| | Event type

200 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	2 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	36 from 23 countries

Roland Matthes had won this event and the 100 backstroke in 1968. Since Mexico City he had bettered the world record in the 200 back five times and the 100 back four times. Four days before this event he had defended his gold medal in the 100 backstroke and he started the 200 back as the clear favorite. The final saw Matthes started slowly as the early lead was set by American Mitch Ivey, followed by his teammate Mike Stamm, silver medalist in the 100 back. Ivey still led at 100 metres but Matthes had moved into second, but he caught Ivey at 125 metres and had a full bodylength lead by the final turn, the race all but over. He eventually won by over a second, but Stamm came on strong to catch a tiring Ivey and won the silver medal.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Roland Matthes	GDR	2:06.62 (1 h5)	2:02.82 (1)	Gold
2	Mike Stamm	USA	2:07.51 (1 h2)	2:04.09 (2)	Silver
3	Mitch Ivey	USA	2:09.32 (1 h4)	2:04.33 (3)	Bronze
4	Brad Cooper	AUS	2:07.90 (1 h3)	2:06.59 (4)
5	Tim McKee	USA	2:08.19 (2 h3)	2:07.29 (5)
6	Lothar Noack	GDR	2:08.80 (2 h5)	2:08.67 (6)
7	Zoltán Verrasztó	HUN	2:09.89 (1 h1)	2:10.09 (7)
8	Jean-Paul Berjeau	FRA	2:09.93 (2 h4)	2:11.77 (8)
9	Bob Schoutsen	NED	2:10.56 (3 h4)	–
10	Colin Cunningham	GBR	2:11.06 (2 h1)	–
11	Tadashi Honda	JPN	2:11.11 (4 h4)	–
12	Anders Sandberg	SWE	2:11.36 (3 h5)	–
13	Neil Martin	AUS	2:12.09 (2 h2)	–
14	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	2:12.30 (4 h5)	–
15	Bill Kennedy	CAN	2:12.55 (3 h1)	–
16	Massimo Nistri	ITA	2:12.85 (3 h3)	–
17	Nenad Miloš	YUG	2:12.99 (3 h2)	–
18	Lutz Wanja	GDR	2:13.46 (4 h2)	–
19	Helmut Podolan	AUT	2:13.63 (5 h5)	–
20	Róbert Rudolf	HUN	2:13.64 (5 h4)	–
21	José Urueta	MEX	2:13.85 (4 h3)	–
22	Lars Børgesen	DEN	2:14.50 (5 h3)	–
23	Pierre Baehr	FRA	2:14.65 (6 h5)	–
24	John Hawes	CAN	2:15.34 (6 h4)	–
25	Rafael Rocha	MEX	2:15.81 (4 h1)	–
26	Norbert Verweyen	FRG	2:15.94 (7 h4)	–
27	Ian MacKenzie	CAN	2:16.36 (5 h1)	–
28	Rômulo Arantes	BRA	2:18.15 (6 h3)	–
29	Predrag Miloš	YUG	2:18.43 (8 h4)	–
30	Bruce Featherston	AUS	2:18.63 (7 h5)	–
31	Gustavo González	ARG	2:19.74 (8 h5)	–
32	Gerardo Rosario	PHI	2:23.53 (7 h3)	–
33	Sarun Van	CAM	2:24.42 (5 h2)	–
34	Chiang Jin Choon	MAS	2:26.51 (6 h2)	–
35	Sergio Hasbún	ESA	2:27.93 (6 h1)	–
36	Mark Crocker	HKG	2:33.64 (7 h1)	–
DNS	Dimitar Kolarov	BUL	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Edmund Bartkowiak	POL	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	Hsu Tung-Hsiung	TPE	– (DNS h3)	–

