The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

took place on August 29 at the

Olympia Schwimmhalle The Olympia Schwimmhalle is an aquatics centre located in the Olympiapark in Munich, Germany. It hosted the swimming, diving, water polo, and the swimming part of the modern pentathlon events at the 1972 Summer Olympics. At the Olympics, the st ...

. There were 46 competitors from 27 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers. The event was won by

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...

of the United States, the nation's second victory in the event (68 years, but only two appearances of the event, apart). It was the third gold medal for Spitz in 1972, halfway to his goal of six (he would ultimately finish the Games with seven). His teammate

Steve Genter Robert Steven Genter (born January 4, 1951) is an American former competition swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. He was freestyle specialist who earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay ...

took silver, with

Werner Lampe Werner Lampe (born 30 November 1952) is a retired German swimmer and Olympic medalist. He is the brother of Hans Lampe and father of Oliver Lampe. He participated at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in 4 × 200 m freest ...

of West Germany earning bronze. Defending champion

Michael Wenden Michael Vincent Wenden, (born 17 November 1949) is a champion swimmer who represented Australia in the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1968 he won four medals: gold in both the 100- and 200-metre freestyle (setting world reco ...

of Australia finished fourth.

Background

This was the fourth 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. Two of the 8 finalists from the 1968 Games returned: gold medalist

of Australia and fourth-place finisher

Ralph Hutton Ralph Hutton (born March 6, 1948) is a former competition swimming (sport), swimmer who represented Canada in three consecutive Olympic Games in 1964, 1968 and 1972. Hutton won a silver medal in the Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 ...

of Canada.

was the world record holder and a heavy favourite coming into the Games, aiming for at least six gold medals. He had won the 200 fly and 4x100 free relay the day before this event. His biggest challenger was countryman

, though Genter was hampered by

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

while in Munich. Brazil, Cambodia (then Khmer Republic), East Germany, Egypt, Iceland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Australia and the United States made their fourth appearance each, the only two nations to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Competition format

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 between 5 and 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties. This

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

event used

freestyle swimming Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most commo ...

, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the

front crawl The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a f ...

or a variant of that stroke. Because an

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records

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.

beat his own world record in the final, swimming 1:52.78.

Schedule

All times are

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET i ...

(

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

)

Results

Heats

The 8 fastest swimmers from the seven heats, without regard to place in heat, advanced to final.

Final

Spitz led at the first turn, followed by Bure. Genter, still recovering from his collapsed lung, took the lead at the halfway mark by .13 seconds (54.93 to 55.06 for Spitz). Genter held the lead through the final turn at 150 metres. Wenden, the defending champion, worked his way up to third by that mark. Spitz finished strong to win by a full second over Genter. Lampe also finished strong, beating Wenden for bronze.

References

External links

Men 200m Freestyle Swimming Olympic Games 1972 Munchen (FRG)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1972 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 Metre Freestyle Men's freestyle 200 metre 200 metre freestyle at the Olympics Men's events at the 1972 Summer Olympics