| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	21 July 1976
Status	Olympic
Location	Piscine olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants	77 from 18 countries

This was the only men’s freestyle relay in Montréal as the 4 x 100 had been removed from the program in an effort to decrease the number of swimming events. The Americans had swept the 200 metre freestyle medals two days before this final and were overwhelming favorites. The world record coming in was 7:30.54, set by a US team from the Long Beach Swim Club. But that did not survive the first round. The United States’ team of Doug Northway, Tim Shaw, Mike Bruner, and Bruce Furniss recorded 7:30.33 in the third heat to better the world record, although Shaw and Northway would not even make the US team for the final. The time was almost three seconds better than the Soviet Union’s time in heat two. The final was a laughable win for the US, led by Bruner and the three 200 medalists – Bruce Furniss, John Naber, and Jim Montgomery. The Soviets would finish second in a time of 7:27.97, far below the American world record from the heats, but they were a full 4.75 seconds in arrears at the finish.

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	United States	USA	7:30.33 (1 h3)	7:23.22 (1)	Gold
	408	Mike Bruner		–	–
	414	Bruce Furniss		–	–
	429	John Naber		–	–
	427	Jim Montgomery		–	–
	430	Doug Northway		–	–
	432	Tim Shaw		–	–
2	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:33.21 (1 h2)	7:27.97 (2)	Silver
	396	Vladimir Raskatov		–	–
	370	Andrey Bogdanov		–	–
	380	Sergey Koplyakov		–	–
	384	Andrey Krylov		–	–
	401	Andrey Smirnov		–	–
	389	Vladimir Mikheyev		–	–
3	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.92 (2 h1)	7:32.11 (3)	Bronze
	134	Alan McClatchey		–	–
	127	David Dunne		–	–
	126	Gordon Downie		–	–
	121	Brian Brinkley		–	–
4	–	West Germany	FRG	7:37.59 (1 h1)	7:32.27 (4)
	177	Klaus Steinbach		–	–
	172	Peter Nocke		–	–
	168	Werner Lampe		–	–
	161	HaJo Geisler		–	–
	175	Andreas Schmidt		–	–
5	–	East Germany	GDR	7:40.58 (2 h2)	7:38.92 (5)
	150	Roger Pyttel		–	–
	145	Wilfried Hartung		–	–
	152	Rainer Strohbach		–	–
	149	Frank Pfütze		–	–
	147	Lutz Löscher DNS		–	–
6	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.54 (3 h3)	7:42.56 (6)
	194	Karim Ressang		–	–
	198	René van der Kuil		–	–
	191	Andre in het Veld		–	–
	189	Henk Elzerman		–	–
7	–	Sweden	SWE	7:41.82 (2 h3)	7:42.84 (7)
	352	Pär Arvidsson		–	–
	360	Peter Pettersson		–	–
	353	Anders Bellbring		–	–
	356	Bengt Gingsjö		–	–
	357	Bengt Jönsson DNS		–	–
8	–	Italy	ITA	7:41.39 (3 h1)	7:43.39 (8)
	258	Marcello Guarducci		–	–
	262	Roberto Pangaro		–	–
	246	Paolo Barelli		–	–
	264	Paolo Revelli		–	–
9	–	Australia	AUS	7:44.42 (3 h2)	–
	25	Graham Windeatt		–	–
	20	Mark Tonelli		–	–
	–	Peter Coughlan		–	–
	–	Peter Dawson		–	–
	10	Mark Kerry DNS		–	–
10	–	Norway	NOR	7:46.42 (4 h1)	–
	306	Bent Brask		–	–
	305	Arne Borgstrøm		–	–
	308	Håkon Iversøn		–	–
	309	Fritz Warncke		–	–
11	–	France	FRA	7:47.39 (5 h1)	–
	113	Marc Lazzaro		–	–
	114	Benôit Laffineur		–	–
	117	Colin Ress		–	–
	115	Fabien Noël		–	–
12	–	Spain	ESP	7:49.22 (4 h3)	–
	106	David López-Zubero		–	–
	102	Jesús Fuentes		–	–
	103	Fernando Gómez-Reino		–	–
	101	Santiago Esteva		–	–
	100	Jorge Comas DNS		–	–
13	–	Bulgaria	BUL	7:57.08 (4 h2)	–
	42	Petar Georgiev		–	–
	43	Stefan Georgiev		–	–
	44	Toni Statelov		–	–
	41	Nikolay Ganev		–	–
14	–	Mexico	MEX	8:05.12 (5 h3)	–
	285	Guillermo García		–	–
	292	Eduardo Pérez		–	–
	300	Guillermo Zavala		–	–
	293	José Luis Prado		–	–
