| Date | 28 July 1992 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Piscinas Bernat Picornell, Barcelona |
| Participants | 44 from 34 countries |
To Spanish swimming fans, this was the most highly anticipated event in Barcelona, as the favorite was the world record holder, Martín López-Zubero. López-Zubero was also the 1991 World Champion and won both backstrokes at the 1991 European Championships. The pace in the final was set by Russian Vladimir Selkov, with Japan’s Hajime Itoi briefly leading at 150. However, López-Zubero came on in the final 25 metres to win the gold medal, with Selkov second, and Italy’s Stefano Battistelli finishing strong for the bronze.
López-Zubero’s brother, David, had won Spain’s first ever swimming medal back in 1980 with a bronze in the 100 butterfly, but they were basically American with dual citizenship. They had both been born in the United States, raised in the US, trained in the US, and went to American colleges. However, their father was Spanish, which gave them a Spanish passport and allowed them to compete internationally for Spain. David had chosen this route first and Martín followed it.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | R1 | B Final | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martín López-Zubero |  ESP | 1:59.22 (1 h6) | – | 1:58.47 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Vladimir Selkov |  EUN | 1:59.81 (1 h5) | – | 1:58.87 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Stefano Battistelli |  ITA | 1:59.56 (3 h6) | – | 1:59.40 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Hajime Itoi |  JPN | 1:59.95 (2 h5) | – | 1:59.52 (4) | |||
| 5 | Tripp Schwenk |  USA | 1:59.92 (1 h4) | – | 1:59.73 (5) | |||
| 6 | Tino Weber |  GER | 1:59.40 (2 h6) | – | 1:59.78 (6) | |||
| 7 | Tamás Deutsch |  HUN | 2:00.50 (2 h4) | – | 2:00.06 (7) | |||
| 8 | Stefaan Maene |  BEL | 1:59.64 (4 h6) | – | 2:00.91 (8) | |||
| 9 | Rodolfo Falcón |  CUB | 2:00.52 (1 h3) | 2:00.22 (1) | – | |||
| 10 | Rogério Romero |  BRA | 2:00.99 (5 h5) | 2:01.02 (2) | – | |||
| 11 | Luca Bianchin | ITA | 2:02.65 (4 h4) | 2:01.70 (3) | – | |||
| 12 | Kevin Draxinger |  CAN | 2:01.73 (3 h4) | 2:01.79 (4) | – | |||
| 13 | Manuel Guzmán |  PUR | 2:01.84 (7 h5) | 2:01.87 (5) | – | |||
| 14 | Yasuhiro Vandewalle | BEL | 2:01.46 (2 h3) | 2:02.45 (6) | – | |||
| 15 | Raymond Brown | CAN | 2:01.81 (6 h5) | 2:03.01 (7) | – | |||
| 16 | Georgi Mihalev |  BUL | 2:02.24 (3 h3) | – ( | – | |||
| 17 | Dirk Richter | GER | 2:00.94 (3 h5) | – | – | 1 | ||
| 18 | Royce Sharp | USA | 2:00.97 (4 h5) | – | – | 2 | ||
| 19 | Marcel Blažo |  TCH | 2:02.81 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| =20 | Keita Soraoka | JPN | 2:03.10 (5 h4) | – | – | |||
| =20 | Alejandro Alvizuri |  PER | 2:03.10 (1 h2) | – | – | |||
| 22 | David Holderbach |  FRA | 2:03.11 (5 h6) | – | – | |||
| 23 | Rastislav Bizub | TCH | 2:03.30 (6 h4) | – | – | |||
| 24 | Adam Ruckwood |  GBR | 2:03.54 (7 h4) | – | – | |||
| 25 | Jorge Pérez | ESP | 2:03.68 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 26 | Alejandro Bermúdez |  COL | 2:04.46 (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 27 | Olivér Ágh | HUN | 2:04.52 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 28 | Simon Percy |  NZL | 2:05.53 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 29 | Ji Sang-Jun |  KOR | 2:05.56 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 30 | Ilmar Ojase |  EST | 2:05.76 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 31 | Thomas Sopp |  NOR | 2:05.91 (6 h6) | – | – | |||
| 32 | Matthew O'Connor | GBR | 2:05.94 (8 h5) | – | – | |||
| 33 | Derya Büyükuncu |  TUR | 2:06.01 (8 h4) | – | – | |||
