| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date	30 November – 6 December 1956
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympic Park Swimming and Diving Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria
Participants	21 from 17 countries

For the first time at the Olympics, breaststroke and butterfly were split into separate disciplines, but they still generated controversy as nearly a third of the entrants were disqualified for using illegal strokes.The most notable of those excluded being 1952 medallist Herbert Klein, who was punished after winning one of the heats.

Japan returned to breaststroke swimming pre-eminence in 1956. Japan had dominated in the immediate pre-war years but had failed to win a medal in the event for 20 years. Masaru Furukawa won gold using a technique that kept him underwater for more than a quarter of the race with his slightly more visible teammate Masahiro Yoshimura narrowly defeating Kharis Yunichev to the silver medal. Yunichev was the first Soviet swimmer to claim an Olympic medal.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Masaru Furukawa	JPN	2:36.1 (1 h1)	2:34.7 (1)	Gold
2	Masahiro Yoshimura	JPN	2:38.6 (1 h3)	2:36.7 (2)	Silver
3	Kharis Yunichev	URS	2:41.2 (2 h3)	2:36.8 (3)	Bronze
4	Terry Gathercole	AUS	2:40.2 (2 h2)	2:38.7 (4)
5	Igor Zaseda	URS	2:40.1 (1 h2)	2:39.0 (5)
6	Knud Gleie	DEN	2:36.4 (2 h1)	2:40.0 (6)
7	Manuel Sanguily	CUB	2:41.8 (3 h2)	2:42.0 (7)
AC r2/2	Hugues Broussard	FRA	2:43.0 (3 h3)	– (DQ)		DQ
9	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	2:43.5 (4 h3)	–
10	Farid Dosayev	URS	2:43.9 (3 h1)	–
11	Christopher Walkden	GBR	2:47.1 (5 h3)	–
12	Louis Kozma	BEL	2:48.4 (4 h1)	–
13	René Kohn	LUX	2:50.9 (4 h2)	–
14	Bob Hughes	USA	2:52.2 (6 h3)	–
15	Shamsher Khan	IND	3:17.0 (5 h1)	–
16	István Szívós, Sr.	HUN	3:18.7 (5 h2)	–
DQ	Otávio Mobiglia	BRA	– (DQ h1)	–
DQ	Parsons Nabiula	PHI	– (DQ h1)	–
DQ	Álvaro Gómez	COL	– (DQ h2)	–
DQ	Herbert Klein	GER	– (DQ h2)	–
DQ	Ghulam Rasul	PAK	– (DQ h3)	–

Round One (30 November 1956 — 20:20)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	5	Masaru Furukawa	JPN	– (–) –	2:36.1	Q
2	6	Knud Gleie	DEN	– (–) –	2:36.4	Q
3	3	Farid Dosayev	URS	– (–) –	2:43.9
4	4	Louis Kozma	BEL	– (–) –	2:48.4
5	7	Shamsher Khan	IND	– (–) –	3:17.0
DQ	1	Otávio Mobiglia	BRA	– (–) –	–
DQ	2	Parsons Nabiula	PHI	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	3	Igor Zaseda	URS	– (–) –	2:40.1	Q
2	6	Terry Gathercole	AUS	– (–) –	2:40.2	Q
3	2	Manuel Sanguily	CUB	– (–) –	2:41.8	Q
4	4	René Kohn	LUX	– (–) –	2:50.9
5	7	István Szívós, Sr.	HUN	– (–) –	3:18.7
DQ	1	Álvaro Gómez	COL	– (–) –	–
DQ	5	Herbert Klein	GER	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	6	Masahiro Yoshimura	JPN	– (–) –	2:38.6	Q
2	3	Kharis Yunichev	URS	– (–) –	2:41.2	Q
3	5	Hugues Broussard	FRA	– (–) –	2:43.0	Q
4	4	Gilbert Desmit	BEL	– (–) –	2:43.5
5	7	Christopher Walkden	GBR	– (–) –	2:47.1
6	1	Bob Hughes	USA	– (–) –	2:52.2
DQ	2	Ghulam Rasul	PAK	– (–) –	–

Final (6 December 1956 — 19:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	Time
1	4	Masaru Furukawa	JPN	– (–) –	2:34.7
2	3	Masahiro Yoshimura	JPN	– (–) –	2:36.7
3	7	Kharis Yunichev	URS	– (–) –	2:36.8
4	2	Terry Gathercole	AUS	– (–) –	2:38.7
5	6	Igor Zaseda	URS	– (–) –	2:39.0
6	5	Knud Gleie	DEN	– (–) –	2:40.0
7	1	Manuel Sanguily	CUB	– (–) –	2:42.0
DQ	8	Hugues Broussard	FRA	– (–) –	–