| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date	5 – 7 August 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Participants	32 from 20 countries

Joe Verdeur entered the Games as an outstanding favourite for this event having broken the world record on six occasions in the preceding two years. Whilst his times in London were well down on his record breaking performances he led the United States to a clean sweep of the podium positions. The superiority of the butterfly technique in this event was evident in the fact that only one of the finalists used the traditional breaststroke and he, Bob Bonte of Holland, finished eighth and last. Out of 32 entrants, 20 used the butterfly stroke including twelve of the sixteen semi-finalists. Artem Nakache of France, a veteran of the Berlin Games, bowed out in the semi-finals but his achievement in returning to the Olympic arena was remarkable. A Jew, he had been deported to Auschwitz in 1944 and his wife and daughter both died there.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	SF	Final
1	79	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:40.0 (1 h2)	2:40.7 (1 h2)	2:39.3 (1)	Gold
2	44	Keith Carter	USA	2:46.3 (1 h4)	2:43.0 (2 h2)	2:40.2 (2)	Silver
3	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:44.9 (1 h1)	2:44.4 (3 h1)	2:43.9 (3)	Bronze
4	83	John Davies	AUS	2:48.3 (2 h4)	2:44.8 (4 h1)	2:43.7 (4)
5	111	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:46.3 (2 h5)	2:47.3 (4 h2)	2:46.1 (5)
6	86	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:46.4 (1 h3)	2:43.9 (2 h1)	2:46.4 (6)
7	89	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:45.5 (1 h5)	2:43.7 (1 h1)	2:47.5 (7)
8	96	Bob Bonte	NED	2:48.7 (2 h2)	2:47.0 (3 h2)	2:47.6 (8)
9	97	Sándor Németh	HUN	2:48.2 (2 h3)	2:48.1 (5 h2)	–
10	94	Roy Romain	GBR	2:49.4 (3 h3)	2:49.6 (5 h1)	–
11	85	Walter Pavlicek	AUT	2:50.6 (3 h4)	2:50.1 (6 h2)	–
12	91	Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:49.5 (3 h5)	2:51.4 (7 h2)	–
13	105	René Amabuyok	PHI	2:52.6 (4 h1)	2:51.8 (6 h1)	–
14	100	Sigurður Th. Jónsson	ISL	2:50.6 (4 h5)	2:52.4 (7 h1)	–
15	104	Apolonio Castillo	MEX	2:50.7 (3 h1)	2:53.5 (8 h2)	–
16	–	Alfred Nakache	FRA	2:50.4 (2 h1)	2:59.1 (8 h1)	–
17	88	Jiří Linhart	TCH	2:53.8 (5 h5)	–	–
18	106	Jack Cayco	PHI	2:54.0 (6 h5)	–	–
19	82	Carlos Espejo	ARG	2:55.0 (3 h2)	–	–
20	100	Sigurður Jónsson	ISL	2:56.4 (4 h2)	–	–
21	93	Goldup Davies	GBR	2:56.6 (6 h2)	–	–
22	109	Hans Widmer	SUI	2:56.7 (5 h2)	–	–
23	108	Walter Kunz	SUI	2:57.6 (4 h3)	–	–
24	110	Nicolas Wildhaber	SUI	2:59.2 (4 h4)	–	–
25	–	John Service	GBR	3:00.4 (5 h1)	–	–
26	81	César Benetti	ARG	3:00.6 (5 h3)	–	–
27	10	Peter Salmon	CAN	3:01.5 (7 h2)	–	–
28	–	Kevin Hallett	AUS	3:02.0 (7 h5)	–	–
29	–	Atli Steinarsson	ISL	3:02.3 (6 h3)	–	–
30	107	Des Cohen	RSA	3:03.3 (7 h3)	–	–
31	103	Prafulla Mullick	IND	3:14.9 (8 h5)	–	–
32	75	Iftikhar Ahmed Shah	PAK	3:28.1 (8 h3)	–	–
DNS	55	Peter Mingie	CAN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	90	Ahmed Fouad Nessim	EGY	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	98	László Jeney	HUN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	–	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	– (DNS h2)	–	–
DNS	73	Jaffar Ali Shah	PAK	– (DNS h4)	–	–
DNS	87	Ľudovít Komadel	TCH	– (DNS h4)	–	–

