4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men
| Date | 20 – 21 September 1988 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul |
| Participants | 75 from 16 countries |
In an unusual situation for an Olympic relay, this was considered wide-open and the United States was not favored. West Germany held the world record of 7:13.10, set in 1987 in Strasbourg, France. At the 1986 World Championships, East Germany had won with West Germany and the USA only third. In the heats the GDR team qualified first, and that was with the USA only resting two swimmers for the final. East Germany looked formidable when Uwe Daßler took a 1.11 second lead over Troy Dalbey on the opening leg, although Sweden’s Anders Holmertz had the lead at 1:48.06. Italy then took the lead after two legs, with Giorgio Lamberti splitting 1:47.29, but they would soon drop back. At this point the US was only fifth, also trailing East Germany, Sweden, and West Germany, although the gap to East Germany had closed. After three legs East Germany moved into the lead, with the American team about one body length in arrears. Then Matt Biondi took over. His start on the exchange made up almost half the lead and at the 700 metre mark he was in front. He never let up, swimming the fastest split in history with 1:46.44 as the USA came home in 7:12.51 for gold and the world record. East Germany was over a second behind for silver with West Germany getting bronze.
Round One (20 September 1988 — 9:00)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | East Germany |  GDR | 7:16.61 | |||||||
| Uwe Daßler | – | – | – | 1:49.47 | 1:49.47 (1) | ||||||
| Lars Hinneburg | – | – | – | 1:49.64 | 3:39.11 (1) | ||||||
| Sven Lodziewski | – | – | – | 1:48.87 | 5:27.98 (1) | ||||||
| Thomas Flemming | – | – | – | 1:48.63 | 7:16.61 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | United States |  USA | 7:18.76 | |||||||
| Craig Oppel | – | – | – | 1:51.24 | 1:51.24 (4) | ||||||
| Dan Jorgensen | – | – | – | 1:49.24 | 3:40.48 (3) | ||||||
| Matt Cetlinski | – | – | – | 1:48.87 | 5:29.35 (2) | ||||||
| Doug Gjertsen | – | – | – | 1:49.41 | 7:18.76 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 6 | Australia |  AUS | 7:21.46 | |||||||
| Jason Plummer | – | – | – | 1:51.44 | 1:51.44 (5) | ||||||
| Ian Brown | – | – | – | 1:48.89 | 3:40.33 (2) | ||||||
| Martin Roberts | – | – | – | 1:51.31 | 5:31.64 (3) | ||||||
| Tom Stachewicz | – | – | – | 1:49.82 | 7:21.46 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 3 | Italy |  ITA | 7:21.85 | |||||||
| Massimo Trevisan | – | – | – | 1:50.95 | 1:50.95 (2) | ||||||
| Fabrizio Rampazzo | – | – | – | 1:51.47 | 3:42.42 (4) | ||||||
| Valerio Giambalvo | – | – | – | 1:50.97 | 5:33.39 (4) | ||||||
| Roberto Gleria | – | – | – | 1:48.46 | 7:21.85 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Great Britain |  GBR | 7:29.77 | |||||||
| Kevin Boyd | – | – | – | 1:52.00 | 1:52.00 (6) | ||||||
| Paul Howe | – | – | – | 1:51.58 | 3:43.58 (6) | ||||||
| Jonathan Broughton | – | – | – | 1:52.81 | 5:36.39 (6) | ||||||
| Roland Lee | – | – | – | 1:53.38 | 7:29.77 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 7 | Denmark |  DEN | 7:33.31 | |||||||
| Franz Mortensen | – | – | – | 1:51.21 | 1:51.21 (3) | ||||||
| Claus Christensen | – | – | – | 1:52.08 | 3:43.29 (5) | ||||||
| Jan Larsen | – | – | – | 1:52.61 | 5:35.90 (5) | ||||||
| Peter Rohde | – | – | – | 1:57.41 | 7:33.31 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 8 | Republic of Korea |  KOR | 7:52.93 | |||||||
| Gwon Sang-Won | – | – | – | 1:57.08 | 1:57.08 (7) | ||||||
| Yang Gam | – | – | – | 1:57.29 | 3:54.37 (7) | ||||||
| Song Gwang-Seon | – | – | – | 1:59.11 | 5:53.48 (7) | ||||||
| Gwon Sun-Geun | – | – | – | 1:59.45 | 7:52.93 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | United States Virgin Islands |  ISV | 8:15.51 | |||||||
| Hans Foerster | – | – | – | 2:01.34 | 2:01.34 (8) | ||||||
| Kraig Singleton | – | – | – | 2:05.63 | 4:06.97 (8) | ||||||
| Ronald Pickard | – | – | – | 2:07.66 | 6:14.63 (8) | ||||||
| William Cleveland | – | – | – | 2:00.88 | 8:15.51 (8) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | West Germany |  FRG | 7:19.38 | |||||||
| Peter Sitt | – | – | – | 1:50.31 | 1:50.31 (2) | ||||||
| Rainer Henkel | – | – | – | 1:49.63 | 3:39.94 (1) | ||||||
| Stefan Pfeiffer | – | – | – | 1:50.06 | 5:30.00 (1) | ||||||
| Erik Hochstein | – | – | – | 1:49.38 | 7:19.38 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 6 | France |  FRA | 7:23.03 | |||||||
| Stéphan Caron | – | – | – | 1:49.41 | 1:49.41 (1) | ||||||
| Michel Pou | – | – | – | 1:51.01 | 3:40.42 (2) | ||||||
| Olivier Fougeroud | – | – | – | 1:51.62 | 5:32.04 (2) | ||||||
