| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date	13 – 15 August 1936
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmstadion, Reichssportfeld, Berlin
Participants	25 from 11 countries

American Jack Kasley had set a new world record in March 1936 but was badly out of form by the time of the Olympics. He finished sixth in his semi-final and was eliminated along with the former record holder, Leonard Spence of Bermuda, who was disqualified. The teenaged Japanese swimmer, Tetsuo Hamuro set the fastest time in heat and semi-final and led throughout the final. Hamuro, who was known for his fast starts, initially trailed Henry Higgins and Jochen Balke but the pair, who were using the new butterfly technique, faded in the second half of the race. Hamuro was pressured in the final stages by the fast finish of Germany’s Erwin Sietas but held on for victory. Sietas finished in 4th place in 1928 and 1932 but, with Chancellor Hitler watching, ended his career with an Olympic medal.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	211	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:42.5 (1 h1)	2:43.4 (1 h2)	2:41.5 (1)	Gold
2	493	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:44.6 (2 h1)	2:44.8 (3 h2)	2:42.9 (2)	Silver
3	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:43.8 (1 h5)	2:44.5 (1 h1)	2:44.2 (3)	Bronze
4	442	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:48.8 (1 h3)	2:44.0 (2 h2)	2:45.2 (4)
5	210	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.8 (1 h2)	2:45.5 (3 h1)	2:47.6 (5)
6	491	Jochen Balke	GER	2:46.4 (2 h2)	2:45.4 (2 h1)	2:47.8 (6)
7	326	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:47.4 (2 h5)	2:46.8 (4 h2)	2:51.1 (7)
8	492	Arthur Heina	GER	2:48.5 (3 h5)	2:47.3 (5 h2)	–
9	444	Ray Kaye	USA	2:48.5 (3 h1)	2:49.2 (4 h1)	–
10	443	Jack Kasley	USA	2:54.4 (3 h2)	2:53.4 (6 h2)	–
11	377	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:55.7 (3 h4)	2:53.5 (7 h2)	–
12	323	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:50.2 (4 h1)	2:54.0 (5 h1)	–
13	327	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:52.6 (2 h3)	2:54.6 (6 h1)	–
14	83	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:55.7 (3 h3)	2:54.8 (7 h1)	–
15	60	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:54.7 (2 h4)	2:55.6 (8 h1)	–
DQ semi	36	Leonard Spence	BER	2:52.0 (1 h4)	– (DQ h2)	–
17	84	Hans Malmström	DEN	2:56.5 (4 h5)	–	–
18	48	Antônio Luiz dos Santos	BRA	2:56.8 (4 h3)	–	–
19	85	Erik Skou	DEN	2:57.6 (4 h2)	–	–
20	8	Mohamed Hassanein	EGY	2:58.9 (5 h3)	–	–
21	49	Edgard Julius Barbosa Arp	BRA	3:02.6 (5 h1)	–	–
22	40	Percy Belvin	BER	3:09.8 (5 h2)	–	–
23	61	Bill Puddy	CAN	3:10.2 (6 h2)	–	–
DQ	74	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	– (DQ h3)	–	–
DQ	–	Carlos Reed	CHI	– (DQ h4)	–	–
DNS	287	Karl Schäfer	AUT	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	286	Hans Girg	AUT	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	401	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	268	Pippo Schembri	MLT	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	318	Conrado Kuhn	PER	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	357	Auguste Keel	SUI	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	358	Paul Schütz	SUI	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	359	Kurt Zimmermann	SUI	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	396	Ferenc Csík	HUN	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One

