| | Event type

200 metres Butterfly, Men

Date	28 August 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Schwimmhalle, Olympiapark, München
Participants	30 from 20 countries

This was the first men’s individual final of the Munich Olympic swimming competition. The overwhelming favorite was Mark Spitz who had announced plans to win seven gold medals in seven events at the 1972 Olympics. Since 1967 he had set eight world records in the event, and was considered unbeatable in this one. After recording the fastest qualifier in the morning Spitz streaked to the wall on the first lap, opening a lead of 1.45 seconds in the first 50 metres over teammate Gary Hall. Hall actually stayed close on the second lap, Spitz reaching the halfway mark in 57.79, and the third lap. But by the final 50 Spitz was too strong and he powered home to win by over two seconds, setting a world record of 2:00.70. Hall was a comfortable silver medal winner, with American Robin Backhaus completing a sweep for the US. One down for Spitz. Six to go. Forty minutes later, Spitz would swim in the final of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, winning his second gold medal. The game was on.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Mark Spitz	USA	2:02.11 (1 h4)	2:00.70 (1)	Gold
2	Gary Hall	USA	2:03.70 (1 h1)	2:02.86 (2)	Silver
3	Robin Backhaus	USA	2:03.11 (1 h2)	2:03.23 (3)	Bronze
4	Jorge Delgado	ECU	2:05.61 (2 h3)	2:04.60 (4)
5	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	2:05.39 (1 h3)	2:04.69 (5)
6	András Hargitay	HUN	2:05.05 (2 h1)	2:04.69 (6)
7	Hartmut Flöckner	GDR	2:05.54 (2 h4)	2:05.34 (7)
8	Folkert Meeuw	FRG	2:06.13 (2 h2)	2:05.57 (8)
9	John Mills	GBR	2:06.58 (3 h4)	–
10	Viktor Sharygin	URS	2:06.76 (3 h3)	–
11	Brian Brinkley	GBR	2:06.82 (4 h4)	–
12	James Findlay	AUS	2:08.36 (4 h3)	–
=13	Roger Pyttel	GDR	2:08.72 (3 h1)	–
=13	Yasuhiro Komazaki	JPN	2:08.72 (3 h2)	–
15	Ron Jacks	CAN	2:09.04 (5 h3)	–
16	Sean Maher	GBR	2:09.39 (4 h1)	–
17	Hugo Valencia	MEX	2:09.56 (4 h2)	–
18	Ricardo Marmolejo	MEX	2:10.00 (6 h3)	–
19	Jorge Jaramillo	COL	2:10.24 (5 h1)	–
20	Jacques Leloup	BEL	2:10.79 (7 h3)	–
21	Walter Mack	FRG	2:11.03 (6 h1)	–
22	Vasil Dobrev	BUL	2:11.28 (7 h1)	–
23	Byron MacDonald	CAN	2:12.12 (5 h4)	–
24	Gaetano Carboni	ITA	2:12.16 (6 h4)	–
25	Andrzej Chudziński	POL	2:12.62 (5 h2)	–
26	Hsu Tung-Hsiung	TPE	2:16.35 (7 h4)	–
27	Geoffrey Ferreira	TTO	2:19.76 (6 h2)	–
28	Roy Chan	SGP	2:20.30 (8 h3)	–
29	Carlos Brosas	PHI	2:23.70 (8 h4)	–
DQ	Angelo Tozzi	ITA	[2:10.82] (DQ h2)	–
DNS	Aleksandar Pavličević	YUG	– (DNS h2)	–

Round One (28 August 1972 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Gary Hall	USA	28.74 (3) 31.28 (1)	1:00.02 (2) 31.84 (1)	1:31.86 (1) 31.84 (1)	2:03.70	QOR
2	–	András Hargitay	HUN	28.08 (1) 31.80 (2)	59.88 (1) 32.43 (2)	1:32.31 (2) 32.74 (2)	2:05.05	Q
3	–	Roger Pyttel	GDR	28.73 (2) 32.37 (3)	1:01.10 (3) 33.85 (6)	1:34.95 (3) 33.77 (4)	2:08.72
4	–	Sean Maher	GBR	29.18 (5) 32.50 (4)	1:01.68 (4) 33.84 (5)	1:35.52 (5) 33.87 (5)	2:09.39
5	–	Jorge Jaramillo	COL	29.57 (7) 33.00 (6)	1:02.57 (7) 34.20 (7)	1:36.77 (7) 33.47 (3)	2:10.24
6	–	Walter Mack	FRG	29.42 (6) 33.10 (7)	1:02.52 (6) 33.80 (4)	1:36.32 (6) 34.71 (6)	2:11.03
7	–	Vasil Dobrev	BUL	29.06 (4) 32.71 (5)	1:01.77 (5) 33.46 (3)	1:35.23 (4) 36.05 (7)	2:11.28

