4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men
| Date | 30 July 1984 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Olympic Swim Stadium, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California |
| Participants | 62 from 14 countries |
The world record had been set in August 1983 by the West German team, and it was expected to be a very close final between the FRG and United States. Nobody could really envision how close, although Sports Illustrated’s Craig Neff did call it, predicting in the Olympic Preview issue, “The West Germans will likely lose their world record and the gold medal to the U.S. – but just barely.” That record went in the heats as the US B team came home in 7:18.87 for a world record to qualify first.
US coach Don Gambril made the choice to lead off with America’s best, Mike Heath, and make the Germans catch up, as the German anchor would certainly be Michael Groß, probably the top male freestyler in Los Angeles. On the first leg Heath went ahead of Thomas Fahrner, 1:48.67 to 1:49.83. On the next leg David Larson extended the lead to 2.87 seconds at 300 metres, but he had gone out too fast, and Dirk Korthals closed so that the US lead was only 9/10ths of a second by the exchange. The third US swimmer, Jeff Float, also went out quickly and had 3 seconds on the Germans at 500 metres, but Alexander Schowtka reeled in Float on the second 100, with the margin 1.56 seconds as the anchor swimmers started their work.
Groß anchored Germany, as expected, and he faced off against American Bruce Hayes. At the first turn of the anchor, Groß had caught up, but Gambril later noted that “Groß paid too much to catch Bruce that early.” For the next 100 they swam together, Groß unable to shake Hayes, until Germany took a slight lead at the final turn. With 25 metres to go, Hayes had made that up and they swam together to the wall, nobody really knowing who had won, until the scoreboard showed that it was the United States – 7:15.69 to 7:15.73 – the closest relay in Olympic swimming history. The time was a world record by over three seconds.
Groß was magnanimous in defeat, stating, “I simply did not have any more to give. We never expected to swim so fast in the relay, so we cannot be too disappointed.” His final leg of 1:46.89 was the fastest 200 split ever recorded at that time.
Round One (30 July 1984 — 10:20)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | United States |  USA | 7:18.87 | |||||||
| Geoff Gaberino | – | – | – | 1:49.80 | 1:49.80 (1) | ||||||
| David Larson | – | – | – | 1:50.18 | 3:39.98 (1) | ||||||
| Bruce Hayes | – | – | – | 1:50.04 | 5:30.02 (1) | ||||||
| Rich Saeger | – | – | – | 1:48.85 | 7:18.87 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | Great Britain |  GBR | 7:26.83 | |||||||
| Neil Cochran | – | – | – | 1:52.91 | 1:52.91 (4) | ||||||
| Paul Easter | – | – | – | 1:50.63 | 3:43.54 (2) | ||||||
| Paul Howe | – | – | – | 1:52.02 | 5:35.56 (2) | ||||||
| Andy Astbury | – | – | – | 1:51.27 | 7:26.83 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 6 | France |  FRA | 7:27.40 | |||||||
| Pierre Andraca | – | – | – | 1:53.13 | 1:53.13 (6) | ||||||
| Dominique Bataille | – | – | – | 1:51.42 | 3:44.55 (4) | ||||||
| Michel Pou | – | – | – | 1:52.74 | 5:37.29 (4) | ||||||
| Stéphan Caron | – | – | – | 1:50.11 | 7:27.40 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 5 | Sweden |  SWE | 7:28.60 | |||||||
| Michael Söderlund | – | – | – | 1:51.95 | 1:51.95 (2) | ||||||
| Tom Werner | – | – | – | 1:52.28 | 3:44.23 (3) | ||||||
| Mikael Örn | – | – | – | 1:53.01 | 5:37.24 (3) | ||||||
| Anders Holmertz | – | – | – | 1:51.36 | 7:28.60 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Netherlands |  NED | 7:29.14 | |||||||
| Hans Kroes | – | – | – | 1:53.09 | 1:53.09 (5) | ||||||
| Peter Drost | – | – | – | 1:53.16 | 3:46.25 (6) | ||||||
| Edsard Schlingemann | – | – | – | 1:51.94 | 5:38.19 (6) | ||||||
| Frank Drost | – | – | – | 1:50.95 | 7:29.14 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Brazil |  BRA | 7:30.41 | |||||||
| Cyro Delgado | – | – | – | 1:52.49 | 1:52.49 (3) | ||||||
| Marcelo Jucá | – | – | – | 1:53.08 | 3:45.57 (5) | ||||||
| Djan Madruga | – | – | – | 1:52.51 | 5:38.08 (5) | ||||||
| Jorge Fernandes | – | – | – | 1:52.33 | 7:30.41 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | Japan |  JPN | – | ||||||||
| Taihei Saka | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Hiroshi Sakamoto | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Keisuke Okuno | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Shigeo Ogata | – | – | – | – | – (AC) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | West Germany |  FRG | 7:25.29 | |||||||