| Laurent Neuville | – | – | – | 1:50.99 | 7:23.03 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | Sweden |  SWE | 7:23.82 | |||||||
| Tom Werner | – | – | – | 1:50.46 | 1:50.46 (3) | ||||||
| Christer Wallin | – | – | – | 1:50.38 | 3:40.84 (3) | ||||||
| Henrik Jangvall | – | – | – | 1:52.33 | 5:33.17 (3) | ||||||
| Michael Söderlund | – | – | – | 1:50.65 | 7:23.82 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 2 | Canada |  CAN | 7:26.28 | |||||||
| Turlough O'Hare | – | – | – | 1:51.59 | 1:51.59 (5) | ||||||
| Darren Ward | – | – | – | 1:52.27 | 3:43.86 (4) | ||||||
| Don Haddow | – | – | – | 1:51.11 | 5:34.97 (4) | ||||||
| Gary Vandermeulen | – | – | – | 1:51.31 | 7:26.28 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 7 | Brazil |  BRA | 7:32.11 | |||||||
| Cristiano Michelena | – | – | – | 1:51.38 | 1:51.38 (4) | ||||||
| Jorge Fernandes | – | – | – | 1:53.34 | 3:44.72 (5) | ||||||
| Emanuel Fortes | – | – | – | 1:54.26 | 5:38.98 (5) | ||||||
| Júlio López | – | – | – | 1:53.13 | 7:32.11 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 8 | United Arab Emirates |  UAE | 9:01.03 | |||||||
| Ahmad Faraj | – | – | – | 2:15.64 | 2:15.64 (6) | ||||||
| Mohammed Alghafri | – | – | – | 2:17.64 | 4:33.28 (6) | ||||||
| Bassam Al-Ansari | – | – | – | 2:15.41 | 6:48.69 (6) | ||||||
| Mohamed Bin Abid | – | – | – | 2:12.34 | 9:01.03 (6) | ||||||
| 1 | Mexico |  MEX | – | ||||||||
| Ignacio Escamilla | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Jorge Alarcón | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Carlos Romo | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Rodrigo González | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| 5 | Soviet Union |  URS | – | ||||||||
| Sergey Kudryayev | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Aleksandr Bazhanov | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Nikolay Yevseyev | – | – | – | – | – (AC) | ||||||
| Aleksey Kuznetsov | – | – | – | – | – (AC) |
Final (21 September 1988 — 12:00)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | 100 m | 150 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | United States | USA | 7:12.51 | |||||||
| Troy Dalbey | – | – | – | 1:49.37 | 1:49.37 (5) | ||||||
| Matt Cetlinski | – | – | – | 1:48.44 | 3:37.81 (5) | ||||||
| Doug Gjertsen | – | – | – | 1:48.26 | 5:26.07 (2) | ||||||
| Matt Biondi | – | – | – | 1:46.44 | 7:12.51 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | East Germany | GDR | 7:13.68 | |||||||
| Uwe Daßler | – | – | – | 1:48.26 | 1:48.26 (2) | ||||||
| Sven Lodziewski | – | – | – | 1:48.92 | 3:37.18 (2) | ||||||
| Thomas Flemming | – | – | – | 1:48.07 | 5:25.25 (1) | ||||||
| Steffen Zesner | – | – | – | 1:48.43 | 7:13.68 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | West Germany | FRG | 7:14.35 | |||||||
| Erik Hochstein | – | – | – | 1:49.91 | 1:49.91 (6) | ||||||
| Thomas Fahrner | – | – | – | 1:47.75 | 3:37.66 (4) | ||||||
| Rainer Henkel | – | – | – | 1:49.42 | 5:27.08 (4) | ||||||
| Michael Groß | – | – | – | 1:47.27 | 7:14.35 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Australia | AUS | 7:15.23 | |||||||
| Tom Stachewicz | – | – | – | 1:48.99 | 1:48.99 (3) | ||||||
| Ian Brown | – | – | – | 1:49.05 | 3:38.04 (6) | ||||||
| Jason Plummer | – | – | – | 1:49.95 | 5:27.99 (5) | ||||||
| Duncan Armstrong | – | – | – | 1:47.24 | 7:15.23 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Italy | ITA | 7:16.00 | |||||||
| Roberto Gleria | – | – | – | 1:49.23 | 1:49.23 (4) | ||||||
| Giorgio Lamberti | – | – | – | 1:47.29 | 3:36.52 (1) | ||||||
| Massimo Trevisan | – | – | – | 1:49.66 | 5:26.18 (3) | ||||||
| Valerio Giambalvo | – | – | – | 1:49.82 | 7:16.00 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Sweden | SWE | 7:19.10 | |||||||
| Anders Holmertz | – | – | – | 1:48.06 | 1:48.06 (1) | ||||||
| Tom Werner | – | – | – | 1:49.41 | 3:37.47 (3) | ||||||
| Michael Söderlund | – | – | – | 1:50.57 | 5:28.04 (6) | ||||||
| Christer Wallin | – | – | – | 1:51.06 | 7:19.10 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | France | FRA | 7:24.69 | |||||||
| Michel Pou | – | – | – | 1:52.05 | 1:52.05 (8) | ||||||
| Franck Iacono | – | – | – | 1:50.04 | 3:42.09 (7) | ||||||
| Olivier Fougeroud | – | – | – | 1:52.14 | 5:34.23 (8) | ||||||
| Ludovic Dépickère | – | – | – | 1:50.46 | 7:24.69 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | Canada | CAN | 7:24.91 | |||||||
| Turlough O'Hare | – | – | – | 1:51.45 | 1:51.45 (7) | ||||||
| Sandy Goss | – | – | – | 1:51.01 | 3:42.46 (8) | ||||||
| Don Haddow | – | – | – | 1:51.46 | 5:33.92 (7) | ||||||
| Gary Vandermeulen | – | – | – | 1:50.99 | 7:24.91 (8) |