15	–	Puerto Rico	PUR	8:05.21 (6 h1)	–
	328	Fernando Canales		–	–
	331	José-Ricardo de Jesús		–	–
	334	Arnaldo Pérez		–	–
	329	Francisco Canales		–	–
	330	John Daly DNS		–	–
16	–	Venezuela	VEN	8:08.38 (6 h3)	–
	442	Ramón Volcán		–	–
	437	Andrés Arraez		–	–
	440	Glen Sochasky		–	–
	439	Luis Goicoechea		–	–
17	–	Portugal	POR	8:26.68 (5 h2)	–
	325	José Gomes Pereira		–	–
	322	António Botelho de Melo		–	–
	326	Rui de Abreu		–	–
	324	Paulo Frischknecht		–	–
DQ	–	Canada	CAN	– (DQ h3)	–
	48	Steve Badger		–	–
	75	Bill Sawchuk		–	–
	69	Steve Pickell		–	–
	60	James Hett		–	–
DNS	–	Hungary	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–
	211	András Hargitay DNS		–	–
	220	Csaba Sós DNS		–	–
	223	Zoltán Verrasztó DNS		–	–
	224	Zoltán Wladár DNS		–	–

Round One

Date	21 July 1976 — 10:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	–	United States	USA	7:30.33	QWR
2	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:33.21	QOR
3	–	West Germany	FRG	7:37.59	Q
4	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.92	Q
5	–	East Germany	GDR	7:40.58	Q
6	–	Italy	ITA	7:41.39	Q
7	–	Sweden	SWE	7:41.82	Q
8	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.54	Q
9	–	Australia	AUS	7:44.42	Q
10	–	Norway	NOR	7:46.42
11	–	France	FRA	7:47.39
12	–	Spain	ESP	7:49.22
13	–	Bulgaria	BUL	7:57.08
14	–	Mexico	MEX	8:05.12
15	–	Puerto Rico	PUR	8:05.21
16	–	Venezuela	VEN	8:08.38
17	–	Portugal	POR	8:26.68
DQ	–	Canada	CAN	–
DNS	–	Hungary	HUN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	West Germany	FRG	7:37.59	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	HaJo Geisler		–	1:55.74 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andreas Schmidt		–	1:55.39 (3)	3:51.13 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Werner Lampe		–	1:53.72 (1)	5:44.85 (2)
Anchor	–	Peter Nocke		–	1:52.74 (2)	– (–)
2	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:37.92	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Alan McClatchey		–	1:55.30 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	David Dunne		–	1:55.09 (2)	3:50.39 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Gordon Downie		–	1:54.39 (2)	5:44.78 (1)
Anchor	–	Brian Brinkley		–	1:53.14 (3)	– (–)
3	–	Italy	ITA	7:41.39	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Roberto Pangaro		–	1:56.16 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Paolo Revelli		–	1:56.01 (4)	3:52.17 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Paolo Barelli		–	1:56.58 (4)	5:48.75 (3)
Anchor	–	Marcello Guarducci		–	1:52.64 (1)	– (–)
4	–	Norway	NOR	7:46.42	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Bent Brask		–	1:57.01 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Arne Borgstrøm		–	1:54.87 (1)	3:51.88 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Håkon Iversøn		–	1:59.34 (5)	5:51.22 (5)
Anchor	–	Fritz Warncke		–	1:55.20 (4)	– (–)
5	–	France	FRA	7:47.39	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Marc Lazzaro		–	1:57.57 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Benôit Laffineur		–	1:56.87 (5)	3:54.44 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Colin Ress		–	1:56.53 (3)	5:50.97 (4)
Anchor	–	Fabien Noël		–	1:56.42 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Puerto Rico	PUR	8:05.21	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Fernando Canales		–	2:01.26 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	José-Ricardo de Jesús		–	2:00.05 (6)	4:01.31 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Arnaldo Pérez		–	2:02.90 (6)	6:04.21 (6)
