Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle
November 23, 2023
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.
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 formatedit
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.
Recordsedit
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
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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 Men s 200 metre freestyleat the Games of the XXIII OlympiadGold medalist Michael Gross 2014 VenueMcDonald s Olympic Swim StadiumDate29 July 1984 heats amp final Competitors56 from 36 nationsWinning time1 47 44 WRMedalistsMichael Gross West GermanyMike Heath United StatesThomas Fahrner West Germany 19801988 Contents 1 Background 2 Competition format 3 Records 4 Schedule 5 Results 5 1 Heats 5 2 Finals 5 2 1 Final B 5 2 2 Final A 6 References 7 External linksBackground editThis 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 Lejdstrom 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 editThe 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 editPrior to this competition the existing world and Olympic records were as follows World record nbsp Michael Gross FRG 1 47 55 Munich West Germany 8 June 1984Olympic record nbsp Sergey Koplyakov URS 1 49 81 Moscow Soviet Union 21 July 1980The following records were established during the competition Date Round Swimmer Nation Time Record29 July Heat 7 Michael Gross nbsp West Germany 1 48 03 OR29 July Final A Michael Gross nbsp West Germany 1 47 44 WRSchedule editAll times are Pacific Daylight Time UTC 7 Date Time RoundSunday 29 July 1984 9 5016 5517 05 HeatsFinal AFinal BResults editHeats edit Rule The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A while the next eight to final B 3 Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes1 7 4 Michael Gross nbsp West Germany 1 48 03 QA OR2 6 4 Mike Heath nbsp United States 1 49 87 QA3 4 4 Thomas Fahrner nbsp West Germany 1 50 00 QA4 3 4 Alberto Mestre nbsp Venezuela 1 50 73 QA5 5 4 Jeff Float nbsp United States 1 50 95 QA6 5 3 Frank Drost nbsp Netherlands 1 51 32 QA NR7 1 5 Peter Dale nbsp Australia 1 51 42 QA NR8 7 5 Marco Dell Uomo nbsp Italy 1 51 67 QA9 4 5 Anders Holmertz nbsp Sweden 1 51 70 QB10 6 5 Thomas Lejdstrom nbsp Sweden 1 51 76 QB4 3 Alex Baumann nbsp Canada 1 51 76 QB WD12 2 3 Paul Easter nbsp Great Britain 1 51 80 QB13 5 6 Juan Carlos Vallejo nbsp Spain 1 51 97 QB NR14 3 5 Andrew Astbury nbsp Great Britain 1 52 01 QB15 2 5 Hans Kroes nbsp Netherlands 1 52 37 QB16 1 4 Peter Szmidt nbsp Canada 1 52 48 QB17 6 3 Carlos Scanavino nbsp Uruguay 1 52 70 QB18 5 5 Justin Lemberg nbsp Australia 1 52 7319 7 5 Borut Petric nbsp Yugoslavia 1 52 7420 3 3 Jorge Fernandes nbsp Brazil 1 53 0321 2 8 Cyro Delgado nbsp Brazil 1 53 2222 2 4 Paolo Revelli nbsp Italy 1 53 4623 1 6 Franz Mortensen nbsp Denmark 1 54 09 NR24 6 2 Anthony Mosse nbsp New Zealand 1 54 12 NR25 1 2 Stefan Volery nbsp Switzerland 1 54 19 NR26 7 2 Hiroshi Sakamoto nbsp Japan 1 54 7127 1 7 Michael Miao nbsp Chinese Taipei 1 55 01 NR28 3 6 Javier Miralpeix nbsp Spain 1 55 2529 6 6 Jean Marie Francois nbsp Venezuela 1 55 2830 1 3 Darjan Petric nbsp Yugoslavia 1 55 6831 4 7 Cesar Sanchez nbsp Mexico 1 55 8232 3 2 Gokhan Attaroglu nbsp Turkey 1 55 9233 2 6 Shigeo Ogata nbsp Japan 1 55 9734 7 7 Shen Jianqiang nbsp China 1 56 0835 5 2 Mike Davidson nbsp New Zealand 1 56 2036 2 2 Thierry Jacot nbsp Switzerland 1 56 5437 7 6 Fernando Canales nbsp Puerto Rico 1 56 6038 5 7 Evert Johan Kroon nbsp Netherlands Antilles 1 57 0539 3 7 William Wilson nbsp Philippines 1 57 1840 2 7 Sean Nottage nbsp Bahamas 1 57 5441 6 7 Scott Newkirk nbsp Virgin Islands 1 57 7442 4 2 Carlos Romo nbsp Mexico 1 58 7743 4 6 Fabian Ferrari nbsp Argentina 1 59 3944 7 1 Mohamed Youssef nbsp Egypt 1 59 7145 4 1 Erik Rosskopf nbsp Virgin Islands 2 02 0446 2 1 Samuela Tupou nbsp Fiji 2 02 2247 5 1 Ingi Jonsson nbsp Iceland 2 02 2348 6 1 Tsang Yi Ming nbsp Hong Kong 2 03 1149 3 1 Ng Wing Hon nbsp Hong Kong 2 03 6650 7 8 Roberto Granados nbsp Guatemala 2 05 2151 1 1 Rodrigo Leal nbsp Guatemala 2 05 9652 1 8 Juan Jose Piro nbsp Honduras 2 12 5153 3 8 Trevor Ncala nbsp Swaziland 2 15 3054 4 8 Michele Piva nbsp San Marino 2 15 3955 5 8 Percy Sayegh nbsp Lebanon 2 20 7656 6 8 Rami Kantari nbsp Lebanon 2 25 43Finals edit Final B edit Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes9 3 Paul Easter nbsp Great Britain 1 51 7010 6 Juan Carlos Vallejo nbsp Spain 1 51 77 NR11 7 Hans Kroes nbsp Netherlands 1 52 3612 4 Anders Holmertz nbsp Sweden 1 52 4413 8 Carlos Scanavino nbsp Uruguay 1 52 5414 1 Peter Szmidt nbsp Canada 1 52 5615 2 Andrew Astbury nbsp Great Britain 1 53 0216 5 Thomas Lejdstrom nbsp Sweden 1 53 63Final A edit Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes nbsp 4 Michael Gross nbsp West Germany 1 47 44 WR nbsp 5 Mike Heath nbsp United States 1 49 10 nbsp 3 Thomas Fahrner nbsp West Germany 1 49 694 2 Jeff Float nbsp United States 1 50 185 6 Alberto Mestre nbsp Venezuela 1 50 23 NR6 7 Frank Drost nbsp Netherlands 1 51 627 8 Marco Dell Uomo nbsp Italy 1 52 208 1 Peter Dale nbsp Australia 1 53 84References edit 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 a b c 200 metres Freestyle Men Olympedia Retrieved June 20 2021 Los Angeles 1984 Swimming Men s 200m Freestyle Heats PDF Los Angeles 1984 LA84 Foundation pp 504 505 Retrieved March 6 2017 External links editOfficial Report USA Swimming Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics Men 27s 200 metre freestyle amp oldid 1138684406, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
