| | Event type

4 x 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	17 – 18 October 1964
Status	Olympic
Location	Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo, Shibuya, Tokyo
Participants	67 from 15 countries

The only question in this event was how big the United States’ margin would be, not if they would win. In the heats, the Americans rested all their best swimmers, sending in the B squad, which still posted the fastest qualifying time. In the final, lead-off Steve Clark opened a bodylength lead over Japan’s Makoto Fukui and Roy Saari doubled that on the second leg. Gary Ilman pulled well ahead on the third leg, and Germany moved up to pass the Japanese for second. Don Schollander swam two seconds faster than the posted 200 freestyle world record on the anchor leg as the American recorded a world record of 7:52.1 for a huge world record, and the first time ever under eight minutes, Germany a full 7.2 seconds behind in second place, as they also bettered eight minutes. Japan held onto third place, their bronze medal in this event their only swimming medal of the Tokyo Olympics. Schollander finished his Olympics with four gold medals, the first swimmer ever to win that many at a single Olympics.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	United States	USA	8:09.0 (1 h2)	7:52.1 (1)	Gold
	Steve Clark • Roy Saari • Gary Ilman • Don Schollander • Bill Mettler • Dave Lyons • Mike Wall • Ed Townsend
2	Unified Team of Germany	GER	8:09.7 (1 h1)	7:59.3 (2)	Silver
	Horst-Günter Gregor • Gerhard Hetz • Frank Wiegand • Hans-Joachim Klein
3	Japan	JPN	8:10.4 (2 h1)	8:03.8 (3)	Bronze
	Tsuyoshi Yamanaka • Makoto Fukui • Kunihiro Iwasaki • Toshio Shoji • Yukiaki Okabe
4	Australia	AUS	8:18.3 (4 h2)	8:05.7 (4)
	David Dickson • Allan Wood • Peter Doak • Bob Windle • John Konrads • John Ryan
5	Sweden	SWE	8:10.3 (2 h2)	8:08.0 (5)
	Mats Svensson • Lester Eriksson • Hans Rosendahl • Jan Lundin
6	France	FRA	8:17.0 (3 h2)	8:08.7 (6)
	Jean-Pascal Curtillet • Pierre Canavèse • Francis Luyce • Alain Gottvallès
7	Soviet Union	URS	8:14.5 (3 h1)	8:15.1 (7)
	Semyon Belits-Geyman • Vladimir Berezin • Aleksandr Paramonov • Yevgeny Novikov
8	Italy	ITA	8:17.8 (4 h1)	8:18.1 (8)
	Sergio De Gregorio • Bruno Bianchi • Giovanni Orlando • Pietro Boscaini
9	Canada	CAN	8:22.2 (5 h1)	–
	Ron Jacks • Ralph Hutton • Dan Sherry • Sandy Gilchrist
10	Finland	FIN	8:23.3 (5 h2)	–
	Ilkka Suvanto • Hannu Vaahtoranta • Tuomo Hämäläinen • Matti Kasvio
11	Hungary	HUN	8:24.4 (6 h2)	–
	Gyula Dobay • Csaba Ali • György Kosztolánczy • József Katona
12	Netherlands	NED	8:27.7 (6 h1)	–
	Johan Bontekoe • Jan Jiskoot • Ron Kroon • Bert Sitters
13	Great Britain	GBR	8:30.9 (7 h2)	–
	John Martin-Dye • John Thurley • Bob Lord • Bobby McGregor
14	Spain	ESP	8:32.6 (8 h2)	–
	Juan Fortuny • Miguel Torres • Antonio Pérez • Antonio Codina
15	Mexico	MEX	8:50.3 (7 h1)	–
	Rafael Hernández • Guillermo Echevarría • Alfredo Guzmán • Salvador Ruiz

