| | Event type
4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men
| Date | 29 August – 1 September 1960 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Stadio Olimpico del Nuoto, Roma |
| Participants | 67 from 15 countries |
The United States had by far the best team, based on the times of the individual swimmers, and they were bolstered by the addition of Jeff Farrell, probably the fastest swimmer in the world, but who had not qualified for the 100 free at the US Trials, as he was recovering from the effects of an appendicitis. The Americans biggest competition was expected to come from Australia, who had won in 1956, and Japan, winners of this event in 1932 and 1936. In fact, Australia held the world record of 8:16.6, having set it at a meeting down under just before the Rome Olympics. Japan qualified fastest, winning the first heat, with the USA winning the second over Australia. But the United States obliterated the world record in the final, winning in 8:10.2 with Japan second, three seconds back, and Australia close for third. Farrell swam the anchor for the United States.
Round One (29 August 1960 — 21:30)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Japan |  JPN | 8:17.1 | |||||||
| Tsuyoshi Yamanaka | – | – | – | 2:01.8 | 2:01.8 (1) | ||||||
| Makoto Fukui | – | – | – | 2:03.5 | 4:05.3 (1) | ||||||
| Hiroshi Ishii | – | – | – | 2:07.2 | 6:12.5 (1) | ||||||
| Tatsuo Fujimoto | – | – | – | 2:04.6 | 8:17.1 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 6 | Great Britain |  GBR | 8:26.9 | |||||||
| Hamilton Milton | – | – | – | 2:09.5 | 2:09.5 (5) | ||||||
| John Martin-Dye | – | – | – | 2:06.5 | 4:16.0 (3) | ||||||
| Richard Campion | – | – | – | 2:07.7 | 6:23.7 (2) | ||||||
| Ian Black | – | – | – | 2:03.2 | 8:26.9 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | Soviet Union |  URS | 8:30.6 | |||||||
| Vitaly Sorokin | – | – | – | 2:07.7 | 2:07.7 (3) | ||||||
| Gennady Nikolayev | – | – | – | 2:08.0 | 4:15.7 (2) | ||||||
| Sergey Tovstoplet | – | – | – | 2:08.1 | 6:23.8 (3) | ||||||
| Boris Nik'it'ini | – | – | – | 2:06.8 | 8:30.6 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 3 | Sweden |  SWE | 8:30.6 | |||||||
| Bengt-Olov Almstedt | – | – | – | 2:10.1 | 2:10.1 (6) | ||||||
| Lars-Erik Bengtsson | – | – | – | 2:07.0 | 4:17.1 (5) | ||||||
| Bengt Nordwall | – | – | – | 2:06.9 | 6:24.0 (4) | ||||||
| Per-Ola Lindberg | – | – | – | 2:06.6 | 8:30.6 (3) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Poland |  POL | 8:32.0 | |||||||
| Andrzej Salamon | – | – | – | 2:08.3 | 2:08.3 (4) | ||||||
| Bernard Aluchna | – | – | – | 2:07.8 | 4:16.1 (4) | ||||||
| Jerzy Tracz | – | – | – | 2:08.0 | 6:24.1 (5) | ||||||
| Jan Lutomski | – | – | – | 2:07.9 | 8:32.0 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | France |  FRA | 8:41.2 | |||||||
| Jean-Pascal Curtillet | – | – | – | 2:07.4 | 2:07.4 (2) | ||||||
| Gérard Gropaiz | – | – | – | 2:10.8 | 4:18.2 (6) | ||||||
| Marc Kamoun | – | – | – | 2:09.7 | 6:27.9 (6) | ||||||
| Jean Boiteux | – | – | – | 2:13.3 | 8:41.2 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | Switzerland |  SUI | 9:18.1 | |||||||
| Peter Bärtschi | – | – | – | 2:18.3 | 2:18.3 (7) | ||||||
| Rainer Goltzsche | – | – | – | 2:20.4 | 4:38.7 (7) | ||||||
| Karl Fridlin | – | – | – | 2:20.9 | 6:59.6 (7) | ||||||
| Hans-Ulrich Dürst | – | – | – | 2:18.5 | 9:18.1 (7) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | United States |  USA | 8:18.0 | |||||||
| Bill Darnton | – | – | – | 2:06.8 | 2:06.8 (=2) | ||||||
| Tom Winters | – | – | – | 2:04.0 | 4:10.8 (1) | ||||||
| Steve Clark | – | – | – | 2:04.0 | 6:14.8 (1) | ||||||
| George Harrison | – | – | – | 2:03.2 | 8:18.0 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 5 | Australia |  AUS | 8:24.2 | |||||||
| David Dickson | – | – | – | 2:04.6 | 2:04.6 (1) | ||||||
| John Rigby | – | – | – | 2:06.6 | 4:11.2 (2) | ||||||
| Allan Wood | – | – | – | 2:06.7 | 6:17.9 (2) | ||||||
| John Devitt | – | – | – | 2:06.3 | 8:24.2 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | Unified Team of Germany |  GER | 8:29.4 | |||||||
| Frank Wiegand | – | – | – | 2:06.8 | 2:06.8 (=2) | ||||||
| Gerhard Hetz | – | – | – | 2:08.3 | 4:15.1 (3) | ||||||
