Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 26 July at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex.[1] There were 25 competitors from 16 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers.[2] The event was won by Sándor Wladár of Hungary, with his countryman Zoltán Verrasztó taking second. Mark Kerry of Australia earned bronze. They were the first medals in the event for both nations. The United States' four-Games podium streak (over which the nation earned 10 of 12 possible medals) ended due to the American-led boycott.

Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Olimpiysky Sports Complex pool
VenueSwimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex
Date26 July
Competitors25 from 16 nations
Winning time2:01.93
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Sándor Wladár  Hungary
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Zoltán Verrasztó  Hungary
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Mark Kerry  Australia
← 1976
1984 →

Background

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This was the sixth 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]

Five of the 8 finalists from the 1976 Games (all but the medalists) returned: fourth-place finisher Mark Tonelli and fifth-place finisher Mark Kerry of Australia, sixth-place finisher Miloslav Roľko of Czechoslovakia, and seventh-place finisher Róbert Rudolf and eighth-place finisher Zoltán Verrasztó of Hungary. The medals in 1976 had been swept by American swimmers; the United States boycotted the 1980 Games. Verrasztó had earned medals at each of the three World Championships held so far (silver in 1973, gold in 1975, and bronze in 1978), and was favored with no American swimmers in the pool.[2]

Ireland, Romania, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event. The Netherlands made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each appearance of the event 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. There were 4 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the 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   John Naber (USA) 1:59.19 Montreal, Canada 24 July 1976
Olympic record   John Naber (USA) 1:59.19 Montreal, Canada 24 July 1976

Schedule

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All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 26 July 1980 10:00
20:00
Heats
Final

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 4 Sándor Wladár   Hungary 2:02.62 Q
2 4 Zoltán Verrasztó   Hungary 2:03.08 Q
3 3 Mark Kerry   Australia 2:03.60 Q
4 1 Vladimir Shemetov   Soviet Union 2:04.20 Q
5 3 Michael Söderlund   Sweden 2:04.67 Q
6 1 Douglas Campbell   Great Britain 2:04.78 Q
7 1 Fred Eefting   Netherlands 2:04.84 Q
8 2 Paul Moorfoot   Australia 2:04.87 Q
9 1 Vladimir Dolgov   Soviet Union 2:05.11
10 2 Miloslav Roľko   Czechoslovakia 2:05.13
11 2 Viktor Kuznetsov   Soviet Union 2:05.14
12 3 Jörg Stingl   East Germany 2:05.19
13 2 Frédéric Delcourt   France 2:05.20
14 2 Franky De Groote   Belgium 2:06.97
15 4 Mark Tonelli   Australia 2:07.04
16 4 Bengt Baron   Sweden 2:07.13
17 4 Nenad Miloš   Yugoslavia 2:07.51
18 4 Mihai Mandache   Romania 2:07.97
19 4 Zbigniew Januszkiewicz   Poland 2:08.11
20 3 Róbert Rudolf   Hungary 2:08.23
21 1 Jim Carter   Great Britain 2:09.94
22 1 David Cummins   Ireland 2:12.45
23 3 Dietmar Göhring   East Germany 2:14.11
24 3 Daniel Ayora   Peru 2:17.12
25 2 Phạm Văn Thành   Vietnam 2:28.40
1 Rui Abreu   Portugal DNS
2 Djan Madruga   Brazil DNS
3 Rômulo Arantes   Brazil DNS

Final

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time
  Sándor Wladár   Hungary 2:01.93
  Zoltán Verrasztó   Hungary 2:02.40
  Mark Kerry   Australia 2:03.14
4 Vladimir Shemetov   Soviet Union 2:03.48
5 Fred Eefting   Netherlands 2:03.92
6 Michael Söderlund   Sweden 2:04.10
7 Douglas Campbell   Great Britain 2:04.23
8 Paul Moorfoot   Australia 2:06.15

References

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  1. ^ "Games of the XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980 – Volume 3: Participants and Results". Fizkultura i sport. pp. 450, 464. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "200 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 July 2021.