3 John Mills   Great Britain 2:00.17
24 5 Marian Slavic   Romania 2:00.23
25 4 Olaf, Baron von Schilling   West Germany 2:00.27
26 5 Colin Herring   New Zealand 2:00.29
27 6 Ruy de Oliveira   Brazil 2:00.48
28 2 Pierre Caland   France 2:00.75
29 2 Michael Bailey   Great Britain 2:00.79
30 6 Roberto Pangaro   Italy 2:00.97
31 3 Fritz Warncke   Norway 2:00.98
32 5 Ian MacKenzie   Canada 2:01.22
33 2 Zbigniew Pacelt   Poland 2:01.28
34 4 Bernt Zarnowiecki   Sweden 2:01.34
35 2 Arnaldo Cinquetti   Italy 2:01.78
36 4 Riccardo Targetti   Italy 2:02.58
37 5 Hanspeter Würmli   Switzerland 2:03.14
38 5 Roberto Strauss   Mexico 2:03.57
39 3 Kamal Kenawi Ali Moustafa   Egypt 2:05.30
40 6 Sandro Rudan   Yugoslavia 2:05.88
41 3 Luis Ayesa   Philippines 2:05.97
42 6 Tomás Rengifo   El Salvador 2:08.67
43 6 Finnur Garðarsson   Iceland 2:08.88
44 7 Mark Crocker   Hong Kong 2:12.85
45 7 Samnang Prak   Khmer Republic 2:13.34
46 4 Fawzi Burhma   Kuwait 2:33.75

Final

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Spitz led at the first turn, followed by Bure. Genter, still recovering from his collapsed lung, took the lead at the halfway mark by .13 seconds (54.93 to 55.06 for Spitz). Genter held the lead through the final turn at 150 metres. Wenden, the defending champion, worked his way up to third by that mark. Spitz finished strong to win by a full second over Genter. Lampe also finished strong, beating Wenden for bronze.[2]

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  Mark Spitz   United States 1:52.78 WR
  Steve Genter   United States 1:53.73
  Werner Lampe   West Germany 1:53.99
4 Mike Wenden   Australia 1:54.40
5 Fred Tyler   United States 1:54.96
6 Klaus Steinbach   West Germany 1:55.65
7 Vladimir Bure   Soviet Union 1:57.24
8 Ralph Hutton   Canada 1:57.56

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
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