Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Silver medalist Frank Baltrusch (earlier in 1988)
VenueJamsil Indoor Swimming Pool
Date22 September 1988 (heats & finals)
Competitors44 from 32 nations
Winning time1:59.37
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Igor Polyansky  Soviet Union
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Frank Baltrusch  East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Paul Kingsman  New Zealand

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.[1] There were 44 competitors from 32 nations.[2] Each nation had been limited to two swimmers in the event since 1984. The event was won by Igor Polyansky of the Soviet Union. Frank Baltrusch of East Germany took silver, while Paul Kingsman of New Zealand earned bronze. The medals were the first in the men's 200 metre backstroke for the Soviet Union and New Zealand; East Germany had not medaled in the event since Roland Matthes won gold in 1968 and 1972. For the first time, the United States competed and did not earn at least silver.

The award ceremony did not go smoothly. Kingsman was erroneously introduced as being from the Soviet Union. When his nationality was corrected to New Zealand, it was also announced that the New Zealand national anthem would be played. This had to be corrected as well, and the Soviet anthem (for the winner, Polyansky) was played.[2]

Background

This was the eighth 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]

None of the 8 finalists from the 1984 Games returned. The medalists at the 1986 World Aquatics Championships had been Igor Polyansky of the Soviet Union, Frank Baltrusch of East Germany, and Frank Hoffmeister of West Germany. All three competed in Seoul. Polyansky was also the world record holder, having set it in a Soviet-East German dual meet in 1985. He was the heavy favourite in the event, with his only loss since 1985 being the European championship (to fellow Soviet Sergei Zabolotnov).[2]

Costa Rica, Guam, Iceland, Lebanon, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Australia and Great Britain each made their seventh appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

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. A "consolation final" had been added in 1984. There were 6 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. The next 8 (9th through 16th) competed in a consolation 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

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

World record Igor Polyansky (URS)1:58.14 Erfurt, East Germany3 March 1985
Olympic record Rick Carey (USA)1:58.99 Los Angeles, United States31 July 1984

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Thursday, 22 September 198810:00
20:00		Finals

Results

Heats

The eight fastest swimmers advanced to Final A, while the next eight went to Final B.[3]

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
16Sergei Zabolotnov Soviet Union2:01.27QA
25Frank Baltrusch East Germany2:01.49QA
34Dirk Richter East Germany2:01.54QA
46Igor Polyansky Soviet Union2:01.70QA
54Dan Veatch United States2:01.73QA
66Jens-Peter Berndt West Germany2:01.77QA
76Paul Kingsman New Zealand2:02.20QA
85Rogério Romero Brazil2:02.26QA
94Georgi Mihalev Bulgaria2:02.71QB
106Tamás Deutsch Hungary2:03.17QB
115Martín López-Zubero Spain2:03.33QB
124Frank Hoffmeister West Germany2:03.34QB
135Daichi Suzuki Japan2:03.36QB
145Stefano Battistelli Italy2:03.63QB, WD
154Steve Bigelow United States2:03.64QB
163Gary Binfield Great Britain2:03.79QB
174Sean Murphy Canada2:03.81QB, WD
185Mark Tewksbury Canada2:04.02QB
193Alejandro Alvizuri Peru2:04.29
203John Davey Great Britain2:04.70
216David Holderbach France2:04.83
223Ernesto Vela Mexico2:05.08
6Simon Upton Australia2:05.08
245Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson Iceland2:05.61
253Richard Gheel Ireland2:05.71
266Lars Sørensen Denmark2:05.73
272Stephen Cullen Ireland2:06.98
284Pavel Vokoun Czechoslovakia2:07.24
292Patrick Ferland Switzerland2:07.77
303Lin Laijiu China2:08.28
312David Lim Fong Jock Singapore2:08.65
323Shigemori Maruyama Japan2:09.16
332Wladimir Ribeiro Brazil2:11.48
342Horst Niehaus Costa Rica2:12.83
352Eric Greenwood Costa Rica2:15.42
362Patrick Sagisi Guam2:15.82
371Brett Halford Zimbabwe2:17.84
381Pablo Barahona Honduras2:21.61
391Mohamed Abdullah United Arab Emirates2:29.64
401Mohamed Bin Abid United Arab Emirates2:36.21
411Rami Kantari Lebanon2:40.29
—2Park Dong-pil South KoreaDSQ
3Charalambos Papanikolaou GreeceDSQ
5Tamás Darnyi HungaryDSQ

Finals

The finals were held in the evening of 22 September.[4]

Final B

RankLaneSwimmerNationTime
96Frank Hoffmeister West Germany2:01.65
107Steve Bigelow United States2:02.95
113Martín López-Zubero Spain2:03.70
128Mark Tewksbury Canada2:03.79
134Georgi Mihalev Bulgaria2:04.24
145Tamás Deutsch Hungary2:04.42
152Daichi Suzuki Japan2:04.67
161Gary Binfield Great Britain2:04.90

Final A

Zabalotnov led at the halfway mark. Polyansky took the lead during the third length, with Baltrusch and Kingsman also passing Zabolotnov.[2]

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
1st place, gold medalist(s)6Igor Polyansky Soviet Union1:59.37
2nd place, silver medalist(s)5Frank Baltrusch East Germany1:59.60
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)1Paul Kingsman New Zealand2:00.48NR
44Sergei Zabolotnov Soviet Union2:00.52
53Dirk Richter East Germany2:01.67
67Jens-Peter Berndt West Germany2:01.84
72Dan Veatch United States2:02.26
88Rogério Romero Brazil2:02.28

References

  1. ↑ "Swimming at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Backstroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "200 metres Backstroke, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 200m Backstroke Heats" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 407. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 200m Backstroke Finals" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. pp. 407–408. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.