Date	13 August 1936 — 16:00
Format	Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:42.5	QOR
2	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:43.8	Q
3	–	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:44.6	Q
4	–	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.8	Q
5	–	Jochen Balke	GER	2:46.4	Q
6	–	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:47.4	Q
=7	–	Ray Kaye	USA	2:48.5	Q
=7	–	Arthur Heina	GER	2:48.5	Q
9	–	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:48.8	Q
10	–	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:50.2	q
11	–	Leonard Spence	BER	2:52.0	Q
12	–	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:52.6	Q
13	–	Jack Kasley	USA	2:54.4	Q
14	–	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:54.7	Q
=15	–	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:55.7	Q
=15	–	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:55.7	Q
17	–	Hans Malmström	DEN	2:56.5
18	–	Antônio Luiz dos Santos	BRA	2:56.8
19	–	Erik Skou	DEN	2:57.6
20	–	Mohamed Hassanein	EGY	2:58.9
21	–	Edgard Julius Barbosa Arp	BRA	3:02.6
22	–	Percy Belvin	BER	3:09.8
23	–	Bill Puddy	CAN	3:10.2
DQ	–	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	–
DQ	–	Carlos Reed	CHI	–
DNS	–	Paul Schütz	SUI	–
DNS	–	Auguste Keel	SUI	–
DNS	–	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	–
DNS	–	Karl Schäfer	AUT	–
DNS	–	Pippo Schembri	MLT	–
DNS	–	Conrado Kuhn	PER	–
DNS	–	Ferenc Csík	HUN	–
DNS	–	Hans Girg	AUT	–
DNS	–	Kurt Zimmermann	SUI	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:42.5	QOR
2	–	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:44.6	Q
3	–	Ray Kaye	USA	2:48.5	Q
4	–	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:50.2	q
5	–	Edgard Julius Barbosa Arp	BRA	3:02.6
DNS	–	Paul Schütz	SUI	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.8	Q
2	–	Jochen Balke	GER	2:46.4	Q
3	–	Jack Kasley	USA	2:54.4	Q
4	–	Erik Skou	DEN	2:57.6
5	–	Percy Belvin	BER	3:09.8
6	–	Bill Puddy	CAN	3:10.2
DNS	–	Auguste Keel	SUI	–
DNS	–	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:48.8	Q
2	–	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:52.6	Q
3	–	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:55.7	Q
4	–	Antônio Luiz dos Santos	BRA	2:56.8
5	–	Mohamed Hassanein	EGY	2:58.9
DQ	–	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	–
DNS	–	Karl Schäfer	AUT	–

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Leonard Spence	BER	2:52.0	Q
2	–	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:54.7	Q
3	–	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:55.7	Q
DQ	–	Carlos Reed	CHI	–
DNS	–	Pippo Schembri	MLT	–
DNS	–	Conrado Kuhn	PER	–
DNS	–	Ferenc Csík	HUN	–

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:43.8	Q
2	–	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:47.4	Q
3	–	Arthur Heina	GER	2:48.5	Q
4	–	Hans Malmström	DEN	2:56.5
DNS	–	Hans Girg	AUT	–
DNS	–	Kurt Zimmermann	SUI	–

Semi-Finals

Date	14 August 1936 — 15:00
Format	Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:43.4	Q
2	–	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:44.0	Q
3	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:44.5	Q
4	–	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:44.8	Q
5	–	Jochen Balke	GER	2:45.4	Q
6	–	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.5	Q
7	–	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:46.8	q
8	–	Arthur Heina	GER	2:47.3
9	–	Ray Kaye	USA	2:49.2
10	–	Jack Kasley	USA	2:53.4
11	–	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:53.5
12	–	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:54.0
13	–	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:54.6
14	–	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:54.8
15	–	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:55.6
DQ	–	Leonard Spence	BER	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:44.5	Q
2	–	Jochen Balke	GER	2:45.4	Q
3	–	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.5	Q
4	–	Ray Kaye	USA	2:49.2
5	–	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:54.0
6	–	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:54.6
7	–	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:54.8
8	–	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:55.6

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:43.4	Q
2	–	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:44.0	Q
3	–	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:44.8	Q
4	–	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:46.8	q
5	–	Arthur Heina	GER	2:47.3
6	–	Jack Kasley	USA	2:53.4
7	–	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:53.5
DQ	–	Leonard Spence	BER	–

Final Round

Date	15 August 1936 — 15:30

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:41.5	OR
2	–	Erwin Sietas	GER	2:42.9
3	–	Reizo Koike	JPN	2:44.2
4	–	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:45.2
5	–	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:47.6
6	–	Jochen Balke	GER	2:47.8
7	–	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:51.1