| | Event type

400 metres Individual Medley, Men

Date	22 – 23 October 1968
Status	Olympic
Location	Alberca Olímpica Francisco Márquez, Ciudad de México
Participants	35 from 22 countries

Gary Hall had set the world record in July 1968 with 4:43.4 at a meet in Los Angeles, California. But one month later Charlie Hickcox blasted that with 4:39.4 in Long Beach. Hickcox had already won the 200 individual medley and a silver in the 100 back in Mexico City by the time this race started. They were the two fastest qualifiers. Hall and Hickcox swam together almost throughout, with the lead exchanged several times, but with never more than ½ second between them. Hickcox pulled ahead on the breaststroke leg and led at 300 metres, but Hall caught him on the penultimate lap, as they turned even. But Hickcox was stronger on the final 50 and won the gold medal by 3/10ths of a second. Germany’s Mike Holthaus was never close but was third from 200 metres in and won the bronze medal.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	Final
1	15348	Charlie Hickcox	USA	4:56.2 (1 h3)	4:48.4 (1)	Gold
2	15347	Gary Hall	USA	4:56.2 (1 h5)	4:48.7 (2)	Silver
3	12241	Mike Holthaus	FRG	5:00.8 (1 h4)	4:51.4 (3)	Bronze
4	15344	Greg Buckingham	USA	4:57.3 (1 h2)	4:51.4 (4)
5	–	Sandy Gilchrist	CAN	4:57.5 (2 h5)	4:56.7 (5)
6	12247	Reinhard Merkel	FRG	5:00.6 (2 h3)	4:59.8 (6)
7	–	Andrey Dunayev	URS	5:01.9 (1 h1)	5:00.3 (7)
8	18755	Rafael Hernández	MEX	5:01.1 (2 h2)	5:04.3 (8)
9	16688	Martyn Woodroffe	GBR	5:03.9 (2 h1)	–
10	13937	George Smith	CAN	5:04.4 (2 h4)	–
11	20408	Hans Ljungberg	SWE	5:06.1 (3 h2)	–
12	13621	Yuliyan Rusev	BUL	5:07.0 (3 h4)	–
13	12248	Bernhard Mock	FRG	5:07.1 (3 h3)	–
14	21045	Vladimir Kravchenko	URS	5:08.7 (4 h2)	–
15	13968	Tomás Becerra	COL	5:09.7 (5 h2)	–
16	17294	Péter Lázár	HUN	5:10.6 (4 h3)	–
17	13622	Angel Chakarov	BUL	5:10.9 (5 h3)	–
18	12046	Karl Byrom	AUS	5:11.9 (3 h5)	–
=19	15084	Miguel Torres	ESP	5:12.7 (6 h2)	–
=19	14812	Lars Kraus Jensen	DEN	5:12.7 (4 h4)	–
21	18759	Eduardo Alanís	MEX	5:14.9 (3 h1)	–
22	19612	Jacek Krawczyk	POL	5:15.1 (4 h1)	–
23	17923	Michele D'Oppido	ITA	5:16.4 (4 h5)	–
24	–	Jacques Henrard	BEL	5:17.0 (5 h5)	–
25	19613	Zbigniew Pacelt	POL	5:18.6 (5 h4)	–
26	20404	Olle Ferm	SWE	5:18.9 (6 h5)	–
27	16686	Raymond Terrell	GBR	5:19.5 (6 h4)	–
28	13934	Ken Campbell	CAN	5:19.6 (6 h3)	–
29	17666	Guðmundur Gíslason	ISL	5:20.2 (7 h2)	–
30	–	Gershon Shefa	ISR	5:22.6 (7 h3)	–
31	18763	Raúl Villagómez	MEX	5:24.7 (8 h2)	–
32	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	5:30.9 (7 h4)	–
33	16847	Antonio Cruz	GUA	5:31.1 (8 h4)	–
34	23708	Lee Tong-Shing	TPE	5:50.0 (8 h3)	–
DQ	14413	José Martínez	CUB	– (DQ h1)	–
DNS	15865	Tony Asamli	PHI	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	21967	Juan Carlos Bello	PER	– (DNS h2)	–
DNS	21928	Bob Loh	HKG	– (DNS h5)	–
DNS	15884	Amman Jalmaani	PHI	– (DNS h5)	–

