Swimming at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

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Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Bob Bennett, Jed Graef, Gary Dilley 1964.jpg
Medal winners, from left to right: Bob Bennett, Jed Graef and Gary Dilley
VenueYoyogi National Gymnasium
Dates11 October (heats)
12 October (semifinals)
13 October (final)
Competitors34 from 21 nations
Winning time2:10.3 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jed Graef  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gary Dilley  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bob Bennett  United States
← 1900
1968 →

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1964 Summer Olympics took place between October 11 and 13.[1] There were 34 competitors from 21 nations, with each nation having up to 3 swimmers.[2] The medals were swept by the United States, with Jed Graef, Gary Dilley, and Bob Bennett taking gold, silver, and bronze respectively.

Background[]

This was the second 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]

As there were 64 years between the prior edition of this event and this one, no swimmers returned from the 1900 Games. Reigning Olympic champion Ernst Hoppenberg had died in 1937. The American team was so strong that the world record holder, Tom Stock, did not make the team.[2]

16 nations made their debut in the event, while 5 returned from the 1900 Games. Sweden was the only nation that had competed in the event in 1900 that did not compete again in 1964, other than Germany (now competing as the United Team of Germany).

Competition format[]

The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, 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 9 heats of 7 or 8 swimmers each. The top 24 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 3 semifinals of 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[]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1964 Summer Olympics.

World record  Tom Stock (USA) 2:10.9 Cuyahoga Falls, United States 10 August 1962
Olympic record  Ernst Hoppenberg (GER) 2:47.0 Paris, France 12 August 1900

The Olympic record was 64 years old, as the event had not been held since the 1900 Games. In the first heat, Bob Bennett broke the record by over 30 seconds, swimming an unrushed 2:16.1. The Olympic record continued to drop throughout the heats and semifinals (with only one of the 7 races in the first two rounds not resulting the record being broken). Shigeo Fukushima swam 2:14.7 in heat 2, Jed Graef 2:14.5 in heat 3, Gary Dilley 2:14.2 in heat 5, Dilley 2:13.8 in semifinal 1, and Graef 2:13.7 in semifinal 2. In the final, Graef and Dilley both broke the world record; the former took gold and the new record with 2:10.3.

Schedule[]

Date Time Round
Sunday, 11 October 1964 20:15 Heats
Monday, 12 October 1964 19:40 Semifinals
Tuesday, 13 October 1964 20:20 Final

Results[]

Heats[]

Five heats were held; the fastest sixteen swimmers advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 5 Gary Dilley  United States 2:14.2 Q, OR
2 3 Jed Graef  United States 2:14.5 Q, OR
3 2 Shigeo Fukushima  Japan 2:14.7 Q, OR
4 5 Peter Reynolds  Australia 2:15.9 Q
5 1 Bob Bennett  United States 2:16.1 Q, OR
6 4 Ezio Della Savia  Italy 2:16.6 Q
7 3 Keisuke Ito  Japan 2:16.7 Q
8 2 Viktor Mazanov  Soviet Union 2:16.8 Q
9 1 Isagi Osumi  Japan 2:17.3 Q
10 1 Ralph Hutton  Canada 2:17.8 Q
11 3 Chiaffredo Rora  Italy 2:17.8 Q
12 4 Ernst-Joachim Küppers  United Team of Germany 2:17.9 Q
13 5 József Csikány  Hungary 2:18.3 Q
14 5 Wolfgang Wagner  United Team of Germany 2:18.5 Q
15 1 Henri van Osch  Netherlands 2:19.1 Q
16 5 Carlos van der Maath  Argentina 2:19.6 Q
17 3 Jesús Cabrera  Spain 2:19.7
18 4 Ivan Ferák  Czechoslovakia 2:20.0
19 2 Jürgen Dietze  United Team of Germany 2:20.4
20 2 Jan Weeteling  Netherlands 2:20.4
21 4 Friedrich Suda  Austria 2:20.7
22 4 Ron Jacks  Canada 2:21.3
23 4 Geoffrey Thwaites  Great Britain 2:22.0
24 5 Robert Christophe  France 2:22.5
25 1 Lars Kraus Jensen  Denmark 2:23.3
26 1 Herman Verbauwen  Belgium 2:24.9
27 3 Pedro Diz  Argentina 2:24.9
28 3 Gerhard Wieland  Austria 2:25.9
29 2 John Byrom  Australia 2:27.0
30 3 Augusto Ferrero  Peru 2:29.9
31 2 Ákos Gulyás  Hungary 2:30.5
32 2 Eliot Chenaux  Puerto Rico 2:33.1
33 1 Michael Eu  Malaysia 2:35.8
34 4 Chan Kam Hong  Hong Kong 2:46.0

Semifinals[]

Two heats were held; the fastest eight swimmers advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 2 Jed Graef  United States 2:13.7 Q, OR
2 1 Gary Dilley  United States 2:13.8 Q, OR
3 1 Shigeo Fukushima  Japan 2:14.1 Q
4 2 Ernst-Joachim Küppers  United Team of Germany 2:15.4 Q
5 2 Viktor Mazanov  Soviet Union 2:15.4 Q
6 2 Peter Reynolds  Australia 2:15.6 Q
7 1 Ralph Hutton  Canada 2:15.8 Q
8 1 Bob Bennett  United States 2:16.3 Q
9 2 Chiaffredo Rora  Italy 2:16.7
10 1 Isagi Osumi  Japan 2:17.0
11 1 József Csikány  Hungary 2:17.5
12 1 Keisuke Ito  Japan 2:17.6
13 2 Ezio Della Savia  Italy 2:18.4
14 1 Henri van Osch  Netherlands 2:19.7
15 2 Wolfgang Wagner  United Team of Germany 2:20.2
16 2 Carlos van der Maath  Argentina 2:21.3

Final[]

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Jed Graef  United States 2:10.3 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gary Dilley  United States 2:10.5
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bob Bennett  United States 2:13.1
4 Shigeo Fukushima  Japan 2:13.2
5 Ernst-Joachim Küppers  United Team of Germany 2:15.7
6 Viktor Mazanov  Soviet Union 2:15.9
7 Ralph Hutton  Canada 2:15.9
8 Peter Reynolds  Australia 2:16.6

References[]

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "200 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
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