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

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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 →

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.

Background

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Heats

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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

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Final B

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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

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Michael Gross  West Germany 1:47.44 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Mike Heath  United States 1:49.10
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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

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  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.
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