Anchor	–	Francisco Canales		–	2:01.00 (6)	– (–)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:33.21	– (–)	– (–)	QOR
Lead-off	–	Andrey Smirnov		–	1:05.58 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Vladimir Mikheyev		–	2:43.34 (5)	3:48.92 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Vladimir Raskatov		–	1:52.10 (1)	5:41.02 (1)
Anchor	–	Sergey Koplyakov		–	1:52.19 (1)	– (–)
2	–	East Germany	GDR	7:40.58	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Wilfried Hartung		–	1:55.99 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Rainer Strohbach		–	1:53.76 (1)	3:49.75 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Frank Pfütze		–	1:55.01 (3)	5:44.76 (2)
Anchor	–	Roger Pyttel		–	1:55.82 (2)	– (–)
3	–	Australia	AUS	7:44.42	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Graham Windeatt		–	1:55.00 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Tonelli		–	1:55.94 (2)	3:50.94 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Peter Coughlan		–	1:54.76 (2)	5:45.70 (3)
Anchor	–	Peter Dawson		–	1:58.72 (4)	– (–)
4	–	Bulgaria	BUL	7:57.08	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Petar Georgiev		–	1:59.28 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Stefan Georgiev		–	2:00.67 (3)	3:59.95 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Toni Statelov		–	1:58.69 (4)	5:58.64 (4)
Anchor	–	Nikolay Ganev		–	1:58.44 (3)	– (–)
5	–	Portugal	POR	8:26.68	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	José Gomes Pereira		–	2:02.30 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	António Botelho de Melo		–	2:07.90 (4)	4:10.20 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Rui de Abreu		–	2:05.45 (5)	6:15.65 (5)
Anchor	–	Paulo Frischknecht		–	2:11.03 (5)	– (–)
DNS	–	Hungary	HUN	–	– (–)	– (–)
	–	András Hargitay DNS		–	– (–)	– (–)
	–	Csaba Sós DNS		–	– (–)	– (–)
	–	Zoltán Verrasztó DNS		–	– (–)	– (–)
	–	Zoltán Wladár DNS		–	– (–)	– (–)

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	7:30.33	– (–)	– (–)	QWR
Lead-off	–	Doug Northway		–	1:51.65 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Tim Shaw		–	1:53.95 (1)	3:45.60 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Mike Bruner		–	1:54.11 (1)	5:39.71 (1)
Anchor	–	Bruce Furniss		–	1:50.62 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Sweden	SWE	7:41.82	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Pär Arvidsson		–	1:56.35 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Peter Pettersson		–	1:55.46 (3)	3:51.81 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Anders Bellbring		–	1:55.32 (2)	5:47.13 (2)
Anchor	–	Bengt Gingsjö		–	1:54.69 (3)	– (–)
3	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.54	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Karim Ressang		–	1:55.43 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	René van der Kuil		–	1:55.12 (2)	3:50.55 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Andre in het Veld		–	1:57.33 (3)	5:47.88 (3)
Anchor	–	Henk Elzerman		–	1:54.66 (2)	– (–)
4	–	Spain	ESP	7:49.22	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	David López-Zubero		–	1:54.57 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Jesús Fuentes		–	1:59.60 (4)	3:54.17 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Fernando Gómez-Reino		–	1:58.67 (4)	5:52.84 (4)
Anchor	–	Santiago Esteva		–	1:56.38 (4)	– (–)
5	–	Mexico	MEX	8:05.12	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Guillermo García		–	1:59.29 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Eduardo Pérez		–	2:01.31 (5)	4:00.60 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Guillermo Zavala		–	2:03.59 (6)	6:04.19 (5)