| Rainer Henkel | – | – | – | 1:52.94 | 1:52.94 (4) | ||||||
| Dirk Korthals | – | – | – | 1:50.37 | 3:43.31 (1) | ||||||
| Alexander Schowtka | – | – | – | 1:50.82 | 5:34.13 (1) | ||||||
| Thomas Fahrner | – | – | – | 1:51.16 | 7:25.29 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | Australia |  AUS | 7:26.93 | |||||||
| Justin Lemberg | – | – | – | 1:52.65 | 1:52.65 (2) | ||||||
| Ron McKeon | – | – | – | 1:51.04 | 3:43.69 (2) | ||||||
| Tom Stachewicz | – | – | – | 1:52.61 | 5:36.30 (2) | ||||||
| Graeme Brewer | – | – | – | 1:50.63 | 7:26.93 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 2 | Canada |  CAN | 7:28.31 | |||||||
| Sandy Goss | – | – | – | 1:52.15 | 1:52.15 (1) | ||||||
| Benoît Clément | – | – | – | 1:52.51 | 3:44.66 (3) | ||||||
| Wayne Kelly | – | – | – | 1:52.08 | 5:36.74 (3) | ||||||
| Peter Szmidt | – | – | – | 1:51.57 | 7:28.31 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Venezuela |  VEN | 7:31.79 | |||||||
| Jean-Marie François | – | – | – | 1:53.75 | 1:53.75 (5) | ||||||
| Alberto José Umaña | – | – | – | 1:55.66 | 3:49.41 (5) | ||||||
| Rafael Vidal | – | – | – | 1:51.91 | 5:41.32 (5) | ||||||
| Alberto Mestre | – | – | – | 1:50.47 | 7:31.79 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 7 | Spain |  ESP | 7:32.21 | |||||||
| Juan Escalas | – | – | – | 1:52.76 | 1:52.76 (3) | ||||||
| Rafael Escalas | – | – | – | 1:54.47 | 3:47.23 (4) | ||||||
| Juan Carlos Vallejo | – | – | – | 1:51.59 | 5:38.82 (4) | ||||||
| David López-Zubero | – | – | – | 1:53.39 | 7:32.21 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Turkey |  TUR | 7:59.36 | |||||||
| Gökhan Attaroğlu | – | – | – | 1:56.01 | 1:56.01 (6) | ||||||
| Kemal Sadri Özün | – | – | – | 2:00.93 | 3:56.94 (6) | ||||||
| Ahmet Nakkaş | – | – | – | 1:59.45 | 5:56.39 (6) | ||||||
| İhsan Sabri Özün | – | – | – | 2:02.97 | 7:59.36 (6) | ||||||
| 5 | Italy |  ITA | – | ||||||||
| Marco Colombo | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Marcello Guarducci | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Fabrizio Rampazzo | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Marco Dell'Uomo | – | – | – | – | – (AC) |
Final (30 July 1984 — 17:25)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | United States | USA | 7:15.69 | |||||||
| Mike Heath | – | – | – | 1:48.67 | 1:48.67 (1) | ||||||
| David Larson | – | – | – | 1:49.01 | 3:37.68 (1) | ||||||
| Jeff Float | – | – | – | 1:49.60 | 5:27.28 (1) | ||||||
| Bruce Hayes | – | – | – | 1:48.41 | 7:15.69 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 5 | West Germany | FRG | 7:15.73 | |||||||
| Thomas Fahrner | – | – | – | 1:49.83 | 1:49.83 (2) | ||||||
| Dirk Korthals | – | – | – | 1:48.75 | 3:38.58 (2) | ||||||
| Alexander Schowtka | – | – | – | 1:50.26 | 5:28.84 (2) | ||||||
| Michael Groß | – | – | – | 1:46.89 | 7:15.73 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | Great Britain | GBR | 7:24.78 | |||||||
| Neil Cochran | – | – | – | 1:52.08 | 1:52.08 (8) | ||||||
| Paul Easter | – | – | – | 1:49.64 | 3:41.72 (3) | ||||||
| Paul Howe | – | – | – | 1:51.63 | 5:33.35 (3) | ||||||
| Andy Astbury | – | – | – | 1:51.43 | 7:24.78 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Australia | AUS | 7:25.63 | |||||||
| Peter Dale | – | – | – | 1:51.96 | 1:51.96 (7) | ||||||
| Justin Lemberg | – | – | – | 1:52.08 | 3:44.04 (6) | ||||||
| Ron McKeon | – | – | – | 1:50.52 | 5:34.56 (4) | ||||||
| Graeme Brewer | – | – | – | 1:51.07 | 7:25.63 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 7 | Canada | CAN | 7:26.51 | |||||||
| Sandy Goss | – | – | – | 1:51.69 | 1:51.69 (4) | ||||||
| Wayne Kelly | – | – | – | 1:53.08 | 3:44.77 (8) | ||||||
| Peter Szmidt | – | – | – | 1:51.23 | 5:36.00 (6) | ||||||
| Alex Baumann | – | – | – | 1:50.51 | 7:26.51 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Sweden | SWE | 7:26.53 | |||||||
| Michael Söderlund | – | – | – | 1:51.73 | 1:51.73 (5) | ||||||
| Tom Werner | – | – | – | 1:51.79 | 3:43.52 (5) | ||||||
| Anders Holmertz | – | – | – | 1:51.33 | 5:34.85 (5) | ||||||
| Thomas Lejdström | – | – | – | 1:51.68 | 7:26.53 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 8 | Netherlands | NED | 7:26.72 | |||||||
| Hans Kroes | – | – | – | 1:51.84 | 1:51.84 (6) | ||||||
| Peter Drost | – | – | – | 1:52.77 | 3:44.61 (7) | ||||||
| Edsard Schlingemann | – | – | – | 1:51.42 | 5:36.03 (7) | ||||||
| Frank Drost | – | – | – | 1:50.69 | 7:26.72 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 2 | France | FRA | 7:30.16 | |||||||
| Stéphan Caron | – | – | – | 1:50.99 | 1:50.99 (3) | ||||||
| Dominique Bataille | – | – | – | 1:52.49 | 3:43.48 (4) | ||||||
| Michel Pou | – | – | – | 1:53.41 | 5:36.89 (8) | ||||||
| Pierre Andraca | – | – | – | 1:53.27 | 7:30.16 (8) |