| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	21 – 22 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez, Ciudad de México
Participants	37 from 26 countries

The top American was Charlie Hickcox who had set two world records in the event in 1967. But the favorite was East German Roland Matthes who had lowered the world record to 58.4 in September 1967. Matthes was not to be beaten. He took the lead early and defeated Hickcox by 1.5 seconds. Behind Hickcox, Americans Ronnie Mills and Larry Barbiere placed 3-4. Three days later Matthews would add the 200 backstroke gold medal. In 1972 he returned to win the Olympic backstroke double-double, winning both the 100 and 200 again in Munich. He tried to make it a triple in the 100 in 1976, but placed third behind John Naber in Montréal. During his career Matthews set 16 long-course world records in the 100 and 200 backstrokes.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	23062	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.0 (1 h2)	1:01.3 (1 h2)	58.7 (1)	Gold
2	15348	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.1 (1 h4)	1:01.6 (1 h1)	1:00.2 (2)	Silver
3	15359	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8 (1 h6)	1:01.8 (3 h2)	1:00.5 (3)	Bronze
4	15342	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.9 (1 h1)	1:01.6 (2 h2)	1:01.1 (4)
5	13940	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.8 (1 h3)	1:01.9 (2 h1)	1:01.4 (5)
6	17081	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.8 (2 h6)	1:02.1 (5 h2)	1:01.8 (6)
7	12236	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.7 (3 h1)	1:02.2 (3 h1)	1:01.9 (7)
8	17854	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.3 (2 h4)	1:02.1 (4 h2)	1:02.0 (8)
9	12046	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:03.2 (3 h6)	1:02.3 (6 h2)	–
=10	15082	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:03.0 (2 h2)	1:02.4 (7 h2)	–
=10	21037	Yury Gromak	URS	1:03.2 (1 h5)	1:02.4 (4 h1)	–
12	21038	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:03.1 (2 h3)	1:02.5 (8 h2)	–
=13	17922	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.0 (2 h1)	1:02.7 (5 h1)	–
=13	21694	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.9 (3 h4)	1:02.7 (6 h1)	–
15	16690	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:03.0 (4 h4)	1:02.8 (7 h1)	–
16	14811	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.5 (3 h2)	1:03.6 (8 h1)	–
=17	12808	Leonardo Barenboim	ARG	1:04.0 (2 h5)	–	–
=17	18149	Kishio Tanaka	JPN	1:04.0 (4 h6)	–	–
19	16689	Roddy Jones	GBR	1:04.1 (3 h3)	–	–
=20	18764	José Joaquín Santibáñez	MEX	1:04.2 (4 h3)	–	–
=20	21030	Yevgeny Spiridonov	URS	1:04.2 (4 h2)	–	–
=22	13293	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	1:04.6 (5 h3)	–	–
=22	13550	César Filardi	BRA	1:04.6 (5 h6)	–	–
=22	17290	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	1:04.6 (3 h5)	–	–
25	15088	Jesús Cabrera	ESP	1:04.8 (5 h2)	–	–
=26	18765	Jaime Rivera	MEX	1:05.1 (5 h5)	–	–
=26	20409	Hans Tegeback	SWE	1:05.1 (4 h5)	–	–
28	20568	Gerald Evard	SUI	1:05.8 (5 h4)	–	–
29	–	Gary Goodner	PUR	1:06.3 (6 h3)	–	–
30	14414	Eliseo Vidal	CUB	1:06.4 (6 h2)	–	–
31	18766	Luis Ángel Acosta	MEX	1:06.5 (4 h1)	–	–
32	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	1:07.2 (6 h5)	–	–
33	21939	Ronnie Wong	HKG	1:11.3 (7 h2)	–	–
34	22228	Yacoub Masboungi	LBN	1:11.6 (7 h3)	–	–
35	16847	Antonio Cruz	GUA	1:11.8 (6 h6)	–	–
36	14933	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	1:13.7 (5 h1)	–	–
37	13939	Arturo Carranza	ESA	1:17.4 (6 h4)	–	–
DNS	12814	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	18111	Paul Nash	JAM	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One

