Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place on July 19 at the Olympic Pool, Montreal.[1][2] There were 55 competitors from 33 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers.[2] The medals were swept the United States, the only time there has been a medal sweep in the men's 200 metre freestyle (in 1984, nations were limited to two swimmers, making sweeps impossible). Bruce Furniss took gold, John Naber silver, and Jim Montgomery bronze. It was the second consecutive and third overall victory by an American swimmer.

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Gold medalist Bruce Furniss
VenueOlympic Pool, Montreal
Date19 July
Competitors55 from 33 nations
Winning time1:50.29 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bruce Furniss  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) John Naber  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Jim Montgomery  United States
← 1972
1980 →

Background

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This was the fifth 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 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist Werner Lampe and sixth-place finisher Klaus Steinbach, both of West Germany. Reigning Olympic champion Mark Spitz had retired at the age of 22 after winning 7 gold medals in 1972. The American team was still strong, however. Jim Montgomery had won the inaugural 1973 World Aquatics Championships. Tim Shaw, the 1975 World Champion who had broken Spitz's world record, did not swim in this event after finishing 5th in the U.S. trials (he competed in longer races in 1976). The 1975 runner-up, Bruce Furniss, however, had broken Shaw's record three times and was a favourite in this event. Montgomery and Furniss were joined by backstroke specialist John Naber.[2][3]

The Bahamas, Bulgaria, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. Australia and the United States made their fifth appearance each, the only two nations 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 8 heats of up to 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

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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   Bruce Furniss (USA) 1:50.32 Kansas City, United States 21 August 1975
Olympic record   Mark Spitz (USA) 1:52.78 Munich, West Germany 29 August 1972

Making the final in the 1976 event required at least matching the Olympic record, with seven men coming in under that time and an eighth equaling it. Andrey Bogdanov held a new record briefly, swimming 1:52.71 in the second heat. Klaus Steinbach dropped more than a full second off that time in the next heat, though, with a time of 1:51.41. The fourth, fifth, and sixth heats saw four men swim between Bogdanov's and Steinbach's times. Bruce Furniss, swimming in the eighth heat, cut almost half a second off Steinbach's record, coming in at 1:50.93.

That record would not stand long; four men beat it in the final. Only one of those men came in under the world record however: Furniss bettered his own world and Olympic records with 1:50.29 to win gold.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Monday, 19 July 1976 9:30
20:00
Heats
Final

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 8 Bruce Furniss   United States 1:50.93 Q, OR
2 3 Klaus Steinbach   West Germany 1:51.41 Q, OR
3 4 Andrey Krylov   Soviet Union 1:51.42 Q
4 6 Jim Montgomery   United States 1:51.77 Q
5 5 Peter Nocke   West Germany 1:52.16 Q
6 5 Gordon Downie   Great Britain 1:52.47 Q
7 2 Andrey Bogdanov   Soviet Union 1:52.71 Q, OR
8 7 John Naber   United States 1:52.78 Q
9 2 Brian Brinkley   Great Britain 1:53.07
10 1 Sergey Koplyakov   Soviet Union 1:53.44
11 3 Marcello Guarducci   Italy 1:53.72
12 5 Steve Badger   Canada 1:53.86
13 6 Bill Sawchuk   Canada 1:54.07
14 7 Jorge Delgado, Jr.   Ecuador 1:54.23
15 4 Graham Windeatt   Australia 1:54.35
16 8 Mark Kerry   Australia 1:54.86
17 2 David López-Zubero   Spain 1:54.88
18 8 Peter Dawson   Australia 1:55.16
19 6 Rainer Strohbach   East Germany 1:55.25
20 3 Roberto Pangaro   Italy 1:55.30
21 7 Frank Pfütze   East Germany 1:55.57
22 4 James Hett   Canada 1:55.58
23 1 René van der Kuil   Netherlands 1:55.59
24 4 Ali Gharbi   Tunisia 1:55.82
25 7 Alan McClatchey   Great Britain 1:55.84
26 3 Werner Lampe   West Germany 1:56.01
27 1 Bengt Gingsjö   Sweden 1:56.31
28 8 Peter Pettersson   Sweden 1:56.51
29 7 Anders Bellbring   Sweden 1:57.20
30 6 Paolo Revelli   Italy 1:57.25
31 1 Fritz Warncke   Norway 1:57.59
32 5 Andre in het Veld   Netherlands 1:57.60
33 5 John McConnochie   New Zealand 1:57.77
34 1 Tsuyoshi Yanagidate   Japan 1:58.04
35 8 Guillermo García   Mexico 1:58.20
36 2 Georgios Karpouzis   Greece 1:59.25
37 2 Eduardo Pérez   Mexico 1:59.53
38 7 Francisco Cañales   Puerto Rico 1:59.62
39 1 Luis Goicoechea   Venezuela 1:59.68
40 4 Steven Newkirk   Virgin Islands 1:59.95
41 3 Kevin Williamson   Ireland 2:00.08
42 6 Andy Knowles   Bahamas 2:00.18
43 3 Nikolay Ganev   Bulgaria 2:00.54
44 7 Petar Georgiev   Bulgaria 2:00.70
45 2 Tomas Becerra   Colombia 2:00.72
46 5 Mark Crocker   Hong Kong 2:00.81
47 6 Lutz Löscher   East Germany 2:01.00
48 1 Kris Sumono   Indonesia 2:01.12
49 8 Sigurður Ólafsson   Iceland 2:01.18
50 6 Gianni Versari   Panama 2:02.25
51 5 Paulo Frischknecht   Portugal 2:02.65
52 8 Gerardo Rosario   Philippines 2:02.81
53 4 José Pereira   Portugal 2:03.03
54 7 Patrick Novaretti   Monaco 2:04.29
55 3 Frank Richardson   Nicaragua 2:12.33

Final

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Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  Bruce Furniss   United States 1:50.29 WR
  John Naber   United States 1:50.50
  Jim Montgomery   United States 1:50.58
4 Andrey Krylov   Soviet Union 1:50.73
5 Klaus Steinbach   West Germany 1:51.09
6 Peter Nocke   West Germany 1:51.71
7 Gordon Downie   Great Britain 1:52.78
8 Andrey Bogdanov   Soviet Union 1:53.33

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  3. ^ "1976 U.S. Olympic Trials" (PDF). USA Swimming. Retrieved 19 June 2021.