Round One (2 September 1972 — 10:35)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Zoltán Verrasztó	HUN	30.10 (1) 32.75 (1)	1:02.85 (1) 33.28 (1)	1:36.13 (1) 33.76 (2)	2:09.89	Q
2	–	Colin Cunningham	GBR	30.48 (3) 32.82 (2)	1:03.30 (2) 34.05 (2)	1:37.35 (2) 33.71 (1)	2:11.06
3	–	Bill Kennedy	CAN	30.20 (2) 33.55 (3)	1:03.75 (3) 34.25 (3)	1:38.00 (3) 34.55 (3)	2:12.55
4	–	Rafael Rocha	MEX	31.27 (5) 34.02 (4)	1:05.29 (4) 35.29 (5)	1:40.58 (5) 35.23 (4)	2:15.81
5	–	Ian MacKenzie	CAN	31.23 (4) 34.09 (5)	1:05.32 (5) 34.82 (4)	1:40.14 (4) 36.22 (5)	2:16.36
6	–	Sergio Hasbún	ESA	33.88 (6) 36.45 (6)	1:10.33 (6) 38.53 (6)	1:48.86 (6) 39.07 (6)	2:27.93
7	–	Mark Crocker	HKG	35.43 (7) 38.75 (7)	1:14.18 (7) 39.44 (7)	1:53.62 (7) 40.02 (7)	2:33.64
DNS	–	Dimitar Kolarov	BUL	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Mike Stamm	USA	29.01 (1) 32.13 (1)	1:01.14 (1) 32.86 (1)	1:34.00 (1) 33.51 (1)	2:07.51	QOR
2	–	Neil Martin	AUS	31.16 (4) 33.68 (4)	1:04.84 (4) 33.70 (2)	1:38.54 (4) 33.55 (2)	2:12.09
3	–	Nenad Miloš	YUG	30.97 (3) 33.21 (3)	1:04.18 (3) 34.28 (3)	1:38.46 (3) 34.53 (3)	2:12.99
4	–	Lutz Wanja	GDR	30.00 (2) 32.89 (2)	1:02.89 (2) 34.84 (4)	1:37.73 (2) 35.73 (4)	2:13.46
5	–	Sarun Van	CAM	32.26 (5) 36.55 (5)	1:08.81 (5) 37.81 (5)	1:46.62 (5) 37.80 (5)	2:24.42
6	–	Chiang Jin Choon	MAS	32.76 (6) 36.63 (6)	1:09.39 (6) 37.87 (6)	1:47.26 (6) 39.25 (6)	2:26.51
DNS	–	László Cseh, Sr.	HUN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	–	Edmund Bartkowiak	POL	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Brad Cooper	AUS	29.79 (2) 32.29 (1)	1:02.08 (1) 33.07 (1)	1:35.15 (1) 32.75 (2)	2:07.90	Q
2	–	Tim McKee	USA	29.53 (1) 32.56 (2)	1:02.09 (2) 33.43 (2)	1:35.52 (2) 32.67 (1)	2:08.19	Q
3	–	Massimo Nistri	ITA	31.40 (5) 33.22 (3)	1:04.62 (5) 34.32 (3)	1:38.94 (4) 33.91 (3)	2:12.85
4	–	José Urueta	MEX	30.60 (4) 33.69 (5)	1:04.29 (4) 34.79 (5)	1:39.08 (5) 34.77 (4)	2:13.85
5	–	Lars Børgesen	DEN	30.43 (3) 33.48 (4)	1:03.91 (3) 34.55 (4)	1:38.46 (3) 36.04 (5)	2:14.50
6	–	Rômulo Arantes	BRA	32.17 (7) 33.75 (6)	1:05.92 (6) 35.57 (6)	1:41.49 (6) 36.66 (6)	2:18.15
7	–	Gerardo Rosario	PHI	31.75 (6) 35.68 (7)	1:07.43 (7) 36.96 (7)	1:44.39 (7) 39.14 (7)	2:23.53
DNS	–	Hsu Tung-Hsiung	TPE	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Mitch Ivey	USA	29.58 (1) 32.94 (2)	1:02.52 (1) 33.18 (1)	1:35.70 (1) 33.62 (3)	2:09.32	Q
2	–	Jean-Paul Berjeau	FRA	30.72 (4) 32.70 (1)	1:03.42 (3) 33.37 (2)	1:36.79 (3) 33.14 (1)	2:09.93	Q
3	–	Bob Schoutsen	NED	29.71 (2) 33.05 (3)	1:02.76 (2) 33.77 (3)	1:36.53 (2) 34.03 (4)	2:10.56
4	–	Tadashi Honda	JPN	30.38 (3) 33.52 (5)	1:03.90 (4) 33.78 (4)	1:37.68 (4) 33.43 (2)	2:11.11
5	–	Róbert Rudolf	HUN	31.45 (7) 33.27 (4)	1:04.72 (5) 34.03 (5)	1:38.75 (5) 34.89 (5)	2:13.64
6	–	John Hawes	CAN	30.78 (5) 33.97 (7)	1:04.75 (6) 34.58 (6)	1:39.33 (6) 36.01 (7)	2:15.34
7	–	Norbert Verweyen	FRG	31.89 (8) 33.86 (6)	1:05.75 (7) 35.15 (7)	1:40.90 (7) 35.04 (6)	2:15.94
8	–	Predrag Miloš	YUG	31.19 (6) 34.69 (8)	1:05.88 (8) 35.60 (8)	1:41.48 (8) 36.95 (8)	2:18.43

