200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Only Triple jumper Mikio Oda, a week before, had ever won Olympic gold for Japan before Yoshiyuki Tsuruta swam in the 200 metres breaststroke. Tsuruta’s main rival was Erich Rademacher, the German world record holder who missed the 1924 Games where he would have been a strong favourite. The two traded the Olympic record in the heats but Rademacher may have suffered from his participation in the water polo competition and although Tsuruta was always pressurised, he was never headed as he won with a metre to spare. Teófilo Yldefonso of the Phillipines came perilously close to being knocked out of the competition in his heat, qualified for the semi-finals only as a fastest loser but swam an inspired final to gain the very first medal for the Philippines in Olympic history. Karl Schäfer of Austria, who was eliminated at the semi-final stage, had represented his country in the preceding Winter Olympics as a skater and would gain greater recognition by winning the men’s figure skating gold at the Winter Games in both 1932 and 1936.