Anchor	–	José Luis Prado		–	2:00.93 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Venezuela	VEN	8:08.38	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ramón Volcán		–	2:01.27 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrés Arraez		–	2:03.42 (6)	4:04.69 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Glen Sochasky		–	2:02.03 (5)	6:06.72 (6)
Anchor	–	Luis Goicoechea		–	2:01.66 (6)	– (–)
DQ	–	Canada	CAN	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Steve Badger		–	– (–)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Bill Sawchuk		–	– (–)	– (–)
3rd Leg	–	Steve Pickell		–	– (–)	– (–)
Anchor	–	James Hett		–	– (–)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	21 July 1976 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	7:23.22	– (–)	– (–)	WR
Lead-off	–	Mike Bruner		–	1:52.35 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Bruce Furniss		–	1:49.56 (1)	3:41.91 (1)
3rd Leg	–	John Naber		–	1:51.20 (1)	5:33.11 (1)
Anchor	–	Jim Montgomery		–	1:50.11 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Soviet Union	URS	7:27.97	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Vladimir Raskatov		–	1:52.69 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrey Bogdanov		–	1:51.69 (3)	3:44.38 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Sergey Koplyakov		–	1:52.54 (3)	5:36.92 (2)
Anchor	–	Andrey Krylov		–	1:51.05 (2)	– (–)
3	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:32.11	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Alan McClatchey		–	1:54.09 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	David Dunne		–	1:54.67 (4)	3:48.76 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Gordon Downie		–	1:52.10 (2)	5:40.86 (4)
Anchor	–	Brian Brinkley		–	1:51.25 (3)	– (–)
4	–	West Germany	FRG	7:32.27	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Klaus Steinbach		–	1:52.18 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Peter Nocke		–	1:51.19 (2)	3:43.37 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Werner Lampe		–	1:54.06 (4)	5:37.43 (3)
Anchor	–	HaJo Geisler		–	1:54.84 (6)	– (–)
5	–	East Germany	GDR	7:38.92	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Roger Pyttel		–	1:53.92 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Wilfried Hartung		–	1:55.16 (5)	3:49.08 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Rainer Strohbach		–	1:54.30 (5)	5:43.38 (5)
Anchor	–	Frank Pfütze		–	1:55.54 (7)	– (–)
6	–	Netherlands	NED	7:42.56	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Karim Ressang		–	1:55.63 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	René van der Kuil		–	1:55.17 (6)	3:50.80 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Andre in het Veld		–	1:57.18 (7)	5:47.98 (7)
Anchor	–	Henk Elzerman		–	1:54.58 (5)	– (–)
7	–	Sweden	SWE	7:42.84	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Pär Arvidsson		–	1:55.84 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Peter Pettersson		–	1:56.14 (8)	3:51.98 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Anders Bellbring		–	1:56.44 (6)	5:48.42 (8)
Anchor	–	Bengt Gingsjö		–	1:54.42 (4)	– (–)
8	–	Italy	ITA	7:43.39	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Marcello Guarducci		–	1:53.72 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Roberto Pangaro		–	1:55.74 (7)	3:49.46 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Paolo Barelli		–	1:57.66 (8)	5:47.12 (6)
Anchor	–	Paolo Revelli		–	1:56.27 (8)	– (–)