Round One

Date	22 October 1968 — 10:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
=1	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	4:56.2	Q
=1	–	Gary Hall	USA	4:56.2	Q
3	–	Greg Buckingham	USA	4:57.3	Q
4	–	Sandy Gilchrist	CAN	4:57.5	Q
5	–	Reinhard Merkel	FRG	5:00.6	Q
6	–	Mike Holthaus	FRG	5:00.8	Q
7	–	Rafael Hernández	MEX	5:01.1	Q
8	–	Andrey Dunayev	URS	5:01.9	Q
9	–	Martyn Woodroffe	GBR	5:03.9
10	–	George Smith	CAN	5:04.4
11	–	Hans Ljungberg	SWE	5:06.1
12	–	Yuliyan Rusev	BUL	5:07.0
13	–	Bernhard Mock	FRG	5:07.1
14	–	Vladimir Kravchenko	URS	5:08.7
15	–	Tomás Becerra	COL	5:09.7
16	–	Péter Lázár	HUN	5:10.6
17	–	Angel Chakarov	BUL	5:10.9
18	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	5:11.9
=19	–	Miguel Torres	ESP	5:12.7
=19	–	Lars Kraus Jensen	DEN	5:12.7
21	–	Eduardo Alanís	MEX	5:14.9
22	–	Jacek Krawczyk	POL	5:15.1
23	–	Michele D'Oppido	ITA	5:16.4
24	–	Jacques Henrard	BEL	5:17.0
25	–	Zbigniew Pacelt	POL	5:18.6
26	–	Olle Ferm	SWE	5:18.9
27	–	Raymond Terrell	GBR	5:19.5
28	–	Ken Campbell	CAN	5:19.6
29	–	Guðmundur Gíslason	ISL	5:20.2
30	–	Gershon Shefa	ISR	5:22.6
31	–	Raúl Villagómez	MEX	5:24.7
32	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	5:30.9
33	–	Antonio Cruz	GUA	5:31.1
34	–	Lee Tong-Shing	TPE	5:50.0
DQ	–	José Martínez	CUB	–
DNS	–	Tony Asamli	PHI	–
DNS	–	Juan Carlos Bello	PER	–
DNS	–	Bob Loh	HKG	–
DNS	–	Amman Jalmaani	PHI	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Andrey Dunayev	URS	5:01.9	1:06.7 (2)	2:23.4 (2)	3:53.3 (2)	1:16.7 (1)	1:29.9 (2)	1:08.6 (1)	Q
2	–	Martyn Woodroffe	GBR	5:03.9	1:04.6 (1)	2:23.2 (1)	3:52.6 (1)	1:18.6 (2)	1:29.4 (1)	1:11.3 (3)
3	–	Eduardo Alanís	MEX	5:14.9	1:08.9 (4)	2:29.4 (4)	4:05.7 (4)	1:20.5 (4)	1:36.3 (4)	1:09.2 (2)
4	–	Jacek Krawczyk	POL	5:15.1	1:08.3 (3)	2:27.1 (3)	4:02.0 (3)	1:18.8 (3)	1:34.9 (3)	1:13.1 (4)
DQ	–	José Martínez	CUB	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–
DNS	–	Tony Asamli	PHI	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Greg Buckingham	USA	4:57.3	1:05.3 (3)	2:22.3 (1)	3:51.7 (1)	1:17.0 (1)	1:29.4 (2)	1:05.6 (2)	Q
2	–	Rafael Hernández	MEX	5:01.1	1:04.6 (=1)	2:24.3 (3)	3:51.8 (2)	1:19.7 (6)	1:27.5 (1)	1:09.3 (=4)	Q
3	–	Hans Ljungberg	SWE	5:06.1	1:11.6 (8)	2:30.6 (7)	4:00.9 (5)	1:19.0 (4)	1:30.3 (3)	1:05.2 (1)
4	–	Vladimir Kravchenko	URS	5:08.7	1:09.6 (6)	2:28.2 (4)	3:58.9 (3)	1:18.6 (3)	1:30.7 (4)	1:09.8 (6)
5	–	Tomás Becerra	COL	5:09.7	1:04.6 (=1)	2:22.4 (2)	4:00.4 (4)	1:17.8 (2)	1:38.0 (7)	1:09.3 (=4)
6	–	Miguel Torres	ESP	5:12.7	1:10.7 (7)	2:29.9 (6)	4:04.1 (6)	1:19.2 (5)	1:34.2 (=5)	1:08.6 (3)
7	–	Guðmundur Gíslason	ISL	5:20.2	1:08.7 (5)	2:33.0 (8)	4:07.2 (7)	1:24.3 (8)	1:34.2 (=5)	1:13.0 (7)
8	–	Raúl Villagómez	MEX	5:24.7	1:07.3 (4)	2:29.7 (5)	4:08.9 (8)	1:22.4 (7)	1:39.2 (8)	1:15.8 (8)
DNS	–	Juan Carlos Bello	PER	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	4:56.2	1:04.8 (1)	2:20.6 (1)	3:50.2 (2)	1:15.8 (2)	1:29.6 (2)	1:06.0 (1)	Q
2	–	Reinhard Merkel	FRG	5:00.6	1:06.2 (3)	2:21.8 (2)	3:49.1 (1)	1:15.6 (1)	1:27.3 (1)	1:11.5 (4)	Q
3	–	Bernhard Mock	FRG	5:07.1	1:05.1 (2)	2:24.4 (3)	3:56.7 (3)	1:19.3 (4)	1:32.3 (4)	1:10.4 (2)
4	–	Péter Lázár	HUN	5:10.6	1:06.3 (4)	2:25.1 (4)	3:57.9 (4)	1:18.8 (3)	1:32.8 (5)	1:12.7 (5)
5	–	Angel Chakarov	BUL	5:10.9	1:08.6 (7)	2:28.3 (5)	3:59.5 (5)	1:19.7 (5)	1:31.2 (3)	1:11.4 (3)
6	–	Ken Campbell	CAN	5:19.6	1:06.5 (5)	2:28.5 (6)	4:02.2 (6)	1:22.0 (6)	1:33.7 (=6)	1:17.4 (7)
7	–	Gershon Shefa	ISR	5:22.6	1:08.3 (6)	2:34.0 (7)	4:07.7 (7)	1:25.7 (7)	1:33.7 (=6)	1:14.9 (6)
8	–	Lee Tong-Shing	TPE	5:50.0	1:10.4 (8)	2:40.2 (8)	4:26.1 (8)	1:29.8 (8)	1:45.9 (8)	1:23.9 (8)