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Roland Matthes	GDR	29.97 (2) 32.88 (3)	1:02.85 (2) 32.58 (1)	1:35.43 (1) 31.19 (1)	2:06.62	QOR
2	–	Lothar Noack	GDR	29.89 (1) 32.19 (1)	1:02.08 (1) 33.51 (2)	1:35.59 (2) 33.21 (2)	2:08.80	Q
3	–	Anders Sandberg	SWE	30.29 (4) 32.86 (2)	1:03.15 (3) 34.23 (5)	1:37.38 (3) 33.98 (3)	2:11.36
4	–	Ejvind Pedersen	DEN	30.65 (5) 33.86 (6)	1:04.51 (5) 33.56 (3)	1:38.07 (4) 34.23 (4)	2:12.30
5	–	Helmut Podolan	AUT	30.23 (3) 33.12 (4)	1:03.35 (4) 35.36 (8)	1:38.71 (5) 34.92 (5)	2:13.63
6	–	Pierre Baehr	FRA	30.92 (6) 33.81 (5)	1:04.73 (6) 34.41 (6)	1:39.14 (6) 35.51 (6)	2:14.65
7	–	Bruce Featherston	AUS	32.33 (7) 35.29 (7)	1:07.62 (7) 35.30 (7)	1:42.92 (8) 35.71 (7)	2:18.63
8	–	Gustavo González	ARG	32.73 (8) 36.50 (8)	1:09.23 (8) 33.67 (4)	1:42.90 (7) 36.84 (8)	2:19.74

Final (2 September 1972 — 18:10)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Roland Matthes	GDR	28.85 (3) 31.11 (2)	59.96 (2) 31.00 (1)	1:30.96 (1) 31.86 (2)	2:02.82	=WR
2	5	Mike Stamm	USA	28.68 (2) 31.37 (3)	1:00.05 (3) 31.97 (2)	1:32.02 (3) 32.07 (3)	2:04.09
3	7	Mitch Ivey	USA	28.29 (1) 31.05 (1)	59.34 (1) 32.07 (3)	1:31.41 (2) 32.92 (6)	2:04.33
4	3	Brad Cooper	AUS	29.98 (7) 32.67 (5)	1:02.65 (7) 32.26 (4)	1:34.91 (4) 31.68 (1)	2:06.59
5	6	Tim McKee	USA	29.38 (4) 32.60 (4)	1:01.98 (4) 32.98 (5)	1:34.96 (5) 32.33 (4)	2:07.29
6	2	Lothar Noack	GDR	29.42 (5) 33.06 (7)	1:02.48 (5) 33.61 (7)	1:36.09 (7) 32.58 (5)	2:08.67
7	1	Zoltán Verrasztó	HUN	29.57 (6) 32.98 (6)	1:02.55 (6) 33.39 (6)	1:35.94 (6) 34.15 (8)	2:10.09
8	8	Jean-Paul Berjeau	FRA	30.01 (8) 33.46 (8)	1:03.47 (8) 34.39 (8)	1:37.86 (8) 33.91 (7)	2:11.77