The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

was held in the

Uytengsu Aquatics Center The Uytengsu Aquatics Center (originally the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium) is a 2,500-seat outdoor aquatics venue located on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, USA. The facility features two pools: a long cours ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

on July 31, 1984. There were 34 competitors from 25 nations, with each nation limited to two swimmers (down from three in previous Games). The event was won by

Rick Carey Richard John Carey (born March 13, 1963) is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Carey specialized in the backstroke. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, ...

of the United States, the nation's third victory in the men's 200 metre backstroke.

Frédéric Delcourt Frédéric Delcourt (born February 14, 1964) is a French former competition swimmer and Olympic silver medalist. Delcourt was born in Nord, France. He competed in three events for France at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia, includin ...

of France took silver and

Cameron Henning Cameron John Henning (born November 24, 1960) is a Canadian former competitive swimmer, who competed for his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There he won the bronze medal in the men's 200-metre backstroke. ...

of Canada earned bronze; it was the first medal in the event for each of those two nations. Carey won by 1.52 seconds at 2:00.23, an easy victory but a disappointing time for Carey. He did not celebrate and did not smile or acknowledge the crowd during the medal ceremony. His demeanor was heavily criticized, resulting in him issuing an apology.

Background

This was the seventh 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. One of the 8 finalists from the 1980 returned: sixth-place finisher Michael Söderlund of Sweden. The medalists at the 1982 World Aquatics Championships had been

of the United States,

Sándor Wladár Sándor Wladár (born 19 July 1963 in Budapest) is a Hungarian retired male swimmer. He won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in 200 m backstroke. Wladár was a swimmer of Központi Sportiskola (1972–1980), Újpest ...

of Hungary (who was also the 1980 Olympic champion), and Frank Baltrusch of East Germany; with Hungary and East Germany joining the Soviet-led boycott of the Games, only Carey competed in Los Angeles—and was heavily favoured. Carey was also the world record holder, having broken

John Naber John Phillips Naber (born January 20, 1956) is an American former competitive swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in multiple events. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Naber studied in England and Italy where his father ...

's record in 1983 and then improved on his own time at the 1984 U.S. Olympic trials. The Bahamas, the People's Republic of China, Egypt, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. Australia, Great Britain, and Sweden each made their sixth appearance, matching the Netherlands (absent for the first time) for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

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" was added in 1984. There were 5 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 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

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

. 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

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The following records were established during the competition:

Schedule

All times are

Pacific Daylight Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

( UTC-7)

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.

Finals

Final B

Final A

References

External links

Official Report

USA Swimming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metre backstroke B 200 metre backstroke at the Olympics Men's events at the 1984 Summer Olympics