Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on July 29, 1984.[1] There were 56 competitors from 36 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers (down from a maximum of three in previous Games).[2] The event was won by Michael Gross of West Germany, the nation's first victory in the event. His countryman Thomas Fahrner took bronze. Americans placed second and fourth, with Mike Heath earning silver and Jeff Float in fourth place.

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Gold medalist Michael Gross (2014)
VenueMcDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium
Date29 July 1984 (heats & final)
Competitors56 from 36 nations
Winning time1:47.44 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Michael Gross  West Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mike Heath  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Thomas Fahrner  West Germany
← 1980
1988 →

Background edit

This was the seventh 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 1980 Games returned: sixth-place finisher Paolo Revelli of Italy and seventh-place finisher Thomas Lejdström of Sweden. The reigning World Champion was Michael Gross of West Germany, having beaten American Rowdy Gaines. Gross, who had also set a world record in the event earlier in 1984, was heavily favoured in Los Angeles. The host United States was represented by Mike Heath and Jeff Float, both strong medal contenders.[2]

The People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Fiji, Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, San Marino, Swaziland, Turkey, and Uruguay each made their debut in the event. Australia made its seventh appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Competition format edit

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 up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. The 1984 event 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 edit

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

World record   Michael Gross (FRG) 1:47.55 Munich, West Germany 8 June 1984
Olympic record   Sergey Koplyakov (URS) 1:49.81 Moscow, Soviet Union 21 July 1980

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Swimmer Nation Time Record
29 July Heat 7 Michael Gross   West Germany 1:48.03 OR
29 July Final A Michael Gross   West Germany 1:47.44 WR

Schedule edit

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 29 July 1984 9:50
16:55
17:05
Heats
Final A
Final B

Results edit

Heats edit

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

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 7 4 Michael Gross   West Germany 1:48.03 QA, OR
2 6 4 Mike Heath   United States 1:49.87 QA
3 4 4 Thomas Fahrner   West Germany 1:50.00 QA
4 3 4 Alberto Mestre   Venezuela 1:50.73 QA
5 5 4 Jeff Float   United States 1:50.95 QA
6 5 3 Frank Drost   Netherlands 1:51.32 QA, NR
7 1 5 Peter Dale   Australia 1:51.42 QA, NR
8 7 5 Marco Dell'Uomo   Italy 1:51.67 QA
9 4 5 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:51.70 QB
10 6 5 Thomas Lejdström   Sweden 1:51.76 QB
4 3 Alex Baumann   Canada 1:51.76 QB, WD
12 2 3 Paul Easter   Great Britain 1:51.80 QB
13 5 6 Juan Carlos Vallejo   Spain 1:51.97 QB, NR
14 3 5 Andrew Astbury   Great Britain 1:52.01 QB
15 2 5 Hans Kroes   Netherlands 1:52.37 QB
16 1 4 Peter Szmidt   Canada 1:52.48 QB
17 6 3 Carlos Scanavino   Uruguay 1:52.70 QB
18 5 5 Justin Lemberg   Australia 1:52.73
19 7 5 Borut Petrič   Yugoslavia 1:52.74
20 3 3 Jorge Fernandes   Brazil 1:53.03
21 2 8 Cyro Delgado   Brazil 1:53.22
22 2 4 Paolo Revelli   Italy 1:53.46
23 1 6 Franz Mortensen   Denmark 1:54.09 NR
24 6 2 Anthony Mosse   New Zealand 1:54.12 NR
25 1 2 Stéfan Voléry   Switzerland 1:54.19 NR
26 7 2 Hiroshi Sakamoto   Japan 1:54.71
27 1 7 Michael Miao   Chinese Taipei 1:55.01 NR
28 3 6 Javier Miralpeix   Spain 1:55.25
29 6 6 Jean-Marie François   Venezuela 1:55.28
30 1 3 Darjan Petrič   Yugoslavia 1:55.68
31 4 7 César Sánchez   Mexico 1:55.82
32 3 2 Gökhan Attaroglu   Turkey 1:55.92
33 2 6 Shigeo Ogata   Japan 1:55.97
34 7 7 Shen Jianqiang   China 1:56.08
35 5 2 Mike Davidson   New Zealand 1:56.20
36 2 2 Thierry Jacot   Switzerland 1:56.54
37 7 6 Fernando Cañales   Puerto Rico 1:56.60
38 5 7 Evert Johan Kroon   Netherlands Antilles 1:57.05
39 3 7 William Wilson   Philippines 1:57.18
40 2 7 Sean Nottage   Bahamas 1:57.54
41 6 7 Scott Newkirk   Virgin Islands 1:57.74
42 4 2 Carlos Romo   Mexico 1:58.77
43 4 6 Fabián Ferrari   Argentina 1:59.39
44 7 1 Mohamed Youssef   Egypt 1:59.71
45 4 1 Erik Rosskopf   Virgin Islands 2:02.04
46 2 1 Samuela Tupou   Fiji 2:02.22
47 5 1 Ingi Jónsson   Iceland 2:02.23
48 6 1 Tsang Yi Ming   Hong Kong 2:03.11
49 3 1 Ng Wing Hon   Hong Kong 2:03.66
50 7 8 Roberto Granados   Guatemala 2:05.21
51 1 1 Rodrigo Leal   Guatemala 2:05.96
52 1 8 Juan José Piro   Honduras 2:12.51
53 3 8 Trevor Ncala   Swaziland 2:15.30
54 4 8 Michele Piva   San Marino 2:15.39
55 5 8 Percy Sayegh   Lebanon 2:20.76
56 6 8 Rami Kantari   Lebanon 2:25.43

Finals edit

Final B edit

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
9 3 Paul Easter   Great Britain 1:51.70
10 6 Juan Carlos Vallejo   Spain 1:51.77 NR
11 7 Hans Kroes   Netherlands 1:52.36
12 4 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:52.44
13 8 Carlos Scanavino   Uruguay 1:52.54
14 1 Peter Szmidt   Canada 1:52.56
15 2 Andrew Astbury   Great Britain 1:53.02
16 5 Thomas Lejdström   Sweden 1:53.63

Final A edit

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  4 Michael Gross   West Germany 1:47.44 WR
  5 Mike Heath   United States 1:49.10
  3 Thomas Fahrner   West Germany 1:49.69
4 2 Jeff Float   United States 1:50.18
5 6 Alberto Mestre   Venezuela 1:50.23 NR
6 7 Frank Drost   Netherlands 1:51.62
7 8 Marco Dell'Uomo   Italy 1:52.20
8 1 Peter Dale   Australia 1:53.84

References edit

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  3. ^ "Los Angeles 1984: Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Los Angeles 1984. LA84 Foundation. pp. 504–505. Retrieved March 6, 2017.

External links edit