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Mike Holthaus	FRG	5:00.8	1:05.7 (1)	2:21.0 (1)	3:53.0 (1)	1:15.3 (1)	1:32.0 (2)	1:07.8 (1)	Q
2	–	George Smith	CAN	5:04.4	1:07.6 (3)	2:28.1 (4)	3:54.8 (2)	1:20.5 (4)	1:26.7 (1)	1:09.6 (=2)
3	–	Yuliyan Rusev	BUL	5:07.0	1:06.6 (2)	2:25.2 (2)	3:57.4 (3)	1:18.6 (3)	1:32.2 (3)	1:09.6 (=2)
4	–	Lars Kraus Jensen	DEN	5:12.7	1:09.1 (6)	2:27.2 (3)	4:00.8 (4)	1:18.1 (2)	1:33.6 (4)	1:11.9 (4)
5	–	Zbigniew Pacelt	POL	5:18.6	1:07.8 (4)	2:31.7 (6)	4:05.7 (5)	1:23.9 (8)	1:34.0 (5)	1:12.9 (6)
6	–	Raymond Terrell	GBR	5:19.5	1:08.9 (5)	2:29.5 (5)	4:07.0 (6)	1:20.6 (5)	1:37.5 (6)	1:12.5 (5)
7	–	Francisco Ramis	PUR	5:30.9	1:12.8 (7)	2:34.0 (7)	4:16.7 (7)	1:21.2 (6)	1:42.7 (8)	1:14.2 (8)
8	–	Antonio Cruz	GUA	5:31.1	1:17.0 (8)	2:39.2 (8)	4:18.1 (8)	1:22.2 (7)	1:38.9 (7)	1:13.0 (7)

