The men's 200 metre

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

was a

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 held as part of the

swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, ten swimming (sport), swimming events were contested. The women's 300 metre freestyle event was new since the previous 1912 Summer Olympics, Games in 1912. The competitions were held from Sunday August 22, ...

programme. It was the third appearance of the event. A total of 24 swimmers from 11 nations competed in the event, which was held from Thursday, August 26 to Sunday, August 29, 1920. Despite

Erich Rademacher Fritz Albert Erich "Ete" Rademacher (9 June 1901 – 2 April 1979) was a German breaststroke swimmer and water polo goalkeeper who competed at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. In 1928 he was a member of the German team that won the gold medal, he als ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

being one of the fastest breaststroker in the world at the time, he was not able to compete due to Germany's role in WWI. Despite this, he would establish his dominance in the event by laying consistent claim to the world record through most of the next decade.Barney, David E., and Robert K. Barney.
A long night's journey into day: the Odyssey of the butterfly stroke in international swimming.
''Proceedings: International Symposium for Olympic Research'', Oct. 2006, pp. 65+. ''Gale Academic OneFile'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/A176818711/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=535b6e53. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Results

Quarterfinals

Thursday, August 26, 1920: The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced. Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3 Heat 4

Semifinals

Saturday, August 28, 1920: The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final. Since both third-place swimmers had the same time, both advanced to the final. Semifinal 1 Semifinal 2

Final

Sunday, August 29, 1920:

References

Notes

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1920 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 Metre Breaststroke Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics Men's events at the 1920 Summer Olympics