| 34 | Miguel Arrobas |  POR | 2:06.02 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 35 | Toby Haenen |  AUS | 2:06.79 (7 h6) | – | – | |||
| 36 | Lars Sørensen |  DEN | 2:06.80 (7 h3) | – | – | |||
| 37 | Eran Groumi |  ISR | 2:07.91 (7 h2) | – | – | |||
| 38 | Gary Tan |  SGP | 2:11.36 (1 h1) | – | – | |||
| 39 | Marcos Prono |  PAR | 2:15.25 (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 40 | Sultan Al-Otaibi |  KUW | 2:19.02 (3 h1) | – | – | |||
| 41 | Salvador Jiménez |  HON | 2:20.15 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 42 | Carl Probert |  FIJ | 2:22.54 (5 h1) | – | – | |||
| Raymond Papa |  PHI | – (DQ h1) | – | – | ||||
| Abdullah Sultan |  UAE | – (DQ h1) | – | – | ||||
| Jani Sievinen |  FIN | – (DNS h6) | – | – |
| Date | 28 July 1992 — 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Tan | SGP | 2:11.36 | ||
| 2 | Marcos Prono | PAR | 2:15.25 | ||
| 3 | Sultan Al-Otaibi | KUW | 2:19.02 | ||
| 4 | Salvador Jiménez | HON | 2:20.15 | ||
| 5 | Carl Probert | FIJ | 2:22.54 | ||
| Abdullah Sultan | UAE | – | |||
| Raymond Papa | PHI | – |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro Alvizuri | PER | 2:03.10 | ||
| 2 | Alejandro Bermúdez | COL | 2:04.46 | ||
| 3 | Simon Percy | NZL | 2:05.53 | ||
| 4 | Ji Sang-Jun | KOR | 2:05.56 | ||
| 5 | Ilmar Ojase | EST | 2:05.76 | ||
| 6 | Miguel Arrobas | POR | 2:06.02 | ||
| 7 | Eran Groumi | ISR | 2:07.91 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodolfo Falcón | CUB | 2:00.52 | ||
| 2 | Yasuhiro Vandewalle | BEL | 2:01.46 | ||
| 3 | Georgi Mihalev | BUL | 2:02.24 | ||
| 4 | Marcel Blažo | TCH | 2:02.81 | ||
| 5 | Jorge Pérez | ESP | 2:03.68 | ||
| 6 | Olivér Ágh | HUN | 2:04.52 | ||
| 7 | Lars Sørensen | DEN | 2:06.80 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tripp Schwenk | USA | 1:59.92 | ||
| 2 | Tamás Deutsch | HUN | 2:00.50 | ||
| 3 | Kevin Draxinger | CAN | 2:01.73 | ||
| 4 | Luca Bianchin | ITA | 2:02.65 | ||
| 5 | Keita Soraoka | JPN | 2:03.10 | ||
| 6 | Rastislav Bizub | TCH | 2:03.30 | ||
| 7 | Adam Ruckwood | GBR | 2:03.54 | ||
| 8 | Derya Büyükuncu | TUR | 2:06.01 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Selkov | EUN | 1:59.81 | ||
| 2 | Hajime Itoi | JPN | 1:59.95 | ||
| 3 | Dirk Richter | GER | 2:00.94 | ||
| 4 | Royce Sharp | USA | 2:00.97 | ||
| 5 | Rogério Romero | BRA | 2:00.99 | ||
| 6 | Raymond Brown | CAN | 2:01.81 | ||
| 7 | Manuel Guzmán | PUR | 2:01.84 | ||
| 8 | Matthew O'Connor | GBR | 2:05.94 |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martín López-Zubero | ESP | 1:59.22 | ||
| 2 | Tino Weber | GER | 1:59.40 | ||
| 3 | Stefano Battistelli | ITA | 1:59.56 | ||
| 4 | Stefaan Maene | BEL | 1:59.64 | ||
| 5 | David Holderbach | FRA | 2:03.11 | ||
| 6 | Thomas Sopp | NOR | 2:05.91 | ||
| 7 | Toby Haenen | AUS | 2:06.79 | ||
| Jani Sievinen | FIN | – |
| Date | 28 July 1992 — 19:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodolfo Falcón | CUB | 2:00.22 | ||
| 2 | Rogério Romero | BRA | 2:01.02 | ||
| 3 | Luca Bianchin | ITA | 2:01.70 | ||
| 4 | Kevin Draxinger | CAN | 2:01.79 | ||
| 5 | Manuel Guzmán | PUR | 2:01.87 | ||
| 6 | Yasuhiro Vandewalle | BEL | 2:02.45 | ||
| 7 | Raymond Brown | CAN | 2:03.01 | ||
| Georgi Mihalev | BUL | – |
| Date | 28 July 1992 — 19:30 |
|---|
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martín López-Zubero | ESP | 1:58.47 | ||
| 2 | Vladimir Selkov | EUN | 1:58.87 | ||
| 3 | Stefano Battistelli | ITA | 1:59.40 | ||
| 4 | Hajime Itoi | JPN | 1:59.52 | ||
| 5 | Tripp Schwenk | USA | 1:59.73 | ||
| 6 | Tino Weber | GER | 1:59.78 | ||
| 7 | Tamás Deutsch | HUN | 2:00.06 | ||
| 8 | Stefaan Maene | BEL | 2:00.91 |