Round One (17 October 1964 — 12:55)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	2	Unified Team of Germany	GER				8:09.7		QOR
		Horst-Günter Gregor		–	–	–	2:03.1	2:03.1 (4)
		Gerhard Hetz		–	–	–	2:02.9	4:06.0 (2)
		Frank Wiegand		–	–	–	2:01.8	6:07.8 (2)
		Hans-Joachim Klein		–	–	–	2:01.9	8:09.7 (1)
2	7	Japan	JPN				8:10.4		Q
		Makoto Fukui		–	–	–	2:02.6	2:02.6 (3)
		Kunihiro Iwasaki		–	–	–	2:02.7	4:05.3 (1)
		Toshio Shoji		–	–	–	2:01.9	6:07.2 (1)
		Tsuyoshi Yamanaka		–	–	–	2:03.2	8:10.4 (2)
3	3	Soviet Union	URS				8:14.5		Q
		Semyon Belits-Geyman		–	–	–	2:02.3	2:02.3 (2)
		Vladimir Berezin		–	–	–	2:04.1	4:06.4 (3)
		Aleksandr Paramonov		–	–	–	2:04.1	6:10.5 (3)
		Yevgeny Novikov		–	–	–	2:04.0	8:14.5 (3)
4	1	Italy	ITA				8:17.8		Q
		Bruno Bianchi		–	–	–	2:04.2	2:04.2 (5)
		Giovanni Orlando		–	–	–	2:05.9	4:10.1 (5)
		Pietro Boscaini		–	–	–	2:05.4	6:15.5 (4)
		Sergio De Gregorio		–	–	–	2:02.3	8:17.8 (4)
5	5	Canada	CAN				8:22.2
		Ron Jacks		–	–	–	2:06.3	2:06.3 (6)
		Ralph Hutton		–	–	–	2:05.3	4:11.6 (6)
		Dan Sherry		–	–	–	2:05.2	6:16.8 (5)
		Sandy Gilchrist		–	–	–	2:05.4	8:22.2 (5)
6	8	Netherlands	NED				8:27.7
		Johan Bontekoe		–	–	–	2:02.2	2:02.2 (1)
		Jan Jiskoot		–	–	–	2:07.8	4:10.0 (4)
		Ron Kroon		–	–	–	2:07.2	6:17.2 (6)
		Bert Sitters		–	–	–	2:10.5	8:27.7 (6)
7	6	Mexico	MEX				8:50.3
		Rafael Hernández		–	–	–	2:12.5	2:12.5 (7)
		Guillermo Echevarría		–	–	–	2:10.5	4:23.0 (7)
		Alfredo Guzmán		–	–	–	2:17.0	6:40.0 (7)
		Salvador Ruiz		–	–	–	2:10.3	8:50.3 (7)

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	3	United States	USA				8:09.0		QOR
		Bill Mettler		–	–	–	2:02.6	2:02.6 (2)
		Dave Lyons		–	–	–	2:02.8	4:05.4 (1)
		Mike Wall		–	–	–	2:01.8	6:07.2 (1)
		Ed Townsend		–	–	–	2:01.8	8:09.0 (1)
2	6	Sweden	SWE				8:10.3		Q
		Jan Lundin		–	–	–	2:01.9	2:01.9 (1)
		Lester Eriksson		–	–	–	2:03.8	4:05.7 (2)
		Hans Rosendahl		–	–	–	2:02.5	6:08.2 (2)
		Mats Svensson		–	–	–	2:02.1	8:10.3 (2)
3	8	France	FRA				8:17.0		Q
		Pierre Canavèse		–	–	–	2:04.1	2:04.1 (5)
		Jean-Pascal Curtillet		–	–	–	2:03.2	4:07.3 (4)
		Francis Luyce		–	–	–	2:04.5	6:11.8 (3)
		Alain Gottvallès		–	–	–	2:05.2	8:17.0 (3)
4	4	Australia	AUS				8:18.3		Q
		Peter Doak		–	–	–	2:03.7	2:03.7 (4)
		John Konrads		–	–	–	2:02.8	4:06.5 (3)
		John Ryan		–	–	–	2:07.4	6:13.9 (4)
		David Dickson		–	–	–	2:04.4	8:18.3 (4)
5	2	Finland	FIN				8:23.3
		Ilkka Suvanto		–	–	–	2:05.6	2:05.6 (7)
		Hannu Vaahtoranta		–	–	–	2:07.6	4:13.2 (6)
		Tuomo Hämäläinen		–	–	–	2:06.3	6:19.5 (6)
		Matti Kasvio		–	–	–	2:03.8	8:23.3 (5)
6	1	Hungary	HUN				8:24.4
		Gyula Dobay		–	–	–	2:02.8	2:02.8 (3)
		Csaba Ali		–	–	–	2:08.1	4:10.9 (5)
		György Kosztolánczy		–	–	–	2:08.0	6:18.9 (5)
		József Katona		–	–	–	2:05.5	8:24.4 (6)
7	5	Great Britain	GBR				8:30.9
		John Martin-Dye		–	–	–	2:05.5	2:05.5 (6)
		John Thurley		–	–	–	2:09.7	4:15.2 (7)
		Bob Lord		–	–	–	2:06.3	6:21.5 (7)
		Bobby McGregor		–	–	–	2:09.4	8:30.9 (7)
8	7	Spain	ESP				8:32.6
		Juan Fortuny		–	–	–	2:06.7	2:06.7 (8)
		Miguel Torres		–	–	–	2:09.0	4:15.7 (8)
		Antonio Pérez		–	–	–	2:08.7	6:24.4 (8)
		Antonio Codina		–	–	–	2:08.2	8:32.6 (8)