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Gary Hall	USA	4:56.2	1:04.8 (2)	2:19.7 (1)	3:49.9 (1)	1:14.9 (1)	1:30.2 (2)	1:06.3 (2)	Q
2	–	Sandy Gilchrist	CAN	4:57.5	1:04.2 (1)	2:22.5 (2)	3:51.7 (2)	1:18.3 (4)	1:29.2 (1)	1:05.8 (1)	Q
3	–	Karl Byrom	AUS	5:11.9	1:10.8 (5)	2:27.0 (4)	4:02.1 (4)	1:16.2 (2)	1:35.1 (4)	1:09.8 (4)
4	–	Michele D'Oppido	ITA	5:16.4	1:06.3 (3)	2:24.3 (3)	4:01.3 (3)	1:18.0 (3)	1:37.0 (=5)	1:15.1 (6)
5	–	Jacques Henrard	BEL	5:17.0	1:10.4 (4)	2:32.5 (5)	4:04.9 (5)	1:22.1 (6)	1:32.4 (3)	1:12.1 (5)
6	–	Olle Ferm	SWE	5:18.9	1:12.8 (6)	2:33.1 (6)	4:10.1 (6)	1:20.3 (5)	1:37.0 (=5)	1:08.8 (3)
DNS	–	Bob Loh	HKG	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–
DNS	–	Amman Jalmaani	PHI	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Final Round

Date	23 October 1968 — 17:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	100 m	200 m	300 m	100-200 m Time (Rank)	200-300 m Time (Rank)	300-400 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Charlie Hickcox	USA	4:48.4	1:02.4 (1)	2:15.9 (2)	3:44.6 (1)	1:13.5 (2)	1:28.7 (6)	1:03.8 (=2)
2	–	Gary Hall	USA	4:48.7	1:02.6 (2)	2:15.5 (1)	3:44.9 (2)	1:12.9 (1)	1:29.4 (8)	1:03.8 (=2)
3	–	Mike Holthaus	FRG	4:51.4	1:04.1 (5)	2:17.9 (3)	3:46.0 (3)	1:13.8 (3)	1:28.1 (=2)	1:05.4 (=4)
4	–	Greg Buckingham	USA	4:51.4	1:04.0 (4)	2:20.4 (4)	3:48.5 (4)	1:16.4 (4)	1:28.1 (=2)	1:02.9 (1)
5	–	Sandy Gilchrist	CAN	4:56.7	1:03.4 (3)	2:22.9 (5)	3:51.3 (6)	1:19.5 (7)	1:28.4 (5)	1:05.4 (=4)
6	–	Reinhard Merkel	FRG	4:59.8	1:06.5 (7)	2:23.7 (7)	3:50.2 (5)	1:17.2 (6)	1:26.5 (1)	1:09.6 (7)
7	–	Andrey Dunayev	URS	5:00.3	1:06.6 (8)	2:23.2 (6)	3:51.4 (7)	1:16.6 (5)	1:28.2 (4)	1:08.9 (6)
8	–	Rafael Hernández	MEX	5:04.3	1:05.3 (6)	2:25.0 (8)	3:54.1 (8)	1:19.7 (8)	1:29.1 (7)	1:10.2 (8)