Date	21 October 1968 — 10:00
Format	Fastest 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.0	QOR
2	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.1	Q
=3	–	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.8	Q
=3	–	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8	Q
5	–	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.9	Q
6	–	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.0	Q
7	–	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.3	Q
8	–	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.7	Q
9	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.8	Q
10	–	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.9	Q
=11	–	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:03.0	Q
=11	–	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:03.0	Q
13	–	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:03.1	Q
=14	–	Yury Gromak	URS	1:03.2	Q
=14	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:03.2	Q
16	–	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.5	Q
=17	–	Leonardo Barenboim	ARG	1:04.0
=17	–	Kishio Tanaka	JPN	1:04.0
19	–	Roddy Jones	GBR	1:04.1
=20	–	Yevgeny Spiridonov	URS	1:04.2
=20	–	José Joaquín Santibáñez	MEX	1:04.2
=22	–	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	1:04.6
=22	–	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	1:04.6
=22	–	César Filardi	BRA	1:04.6
25	–	Jesús Cabrera	ESP	1:04.8
=26	–	Hans Tegeback	SWE	1:05.1
=26	–	Jaime Rivera	MEX	1:05.1
28	–	Gerald Evard	SUI	1:05.8
29	–	Gary Goodner	PUR	1:06.3
30	–	Eliseo Vidal	CUB	1:06.4
31	–	Luis Ángel Acosta	MEX	1:06.5
32	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	1:07.2
33	–	Ronnie Wong	HKG	1:11.3
34	–	Yacoub Masboungi	LBN	1:11.6
35	–	Antonio Cruz	GUA	1:11.8
36	–	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	1:13.7
37	–	Arturo Carranza	ESA	1:17.4
DNS	–	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	–
DNS	–	Paul Nash	JAM	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.9	Q
2	–	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.0	Q
3	–	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.7	Q
4	–	Luis Ángel Acosta	MEX	1:06.5
5	–	Friedrich Jokisch	ESA	1:13.7
DNS	–	Carlos van der Maath	ARG	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.0	QOR
2	–	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:03.0	Q
3	–	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.5	Q
4	–	Yevgeny Spiridonov	URS	1:04.2
5	–	Jesús Cabrera	ESP	1:04.8
6	–	Eliseo Vidal	CUB	1:06.4
7	–	Ronnie Wong	HKG	1:11.3

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.8	Q
2	–	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:03.1	Q
3	–	Roddy Jones	GBR	1:04.1
4	–	José Joaquín Santibáñez	MEX	1:04.2
5	–	Herman Verbauwen	BEL	1:04.6
6	–	Gary Goodner	PUR	1:06.3
7	–	Yacoub Masboungi	LBN	1:11.6

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.1	Q
2	–	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.3	Q
3	–	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.9	Q
4	–	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:03.0	Q
5	–	Gerald Evard	SUI	1:05.8
6	–	Arturo Carranza	ESA	1:17.4
DNS	–	Paul Nash	JAM	–

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Yury Gromak	URS	1:03.2	Q
2	–	Leonardo Barenboim	ARG	1:04.0
3	–	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	1:04.6
4	–	Hans Tegeback	SWE	1:05.1
5	–	Jaime Rivera	MEX	1:05.1
6	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	1:07.2

Heat #6

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8	Q
2	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.8	Q
3	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:03.2	Q
4	–	Kishio Tanaka	JPN	1:04.0
5	–	César Filardi	BRA	1:04.6
6	–	Antonio Cruz	GUA	1:11.8

Semi-Finals

Date	21 October 1968 — 17:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.3	Q
=2	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.6	Q
=2	–	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.6	Q
4	–	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8	Q
5	–	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.9	Q
=6	–	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.1	Q
=6	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.1	Q
8	–	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.2	Q
9	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:02.3
=10	–	Yury Gromak	URS	1:02.4
=10	–	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:02.4
12	–	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:02.5
=13	–	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.7
=13	–	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.7
15	–	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:02.8
16	–	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.6

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:01.6	Q
2	–	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.9	Q
3	–	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:02.2	Q
4	–	Yury Gromak	URS	1:02.4
5	–	Franco Chino	ITA	1:02.7
6	–	Danijel Vrhovšek	YUG	1:02.7
7	–	Neil Jackson	GBR	1:02.8
8	–	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	1:03.6

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	1:01.3	Q
2	–	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.6	Q
3	–	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:01.8	Q
4	–	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.1	Q
5	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:02.1	Q
6	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	1:02.3
7	–	Santiago Esteva	ESP	1:02.4
8	–	Viktor Mazanov	URS	1:02.5

Final Round

Date	22 October 1968 — 17:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	58.7	OR
2	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	1:00.2
3	–	Ronnie Mills	USA	1:00.5
4	–	Larry Barbiere	USA	1:01.1
5	–	Jim Shaw	CAN	1:01.4
6	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	1:01.8
7	–	Reinhard Blechert	FRG	1:01.9
8	–	Franco Del Campo	ITA	1:02.0