| Hans Zierold | – | – | – | 2:08.5 | 6:23.6 (3) | ||||||
| Hans-Joachim Klein | – | – | – | 2:05.8 | 8:29.4 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 8 | Finland |  FIN | 8:29.7 | |||||||
| Ilkka Suvanto | – | – | – | 2:10.0 | 2:10.0 (5) | ||||||
| Kari Haavisto | – | – | – | 2:07.5 | 4:17.5 (4) | ||||||
| Stig-Olof Grenner | – | – | – | 2:08.0 | 6:25.5 (5) | ||||||
| Karri Käyhkö | – | – | – | 2:04.2 | 8:29.7 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Hungary |  HUN | 8:32.6 | |||||||
| György Müller | – | – | – | 2:11.8 | 2:11.8 (7) | ||||||
| László Lantos | – | – | – | 2:07.7 | 4:19.5 (5) | ||||||
| Gyula Dobay | – | – | – | 2:05.5 | 6:25.0 (4) | ||||||
| József Katona | – | – | – | 2:07.6 | 8:32.6 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | Italy |  ITA | 8:38.1 | |||||||
| Fritz Dennerlein | – | – | – | 2:11.6 | 2:11.6 (6) | ||||||
| Bruno Bianchi | – | – | – | 2:08.5 | 4:20.1 (6) | ||||||
| Angelo Romani | – | – | – | 2:10.9 | 6:31.0 (6) | ||||||
| Paolo Galletti | – | – | – | 2:07.1 | 8:38.1 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | Yugoslavia |  YUG | 8:49.8 | |||||||
| Milan Jeger | – | – | – | 2:09.6 | 2:09.6 (4) | ||||||
| Slobodan Kićović | – | – | – | 2:12.9 | 4:22.5 (7) | ||||||
| Vlado Brinovec | – | – | – | 2:15.4 | 6:37.9 (7) | ||||||
| Veljko Rogošić | – | – | – | 2:11.9 | 8:49.8 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | Mexico |  MEX | 8:50.4 | |||||||
| Raúl Guzmán | – | – | – | 2:12.8 | 2:12.8 (8) | ||||||
| Alfredo Guzmán | – | – | – | 2:13.7 | 4:26.5 (8) | ||||||
| Jorge Escalante | – | – | – | 2:15.4 | 6:41.9 (8) | ||||||
| Mauricio Ocampo | – | – | – | 2:08.4 | 8:50.3 (8) |
Final (1 September 1960 — 21:50)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | United States | USA | 8:10.2 | |||||||
| George Harrison | – | – | – | 2:03.4 | 2:03.4 (1) | ||||||
| Dick Blick | – | – | – | 2:01.9 | 4:05.3 (1) | ||||||
| Mike Troy | – | – | – | 2:02.9 | 6:08.2 (1) | ||||||
| Jeff Farrell | – | – | – | 2:02.0 | 8:10.2 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | Japan | JPN | 8:13.2 | |||||||
| Makoto Fukui | – | – | – | 2:04.8 | 2:04.8 (2) | ||||||
| Hiroshi Ishii | – | – | – | 2:04.8 | 4:09.6 (2) | ||||||
| Tsuyoshi Yamanaka | – | – | – | 2:00.6 | 6:10.2 (2) | ||||||
| Tatsuo Fujimoto | – | – | – | 2:03.0 | 8:13.2 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | Australia | AUS | 8:13.8 | |||||||
| David Dickson | – | – | – | 2:06.6 | 2:06.6 (4) | ||||||
| John Devitt | – | – | – | 2:03.2 | 4:09.8 (3) | ||||||
| Murray Rose | – | – | – | 2:02.7 | 6:12.5 (3) | ||||||
| John Konrads | – | – | – | 2:01.3 | 8:13.8 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Great Britain | GBR | 8:28.1 | |||||||
| Hamilton Milton | – | – | – | 2:08.7 | 2:08.7 (5) | ||||||
| John Martin-Dye | – | – | – | 2:05.2 | 4:13.9 (4) | ||||||
| Richard Campion | – | – | – | 2:08.4 | 6:22.3 (4) | ||||||
| Ian Black | – | – | – | 2:05.8 | 8:28.1 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 7 | Finland | FIN | 8:29.7 | |||||||
| Ilkka Suvanto | – | – | – | 2:09.0 | 2:09.0 (6) | ||||||
| Kari Haavisto | – | – | – | 2:08.1 | 4:17.1 (6) | ||||||
| Stig-Olof Grenner | – | – | – | 2:07.3 | 6:24.4 (7) | ||||||
| Karri Käyhkö | – | – | – | 2:05.3 | 8:29.7 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 8 | Sweden | SWE | 8:31.0 | |||||||
| Sven-Göran Johansson | – | – | – | 2:09.1 | 2:09.1 (7) | ||||||
| Lars-Erik Bengtsson | – | – | – | 2:08.2 | 4:17.3 (7) | ||||||
| Bengt Nordwall | – | – | – | 2:06.5 | 6:23.8 (6) | ||||||
| Per-Ola Lindberg | – | – | – | 2:07.2 | 8:31.0 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 2 | Unified Team of Germany | GER | 8:31.8 | |||||||
| Frank Wiegand | – | – | – | 2:06.3 | 2:06.3 (3) | ||||||
| Gerhard Hetz | – | – | – | 2:09.0 | 4:15.3 (5) | ||||||
| Hans Zierold | – | – | – | 2:08.4 | 6:23.7 (5) | ||||||
| Hans-Joachim Klein | – | – | – | 2:08.1 | 8:31.8 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | Soviet Union | URS | 8:32.2 | |||||||
| Igor Luzhkovsky | – | – | – | 2:10.3 | 2:10.3 (8) | ||||||
| Gennady Nikolayev | – | – | – | 2:08.0 | 4:18.3 (8) | ||||||
| Vitaly Sorokin | – | – | – | 2:07.0 | 6:25.3 (8) | ||||||
| Boris Nik'it'ini | – | – | – | 2:06.9 | 8:32.2 (8) |