Round One

Date	5 August 1948 — 19:00
Format	Top two in each heat and the next six fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:40.0	QOR
2	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:44.9	Q
3	–	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:45.5	Q
=4	–	Keith Carter	USA	2:46.3	Q
=4	–	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:46.3	Q
6	–	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:46.4	Q
7	–	Sándor Németh	HUN	2:48.2	Q
8	–	John Davies	AUS	2:48.3	Q
9	–	Bob Bonte	NED	2:48.7	Q
10	–	Roy Romain	GBR	2:49.4	q
11	–	Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:49.5	q
12	–	Alfred Nakache	FRA	2:50.4	Q
=13	–	Walter Pavlicek	AUT	2:50.6	q
=13	–	Sigurður Th. Jónsson	ISL	2:50.6	q
15	–	Apolonio Castillo	MEX	2:50.7	q
16	–	René Amabuyok	PHI	2:52.6	q
17	–	Jiří Linhart	TCH	2:53.8
18	–	Jack Cayco	PHI	2:54.0
19	–	Carlos Espejo	ARG	2:55.0
20	–	Sigurður Jónsson	ISL	2:56.4
21	–	Goldup Davies	GBR	2:56.6
22	–	Hans Widmer	SUI	2:56.7
23	–	Walter Kunz	SUI	2:57.6
24	–	Nicolas Wildhaber	SUI	2:59.2
25	–	John Service	GBR	3:00.4
26	–	César Benetti	ARG	3:00.6
27	–	Peter Salmon	CAN	3:01.5
28	–	Kevin Hallett	AUS	3:02.0
29	–	Atli Steinarsson	ISL	3:02.3
30	–	Des Cohen	RSA	3:03.3
31	–	Prafulla Mullick	IND	3:14.9
32	–	Iftikhar Ahmed Shah	PAK	3:28.1
DNS	–	Peter Mingie	CAN	–
DNS	–	László Jeney	HUN	–
DNS	–	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	–
DNS	–	Ahmed Fouad Nessim	EGY	–
DNS	–	Jaffar Ali Shah	PAK	–
DNS	–	Ľudovít Komadel	TCH	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:44.9	Q
2	–	Alfred Nakache	FRA	2:50.4	Q
3	–	Apolonio Castillo	MEX	2:50.7	q
4	–	René Amabuyok	PHI	2:52.6	q
5	–	John Service	GBR	3:00.4
DNS	–	Peter Mingie	CAN	–
DNS	–	László Jeney	HUN	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:40.0	QOR
2	–	Bob Bonte	NED	2:48.7	Q
3	–	Carlos Espejo	ARG	2:55.0
4	–	Sigurður Jónsson	ISL	2:56.4
5	–	Hans Widmer	SUI	2:56.7
6	–	Goldup Davies	GBR	2:56.6
7	–	Peter Salmon	CAN	3:01.5
DNS	–	Gusztáv Kettesi	HUN	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:46.4	Q
2	–	Sándor Németh	HUN	2:48.2	Q
3	–	Roy Romain	GBR	2:49.4	q
4	–	Walter Kunz	SUI	2:57.6
5	–	César Benetti	ARG	3:00.6
6	–	Atli Steinarsson	ISL	3:02.3
7	–	Des Cohen	RSA	3:03.3
8	–	Iftikhar Ahmed Shah	PAK	3:28.1

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Keith Carter	USA	2:46.3	Q
2	–	John Davies	AUS	2:48.3	Q
3	–	Walter Pavlicek	AUT	2:50.6	q
4	–	Nicolas Wildhaber	SUI	2:59.2
DNS	–	Ahmed Fouad Nessim	EGY	–
DNS	–	Jaffar Ali Shah	PAK	–
DNS	–	Ľudovít Komadel	TCH	–

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:45.5	Q
2	–	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:46.3	Q
3	–	Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:49.5	q
4	–	Sigurður Th. Jónsson	ISL	2:50.6	q
5	–	Jiří Linhart	TCH	2:53.8
6	–	Jack Cayco	PHI	2:54.0
7	–	Kevin Hallett	AUS	3:02.0
8	–	Prafulla Mullick	IND	3:14.9

Semi-Finals

Date	6 August 1948 — 16:00
Format	Top three in each heat and the next two fastest advanced to the semi-finals.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:40.7	Q
2	–	Keith Carter	USA	2:43.0	Q
3	–	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:43.7	Q
4	–	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:43.9	Q
5	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:44.4	Q
6	–	John Davies	AUS	2:44.8	q
7	–	Bob Bonte	NED	2:47.0	Q
8	–	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:47.3	q
9	–	Sándor Németh	HUN	2:48.1
10	–	Roy Romain	GBR	2:49.6
11	–	Walter Pavlicek	AUT	2:50.1
12	–	Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:51.4
13	–	René Amabuyok	PHI	2:51.8
14	–	Sigurður Th. Jónsson	ISL	2:52.4
15	–	Apolonio Castillo	MEX	2:53.5
16	–	Alfred Nakache	FRA	2:59.1

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:43.7	Q
2	–	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:43.9	Q
3	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:44.4	Q
4	–	John Davies	AUS	2:44.8	q
5	–	Roy Romain	GBR	2:49.6
6	–	René Amabuyok	PHI	2:51.8
7	–	Sigurður Th. Jónsson	ISL	2:52.4
8	–	Alfred Nakache	FRA	2:59.1

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:40.7	Q
2	–	Keith Carter	USA	2:43.0	Q
3	–	Bob Bonte	NED	2:47.0	Q
4	–	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:47.3	q
5	–	Sándor Németh	HUN	2:48.1
6	–	Walter Pavlicek	AUT	2:50.1
7	–	Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:51.4
8	–	Apolonio Castillo	MEX	2:53.5

Final Round

Date	7 August 1948 — 14:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Joe Verdeur	USA	2:39.3	OR
2	–	Keith Carter	USA	2:40.2
3	–	Bob Sohl	USA	2:43.9
4	–	John Davies	AUS	2:43.7
5	–	Tone Cerer	YUG	2:46.1
6	–	Willy Otto Jordan	BRA	2:46.4
7	–	Ahmed Kandil	EGY	2:47.5
8	–	Bob Bonte	NED	2:47.6