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

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Mark Spitz and Werner Lampe 1972.jpg
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 →

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.

Background[]

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[]

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[]

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[]

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

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

Results[]

Heats[]

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[]

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 nearly a full second over Genter. Lampe also finished strong, beating Wenden for bronze.[2]

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Mark Spitz  United States 1:52.78 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Steve Genter  United States 1:53.73
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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[]

  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.

External links[]

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