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Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

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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
← 1984
1992 ⊟

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

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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

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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

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

World record  Igor Polyansky (URS) 1:58.14 Erfurt, East Germany 3 March 1985
Olympic record  Rick Carey (USA) 1:58.99 Los Angeles, United States 31 July 1984

Schedule

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

Date Time Round
Thursday, 22 September 1988 10:00
20:00
Finals

Results

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Heats

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

Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 6 Sergei Zabolotnov  Soviet Union 2:01.27 QA
2 5 Frank Baltrusch  East Germany 2:01.49 QA
3 4 Dirk Richter  East Germany 2:01.54 QA
4 6 Igor Polyansky  Soviet Union 2:01.70 QA
5 4 Dan Veatch  United States 2:01.73 QA
6 6 Jens-Peter Berndt  West Germany 2:01.77 QA
7 6 Paul Kingsman  New Zealand 2:02.20 QA
8 5 Rogério Romero  Brazil 2:02.26 QA
9 4 Georgi Mihalev  Bulgaria 2:02.71 QB
10 6 Tamás Deutsch  Hungary 2:03.17 QB
11 5 Martín López-Zubero  Spain 2:03.33 QB
12 4 Frank Hoffmeister  West Germany 2:03.34 QB
13 5 Daichi Suzuki  Japan 2:03.36 QB
14 5 Stefano Battistelli  Italy 2:03.63 QB, WD
15 4 Steve Bigelow  United States 2:03.64 QB
16 3 Gary Binfield  Great Britain 2:03.79 QB
17 4 Sean Murphy  Canada 2:03.81 QB, WD
18 5 Mark Tewksbury  Canada 2:04.02 QB
19 3 Alejandro Alvizuri  Peru 2:04.29
20 3 John Davey  Great Britain 2:04.70
21 6 David Holderbach  France 2:04.83
22 3 Ernesto Vela  Mexico 2:05.08
6 Simon Upton  Australia 2:05.08
24 5 Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson  Iceland 2:05.61
25 3 Richard Gheel  Ireland 2:05.71
26 6 Lars Sørensen  Denmark 2:05.73
27 2 Stephen Cullen  Ireland 2:06.98
28 4 Pavel Vokoun  Czechoslovakia 2:07.24
29 2 Patrick Ferland  Switzerland 2:07.77
30 3 Lin Laijiu  China 2:08.28
31 2 David Lim Fong Jock  Singapore 2:08.65
32 3 Shigemori Maruyama  Japan 2:09.16
33 2 Wladimir Ribeiro  Brazil 2:11.48
34 2 Horst Niehaus  Costa Rica 2:12.83
35 2 Eric Greenwood  Costa Rica 2:15.42
36 2 Patrick Sagisi  Guam 2:15.82
37 1 Brett Halford  Zimbabwe 2:17.84
38 1 Pablo Barahona  Honduras 2:21.61
39 1 Mohamed Abdullah  United Arab Emirates 2:29.64
40 1 Mohamed Bin Abid  United Arab Emirates 2:36.21
41 1 Rami Kantari  Lebanon 2:40.29
2 Park Dong-pil  South Korea DSQ
3 Charalambos Papanikolaou  Greece DSQ
5 Tamás Darnyi  Hungary DSQ

Finals

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

Final B

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time
9 6 Frank Hoffmeister  West Germany 2:01.65
10 7 Steve Bigelow  United States 2:02.95
11 3 Martín López-Zubero  Spain 2:03.70
12 8 Mark Tewksbury  Canada 2:03.79
13 4 Georgi Mihalev  Bulgaria 2:04.24
14 5 Tamás Deutsch  Hungary 2:04.42
15 2 Daichi Suzuki  Japan 2:04.67
16 1 Gary Binfield  Great Britain 2:04.90

Final A

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

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 Igor Polyansky  Soviet Union 1:59.37
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Frank Baltrusch  East Germany 1:59.60
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1 Paul Kingsman  New Zealand 2:00.48 NR
4 4 Sergei Zabolotnov  Soviet Union 2:00.52
5 3 Dirk Richter  East Germany 2:01.67
6 7 Jens-Peter Berndt  West Germany 2:01.84
7 2 Dan Veatch  United States 2:02.26
8 8 Rogério Romero  Brazil 2:02.28

References

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  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. ^ a b c d e "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 2017.407-408&rft_id=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1988/1988v2p2.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke" class="Z3988">
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