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Robin Backhaus	USA	28.22 (1) 31.19 (1)	59.41 (1) 31.57 (1)	1:30.98 (1) 32.13 (1)	2:03.11	QOR
2	–	Folkert Meeuw	FRG	29.28 (4) 31.34 (2)	1:00.62 (2) 32.06 (2)	1:32.68 (2) 33.45 (2)	2:06.13	Q
3	–	Yasuhiro Komazaki	JPN	28.95 (2) 32.18 (3)	1:01.13 (3) 33.25 (3)	1:34.38 (3) 34.34 (=4)	2:08.72
4	–	Hugo Valencia	MEX	29.23 (3) 32.53 (4)	1:01.76 (4) 33.46 (4)	1:35.22 (4) 34.34 (=4)	2:09.56
5	–	Andrzej Chudziński	POL	29.50 (5) 33.86 (6)	1:03.36 (6) 34.10 (6)	1:37.46 (6) 35.16 (6)	2:12.62
6	–	Geoffrey Ferreira	TTO	29.95 (7) 35.61 (7)	1:05.56 (7) 36.29 (7)	1:41.85 (7) 37.91 (7)	2:19.76
DQ	–	Angelo Tozzi	ITA	[29.84] ([6]) [33.19 (5)]	[1:03.03] ([5]) [33.56 (5)]	[1:36.59] ([5]) [34.23 (3)]	[2:10.82]
DNS	–	Aleksandar Pavličević	YUG	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	28.93 (2) 31.85 (1)	1:00.78 (2) 32.20 (1)	1:32.98 (1) 32.41 (2)	2:05.39	Q
2	–	Jorge Delgado	ECU	28.73 (1) 31.96 (2)	1:00.69 (1) 32.94 (3)	1:33.63 (2) 31.98 (1)	2:05.61	Q
3	–	Viktor Sharygin	URS	29.20 (5) 32.17 (4)	1:01.37 (4) 32.89 (2)	1:34.26 (3) 32.50 (3)	2:06.76
4	–	James Findlay	AUS	29.37 (6) 32.07 (3)	1:01.44 (5) 33.47 (5)	1:34.91 (5) 33.45 (4)	2:08.36
5	–	Ron Jacks	CAN	28.97 (3) 32.35 (5)	1:01.32 (3) 33.37 (4)	1:34.69 (4) 34.35 (6)	2:09.04
6	–	Ricardo Marmolejo	MEX	29.48 (7) 32.42 (6)	1:01.90 (7) 33.79 (6)	1:35.69 (6) 34.31 (5)	2:10.00
7	–	Jacques Leloup	BEL	29.00 (4) 32.89 (7)	1:01.89 (6) 33.97 (7)	1:35.86 (7) 34.93 (7)	2:10.79
8	–	Roy Chan	SGP	29.90 (8) 34.53 (8)	1:04.43 (8) 36.63 (8)	1:41.06 (8) 39.24 (8)	2:20.30

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	–	Mark Spitz	USA	27.35 (1) 30.78 (1)	58.13 (1) 31.75 (1)	1:29.88 (1) 32.23 (1)	2:02.11	QOR
2	–	Hartmut Flöckner	GDR	27.68 (2) 31.44 (4)	59.12 (3) 32.34 (2)	1:31.46 (2) 34.08 (2)	2:05.54	Q
3	–	John Mills	GBR	28.33 (4) 31.14 (=2)	59.47 (4) 32.79 (3)	1:32.26 (3) 34.32 (3)	2:06.58
4	–	Brian Brinkley	GBR	27.85 (3) 31.14 (=2)	58.99 (2) 33.40 (4)	1:32.39 (4) 34.43 (4)	2:06.82
5	–	Byron MacDonald	CAN	28.38 (5) 32.42 (6)	1:00.80 (5) 34.96 (6)	1:35.76 (5) 36.36 (6)	2:12.12
6	–	Gaetano Carboni	ITA	29.52 (6) 32.33 (5)	1:01.85 (6) 34.02 (5)	1:35.87 (6) 36.29 (5)	2:12.16
7	–	Hsu Tung-Hsiung	TPE	29.66 (7) 33.89 (7)	1:03.55 (7) 35.22 (7)	1:38.77 (7) 37.58 (7)	2:16.35
8	–	Carlos Brosas	PHI	30.92 (8) 35.51 (8)	1:06.43 (8) 37.26 (8)	1:43.69 (8) 40.01 (8)	2:23.70

Final (28 August 1972 — 18:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Mark Spitz	USA	27.12 (1) 30.67 (3)	57.79 (1) 31.11 (1)	1:28.90 (1) 31.80 (1)	2:00.70	WR
2	3	Gary Hall	USA	28.57 (7) 30.53 (1)	59.10 (3) 31.47 (2)	1:30.57 (3) 32.29 (3)	2:02.86
3	5	Robin Backhaus	USA	27.93 (2) 30.59 (2)	58.52 (2) 31.81 (3)	1:30.33 (2) 32.90 (8)	2:03.23
4	1	Jorge Delgado	ECU	28.17 (4) 31.50 (5)	59.67 (5) 32.19 (5)	1:31.86 (4) 32.74 (7)	2:04.60
5	2	Hans Faßnacht	FRG	28.51 (6) 31.60 (6)	1:00.11 (7) 32.07 (4)	1:32.18 (5) 32.51 (5)	2:04.69
6	6	András Hargitay	HUN	28.29 (5) 31.29 (4)	59.58 (4) 32.94 (7)	1:32.52 (6) 32.17 (2)	2:04.69
7	7	Hartmut Flöckner	GDR	27.98 (3) 31.72 (7)	59.70 (6) 33.06 (8)	1:32.76 (7) 32.58 (6)	2:05.34
8	8	Folkert Meeuw	FRG	28.79 (8) 31.77 (8)	1:00.56 (8) 32.53 (6)	1:33.09 (8) 32.48 (4)	2:05.57