| | 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	Swimmer	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	2:42.5 (1 h1)	2:43.4 (1 h2)	2:41.5 (1)	Gold
2	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	Herbert Higgins	USA	2:48.8 (1 h3)	2:44.0 (2 h2)	2:45.2 (4)
5	Saburo Ito	JPN	2:45.8 (1 h2)	2:45.5 (3 h1)	2:47.6 (5)
6	Jochen Balke	GER	2:46.4 (2 h2)	2:45.4 (2 h1)	2:47.8 (6)
7	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	2:47.4 (2 h5)	2:46.8 (4 h2)	2:51.1 (7)
4 h1 r2/3	Ray Kaye	USA	2:48.5 (3 h1)	2:49.2 (4 h1)	–
5 h1 r2/3	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	2:50.2 (4 h1)	2:54.0 (5 h1)	–
5 h2 r2/3	Arthur Heina	GER	2:48.5 (3 h5)	2:47.3 (5 h2)	–
6 h1 r2/3	Arasad Alpad	PHI	2:52.6 (2 h3)	2:54.6 (6 h1)	–
6 h2 r2/3	Jack Kasley	USA	2:54.4 (3 h2)	2:53.4 (6 h2)	–
7 h1 r2/3	Finn Jensen	DEN	2:55.7 (3 h3)	2:54.8 (7 h1)	–
7 h2 r2/3	Felix Erbert	TCH	2:55.7 (3 h4)	2:53.5 (7 h2)	–
8 h1 r2/3	Gerald Clawson	CAN	2:54.7 (2 h4)	2:55.6 (8 h1)	–
AC h2 r2/3	Leonard Spence	BER	2:52.0 (1 h4)	– (DQ h2)	–		DQ
4 h2 r1/3	Erik Skou	DEN	2:57.6 (4 h2)	–	–
4 h3 r1/3	Antônio Luiz dos Santos	BRA	2:56.8 (4 h3)	–	–
4 h5 r1/3	Hans Malmström	DEN	2:56.5 (4 h5)	–	–
5 h1 r1/3	Edgard Julius Barbosa Arp	BRA	3:02.6 (5 h1)	–	–
5 h2 r1/3	Percy Belvin	BER	3:09.8 (5 h2)	–	–
5 h3 r1/3	Mohamed Hassanein	EGY	2:58.9 (5 h3)	–	–
6 h2 r1/3	Bill Puddy	CAN	3:10.2 (6 h2)	–	–
AC h3 r1/3	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	– (DQ h3)	–	–		DQ
AC h4 r1/3	Carlos Reed	CHI	– (DQ h4)	–	–		DQ
DNS	Karl Schäfer	AUT	– (DNS h3)	–	–
DNS	Hans Girg	AUT	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	Pippo Schembri	MLT	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	Conrado Kuhn	PER	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	Auguste Keel	SUI	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	Paul Schütz	SUI	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Kurt Zimmermann	SUI	– (DNS h5)	–	–
DNS	Ferenc Csík	HUN	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One (13 August 1936 — 16:00)

Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	– (–) –	2:42.5	QOR
2	2	Erwin Sietas	GER	– (–) –	2:44.6	Q
3	5	Ray Kaye	USA	– (–) –	2:48.5	Q
4	7	Jikirum Adjaluddin	PHI	– (–) –	2:50.2	q
5	4	Edgard Julius Barbosa Arp	BRA	– (–) –	3:02.6
DNS	6	Paul Schütz	SUI	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Saburo Ito	JPN	– (–) –	2:45.8	Q
2	5	Jochen Balke	GER	– (–) –	2:46.4	Q
3	6	Jack Kasley	USA	– (–) –	2:54.4	Q
4	4	Erik Skou	DEN	– (–) –	2:57.6
5	1	Percy Belvin	BER	– (–) –	3:09.8
6	2	Bill Puddy	CAN	– (–) –	3:10.2
DNS	7	Auguste Keel	SUI	– (–) –	–
DNS	1	Sándor Barócsy	HUN	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Herbert Higgins	USA	– (–) –	2:48.8	Q
2	2	Arasad Alpad	PHI	– (–) –	2:52.6	Q
3	7	Finn Jensen	DEN	– (–) –	2:55.7	Q
4	3	Antônio Luiz dos Santos	BRA	– (–) –	2:56.8
5	6	Mohamed Hassanein	EGY	– (–) –	2:58.9
DQ	4	Jorge Berroeta	CHI	– (–) –	–
DNS	1	Karl Schäfer	AUT	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Leonard Spence	BER	– (–) –	2:52.0	Q
2	2	Gerald Clawson	CAN	– (–) –	2:54.7	Q
3	3	Felix Erbert	TCH	– (–) –	2:55.7	Q
DQ	6	Carlos Reed	CHI	– (–) –	–
DNS	1	Pippo Schembri	MLT	– (–) –	–
DNS	7	Conrado Kuhn	PER	– (–) –	–
DNS	5	Ferenc Csík	HUN	– (–) –	–

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	1	Reizo Koike	JPN	– (–) –	2:43.8	Q
2	4	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	– (–) –	2:47.4	Q
3	2	Arthur Heina	GER	– (–) –	2:48.5	Q
4	5	Hans Malmström	DEN	– (–) –	2:56.5
DNS	6	Hans Girg	AUT	– (–) –	–
DNS	7	Kurt Zimmermann	SUI	– (–) –	–

Semi-Finals (14 August 1936 — 15:00)

Top three in each heat and the fastest fourth-place advanced to the final.

Heat One

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

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Tetsuo Hamuro	JPN	– (–) –	2:43.4	Q
2	2	Herbert Higgins	USA	– (–) –	2:44.0	Q
3	6	Erwin Sietas	GER	– (–) –	2:44.8	Q
4	8	Teófilo Yldefonso	PHI	– (–) –	2:46.8	q
5	4	Arthur Heina	GER	– (–) –	2:47.3
6	1	Jack Kasley	USA	– (–) –	2:53.4
7	7	Felix Erbert	TCH	– (–) –	2:53.5
DQ	3	Leonard Spence	BER	– (–) –	–

Final (15 August 1936 — 15:30)

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