Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Dates 26 – 31 July 1992
Medal Events 31

Much had changed since the Olympic flame flickered and died at the end of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. East Germany, who had ruled the female side of the sport with an iron hand for a generation, was no more and the unified German team was no match for their illustrious, if controversial, forerunners. The depth of the American team ensured they returned home with the greatest bounty in terms of medals gained though it lacked the multiple gold medal winning superstars of previous years. On the other hand the post-Soviet Unified Team produced two of the male stars of the Games in freestylers Aleksandr Popov and Yevgeny Sadovy. Sadovy was the only male swimmer to win three gold medals whilst Popov claimed four medals including two gold.

The golden generation of Hungarian swimmers improved on their display in Seoul and, spearheaded by triple gold winner Krisztina Egerszegi and medley legend Tamás Darnyi, they were much more successful than more established swimming nations. This was also the year of the Chinese breakthrough and, after Zhuang Yong shocked world record holder Jenny Thompson to win China’s first Olympic title in the sport, another three Chinese women followed Zhuang onto the top step of the podium.

Australian swimmers did not live up to expectations in Barcelona with the exception of Kieren Perkins who produced a barnstorming swim in the 1500 metres freestyle to break the world record and win gold by a full 12 seconds.

The most popular win of the Games came in the 200 metres backstroke where world champion Martin López-Zubero, American-born of Spanish parentage, thrilled the host nation with a late length sprint to claim Spain’s first Olympic swimming championship.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
50 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 30 July 1992 75 51
100 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 28 July 1992 75 52
200 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 26 July 1992 55 39
400 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 29 July 1992 46 31
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Olympic 30 – 31 July 1992 30 24
4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Olympic 29 July 1992 81 18
4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Olympic 27 July 1992 80 18
100 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 30 July 1992 52 37
200 metres Backstroke, Men Olympic 28 July 1992 44 34
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 26 July 1992 59 45
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Olympic 29 July 1992 54 41
100 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 27 July 1992 69 48
200 metres Butterfly, Men Olympic 30 July 1992 46 32
200 metres Individual Medley, Men Olympic 31 July 1992 56 41
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Olympic 27 July 1992 32 25
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Men Olympic 31 July 1992 103 23
50 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 31 July 1992 50 35
100 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 26 July 1992 48 34
200 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 27 July 1992 37 26
400 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 28 July 1992 33 24
800 metres Freestyle, Women Olympic 30 July 1992 25 18
4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women Olympic 28 July 1992 61 13
100 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 28 July 1992 45 31
200 metres Backstroke, Women Olympic 31 July 1992 43 30
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 29 July 1992 43 31
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Olympic 27 July 1992 39 28
100 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 29 July 1992 49 34
200 metres Butterfly, Women Olympic 31 July 1992 32 23
200 metres Individual Medley, Women Olympic 30 July 1992 43 31
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Olympic 26 July 1992 32 21
4 x 100 metres Medley Relay, Women Olympic 30 July 1992 78 17
641 (385/256) 92 (86/62)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
50 metres Freestyle, Men Aleksandr PopovEUN Matt BiondiUSA Tom JagerUSA
100 metres Freestyle, Men Aleksandr PopovEUN Gustavo BorgesBRA Stéphan CaronFRA
200 metres Freestyle, Men Yevgeny SadovyEUN Anders HolmertzSWE Antti KasvioFIN
400 metres Freestyle, Men Yevgeny SadovyEUN Kieren PerkinsAUS Anders HolmertzSWE
1,500 metres Freestyle, Men Kieren PerkinsAUS Glen HousmanAUS Jörg HoffmannGER
4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men United StatesUSA Unified TeamEUN GermanyGER
4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men Unified TeamEUN SwedenSWE United StatesUSA
100 metres Backstroke, Men Mark TewksburyCAN Jeff RouseUSA Dave BerkoffUSA
200 metres Backstroke, Men Martín López-ZuberoESP Vladimir SelkovEUN Stefano BattistelliITA
100 metres Breaststroke, Men Nelson DiebelUSA Norbert RózsaHUN Phil RogersAUS
200 metres Breaststroke, Men Mike BarrowmanUSA Norbert RózsaHUN Nick GillinghamGBR
100 metres Butterfly, Men Pablo MoralesUSA Rafał SzukałaPOL Anthony NestySUR
200 metres Butterfly, Men Mel StewartUSA Danyon LoaderNZL Franck EspositoFRA
200 metres Individual Medley, Men Tamás DarnyiHUN Greg BurgessUSA Attila CzeneHUN
400 metres Individual Medley, Men Tamás DarnyiHUN Eric NamesnikUSA Luca SacchiITA
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Men United StatesUSA Unified TeamEUN CanadaCAN
50 metres Freestyle, Women Yang WenyiCHN Zhuang YongCHN Angel MartinoUSA
100 metres Freestyle, Women Zhuang YongCHN Jenny ThompsonUSA Franziska van AlmsickGER
200 metres Freestyle, Women Nicole HaislettUSA Franziska van AlmsickGER Kerstin KielgaßGER
400 metres Freestyle, Women Dagmar HaseGER Janet EvansUSA Hayley LewisAUS
800 metres Freestyle, Women Janet EvansUSA Hayley LewisAUS Jana HenkeGER
4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women United StatesUSA People's Republic of ChinaCHN GermanyGER
100 metres Backstroke, Women Krisztina EgerszegiHUN Tünde SzabóHUN Lea LovelessUSA
200 metres Backstroke, Women Krisztina EgerszegiHUN Dagmar HaseGER Nicole StevensonAUS
100 metres Breaststroke, Women Alena RudkouskayaEUN Anita NallUSA Sam RileyAUS
200 metres Breaststroke, Women Kyoko IwasakiJPN Lin LiCHN Anita NallUSA
100 metres Butterfly, Women Qian HongCHN Crissy Ahmann-LeightonUSA Catherine PlewinskiFRA
200 metres Butterfly, Women Summer SandersUSA Wang XiaohongCHN Susie O'NeillAUS
200 metres Individual Medley, Women Lin LiCHN Summer SandersUSA Daniela HungerGER
400 metres Individual Medley, Women Krisztina EgerszegiHUN Lin LiCHN Summer SandersUSA
4 × 100 metres Medley Relay, Women United StatesUSA GermanyGER Unified TeamEUN

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 11 9 7 27
Unified Team EUN 6 3 1 10
Hungary HUN 5 3 1 9
People's Republic of China CHN 4 5 0 9
Germany GER 1 3 7 11
Australia AUS 1 3 5 9
Canada CAN 1 0 1 2
Japan JPN 1 0 0 1
Spain ESP 1 0 0 1
Sweden SWE 0 2 1 3
Brazil BRA 0 1 0 1
New Zealand NZL 0 1 0 1
Poland POL 0 1 0 1
France FRA 0 0 3 3
Italy ITA 0 0 2 2
Finland FIN 0 0 1 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
Suriname SUR 0 0 1 1