200 metres Breaststroke, Men

The world record holder Leonard Spence, a Guyanan who would later compete for Bermuda in international competition, was not present in Los Angeles, so the man who had blazed a trail for Japan at the Amsterdam Olympics, the defending champion Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, was considered the man to beat. The final was a high water mark for Asian swimmers as the seemingly obligatory three Japanese racers were joined by two from the Philippines. Only Erwin Sietas of Germany represented the rest of the world but it was he who led the field for the majority of the race. The German faded out of the medals in the closing stages and Tsuruta became the first man to retain a breaststroke title as he defeated his fellow countryman, Reizo Koike, by a second. Teófilo Yldefonso of the Philippines repeated his Amsterdam performance in third. Yldefonso was captured in World War II and died in a Japanese prison camp after being a participant in the infamous Bataan Death March.