Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.[1] There were 44 competitors from 32 nations.[2] Each nation had been limited to two swimmers in the event since 1984. The event was won by Igor Polyansky of the Soviet Union. Frank Baltrusch of East Germany took silver, while Paul Kingsman of New Zealand earned bronze. The medals were the first in the men's 200 metre backstroke for the Soviet Union and New Zealand; East Germany had not medaled in the event since Roland Matthes won gold in 1968 and 1972. For the first time, the United States competed and did not earn at least silver.

Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Silver medalist Frank Baltrusch (earlier in 1988)
VenueJamsil Indoor Swimming Pool
Date22 September 1988 (heats & finals)
Competitors44 from 32 nations
Winning time1:59.37
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Igor Polyansky  Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Frank Baltrusch  East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Paul Kingsman  New Zealand
← 1984
1992 →

The award ceremony did not go smoothly. Kingsman was erroneously introduced as being from the Soviet Union. When his nationality was corrected to New Zealand, it was also announced that the New Zealand national anthem would be played. This had to be corrected as well, and the Soviet anthem (for the winner, Polyansky) was played.[2]

Background

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This was the eighth appearance of the 200 metre backstroke event. It was first held in 1900. The event did not return until 1964; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. From 1904 to 1960, a men's 100 metre backstroke was held instead. In 1964, only the 200 metres was held. Beginning in 1968 and ever since, both the 100 and 200 metre versions have been held.[2]

None of the 8 finalists from the 1984 Games returned. The medalists at the 1986 World Aquatics Championships had been Igor Polyansky of the Soviet Union, Frank Baltrusch of East Germany, and Frank Hoffmeister of West Germany. All three competed in Seoul. Polyansky was also the world record holder, having set it in a Soviet-East German dual meet in 1985. He was the heavy favourite in the event, with his only loss since 1985 being the European championship (to fellow Soviet Sergei Zabolotnov).[2]

Costa Rica, Guam, Iceland, Lebanon, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Australia and Great Britain each made their seventh appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

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The competition used a two-round (heats and 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. A "consolation final" had been added in 1984. There were 6 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. The next 8 (9th through 16th) competed in a consolation final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used backstroke. 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   Igor Polyansky (URS) 1:58.14 Erfurt, East Germany 3 March 1985
Olympic record   Rick Carey (USA) 1:58.99 Los Angeles, United States 31 July 1984

Schedule

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All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 22 September 1988 10:00
20:00
Finals

Results

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Heats

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The eight fastest swimmers advanced to Final A, while the next eight went to Final B.[3]

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 6 Sergei Zabolotnov   Soviet Union 2:01.27 QA
2 5 Frank Baltrusch   East Germany 2:01.49 QA
3 4 Dirk Richter   East Germany 2:01.54 QA
4 6 Igor Polyansky   Soviet Union 2:01.70 QA
5 4 Dan Veatch   United States 2:01.73 QA
6 6 Jens-Peter Berndt   West Germany 2:01.77 QA
7 6 Paul Kingsman   New Zealand 2:02.20 QA
8 5 Rogério Romero   Brazil 2:02.26 QA
9 4 Georgi Mihalev   Bulgaria 2:02.71 QB
10 6 Tamás Deutsch   Hungary 2:03.17 QB
11 5 Martín López-Zubero   Spain 2:03.33 QB
12 4 Frank Hoffmeister   West Germany 2:03.34 QB
13 5 Daichi Suzuki   Japan 2:03.36 QB
14 5 Stefano Battistelli   Italy 2:03.63 QB, WD
15 4 Steve Bigelow   United States 2:03.64 QB
16 3 Gary Binfield   Great Britain 2:03.79 QB
17 4 Sean Murphy   Canada 2:03.81 QB, WD
18 5 Mark Tewksbury   Canada 2:04.02 QB
19 3 Alejandro Alvizuri   Peru 2:04.29
20 3 John Davey   Great Britain 2:04.70
21 6 David Holderbach   France 2:04.83
22 3 Ernesto Vela   Mexico 2:05.08
6 Simon Upton   Australia 2:05.08
24 5 Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson   Iceland 2:05.61
25 3 Richard Gheel   Ireland 2:05.71
26 6 Lars Sørensen   Denmark 2:05.73
27 2 Stephen Cullen   Ireland 2:06.98
28 4 Pavel Vokoun   Czechoslovakia 2:07.24
29 2 Patrick Ferland   Switzerland 2:07.77
30 3 Lin Laijiu   China 2:08.28
31 2 David Lim Fong Jock   Singapore 2:08.65
32 3 Shigemori Maruyama   Japan 2:09.16
33 2 Wladimir Ribeiro   Brazil 2:11.48
34 2 Horst Niehaus   Costa Rica 2:12.83
35 2 Eric Greenwood   Costa Rica 2:15.42
36 2 Patrick Sagisi   Guam 2:15.82
37 1 Brett Halford   Zimbabwe 2:17.84
38 1 Pablo Barahona   Honduras 2:21.61
39 1 Mohamed Abdullah   United Arab Emirates 2:29.64
40 1 Mohamed Bin Abid   United Arab Emirates 2:36.21
41 1 Rami Kantari   Lebanon 2:40.29
2 Park Dong-pil   South Korea DSQ
3 Charalambos Papanikolaou   Greece DSQ
5 Tamás Darnyi   Hungary DSQ

Finals

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The finals were held in the evening of 22 September.[4]

Final B

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time
9 6 Frank Hoffmeister   West Germany 2:01.65
10 7 Steve Bigelow   United States 2:02.95
11 3 Martín López-Zubero   Spain 2:03.70
12 8 Mark Tewksbury   Canada 2:03.79
13 4 Georgi Mihalev   Bulgaria 2:04.24
14 5 Tamás Deutsch   Hungary 2:04.42
15 2 Daichi Suzuki   Japan 2:04.67
16 1 Gary Binfield   Great Britain 2:04.90

Final A

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Zabalotnov led at the halfway mark. Polyansky took the lead during the third length, with Baltrusch and Kingsman also passing Zabolotnov.[2]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  6 Igor Polyansky   Soviet Union 1:59.37
  5 Frank Baltrusch   East Germany 1:59.60
  1 Paul Kingsman   New Zealand 2:00.48 NR
4 4 Sergei Zabolotnov   Soviet Union 2:00.52
5 3 Dirk Richter   East Germany 2:01.67
6 7 Jens-Peter Berndt   West Germany 2:01.84
7 2 Dan Veatch   United States 2:02.26
8 8 Rogério Romero   Brazil 2:02.28

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "200 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 200m Backstroke Heats" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 407. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 200m Backstroke Finals" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. pp. 407–408. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
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