Final (18 October 1964 — 18:05)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	United States	USA				7:52.1		WR
		Steve Clark		–	–	–	2:00.0	2:00.0 (1)
		Roy Saari		–	–	–	1:58.1	3:58.1 (1)
		Gary Ilman		–	–	–	1:58.4	5:56.5 (1)
		Don Schollander		–	–	–	1:55.6	7:52.1 (1)
2	5	Unified Team of Germany	GER				7:59.3
		Horst-Günter Gregor		–	–	–	2:02.0	2:02.0 (4)
		Gerhard Hetz		–	–	–	2:01.8	4:03.8 (3)
		Frank Wiegand		–	–	–	1:57.6	6:01.4 (2)
		Hans-Joachim Klein		–	–	–	1:57.9	7:59.3 (2)
3	6	Japan	JPN				8:03.8
		Makoto Fukui		–	–	–	2:00.5	2:00.5 (2)
		Kunihiro Iwasaki		–	–	–	2:01.1	4:01.6 (2)
		Toshio Shoji		–	–	–	2:01.7	6:03.3 (3)
		Yukiaki Okabe		–	–	–	2:00.5	8:03.8 (3)
4	8	Australia	AUS				8:05.7
		David Dickson		–	–	–	2:02.2	2:02.2 (5)
		Allan Wood		–	–	–	2:01.7	4:03.9 (4)
		Peter Doak		–	–	–	2:03.1	6:07.0 (4)
		Bob Windle		–	–	–	1:58.7	8:05.7 (4)
5	3	Sweden	SWE				8:08.0
		Mats Svensson		–	–	–	2:01.8	2:01.8 (3)
		Lester Eriksson		–	–	–	2:03.2	4:05.0 (5)
		Hans Rosendahl		–	–	–	2:03.3	6:08.3 (6)
		Jan Lundin		–	–	–	1:59.7	8:08.0 (5)
6	7	France	FRA				8:08.7
		Jean-Pascal Curtillet		–	–	–	2:02.7	2:02.7 (6)
		Pierre Canavèse		–	–	–	2:02.8	4:05.5 (6)
		Francis Luyce		–	–	–	2:02.0	6:07.5 (5)
		Alain Gottvallès		–	–	–	2:01.2	8:08.7 (6)
7	2	Soviet Union	URS				8:15.1
		Semyon Belits-Geyman		–	–	–	2:02.7	2:02.7 (6)
		Vladimir Berezin		–	–	–	2:03.6	4:06.3 (7)
		Aleksandr Paramonov		–	–	–	2:04.8	6:11.1 (7)
		Yevgeny Novikov		–	–	–	2:04.0	8:15.1 (7)
8	1	Italy	ITA				8:18.1
		Sergio De Gregorio		–	–	–	2:03.3	2:03.3 (8)
		Bruno Bianchi		–	–	–	2:03.4	4:06.7 (8)
		Giovanni Orlando		–	–	–	2:06.4	6:13.1 (8)
		Pietro Boscaini		–	–	–	2:05.0	8:18.1 (8)