| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date	24 July 1976
Status	Olympic
Location	Piscine olympique, Montréal, Québec
Participants	29 from 19 countries

David Wilkie of Great Britain was the slight favorite in this event, but a close contest was expected with his great rival, American John Hencken. Wilkie was World Champion in the 200 breast in 1973 and 1975, but four days earlier, Hencken had won the 100 breaststroke, Wilkie placing second. So far in Montréal, American men had won every gold medal when the final of this event started, and there the streak would end. Hencken swam wonderfully, almost a full second ahead of his world record, finishing in 2:17.26. He led through 100 metres, but Wilkie went ahead by the third lap, and shattered the world record with 2:15.11, over two seconds ahead of his rival. The mark would last as the world record for over six years. The Olympic gold medal was the first by a British male since 1908.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	David Wilkie	GBR	2:18.29 (1 h4)	2:15.11 (1)	Gold
2	John Hencken	USA	2:21.23 (1 h3)	2:17.26 (2)	Silver
3	Rick Colella	USA	2:21.08 (1 h2)	2:19.20 (3)	Bronze
4	Graham Smith	CAN	2:22.24 (1 h1)	2:19.42 (4)
5	Charles Keating	USA	2:22.22 (2 h4)	2:20.79 (5)
6	Arvydas Juozaitis	URS	2:22.59 (2 h1)	2:21.87 (6)
7	Nikolay Pankin	URS	2:22.82 (2 h2)	2:22.21 (7)
8	Walter Kusch	FRG	2:22.95 (2 h3)	2:22.36 (8)
9	Aigars Kudis	URS	2:23.45 (3 h4)	–
10	Ove Wisløff	NOR	2:23.49 (4 h4)	–
11	Giorgio Lalle	ITA	2:23.63 (3 h2)	–
12	Nobutaka Taguchi	JPN	2:24.12 (3 h3)	–
13	Anders Norling	SWE	2:24.61 (3 h1)	–
14	Peter Lang	FRG	2:24.96 (4 h1)	–
15	Dave Heinbuch	CAN	2:25.29 (4 h3)	–
16	David Leigh	GBR	2:25.58 (4 h2)	–
17	Steffen Kriechbaum	AUT	2:25.73 (5 h3)	–
18	Tuomo Kerola	FIN	2:25.87 (5 h1)	–
19	Tateki Shinya	JPN	2:26.16 (5 h2)	–
20	Orlando Catinchi	PUR	2:26.27 (5 h4)	–
21	Cezary Śmiglak	POL	2:27.41 (6 h4)	–
22	Paul Jarvie	AUS	2:30.15 (6 h3)	–
23	Gustavo Lozano	MEX	2:31.89 (6 h2)	–
24	Zdravko Divjak	YUG	2:34.07 (7 h4)	–
25	Julio Abreu	PAR	2:35.22 (6 h1)	–
26	Henrique Vicêncio	POR	2:41.97 (7 h3)	–
DQ	Sérgio Ribeiro	BRA	– (DQ h1)	–
DQ	Carlos Nazario	PUR	– (DQ h2)	–
DQ	Paul Naisby	GBR	– (DQ h4)	–
DNS	Wolfram Sperling	GDR	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	Albán Vermes	HUN	– (DNS h3)	–

Round One (24 July 1976 — 10:30)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Graham Smith	CAN	32.85 (2) 36.57 (1)	1:09.42 (1) 36.49 (2)	1:45.91 (1) 36.33 (2)	2:22.24	Q
2	5	Arvydas Juozaitis	URS	33.39 (=4) 36.84 (2)	1:10.23 (3) 37.02 (3)	1:47.25 (3) 35.34 (1)	2:22.59	Q
3	6	Anders Norling	SWE	33.39 (=4) 37.00 (4)	1:10.39 (5) 36.38 (1)	1:46.77 (2) 37.84 (4)	2:24.61
4	7	Peter Lang	FRG	32.69 (1) 37.26 (5)	1:09.95 (2) 37.84 (5)	1:47.79 (4) 37.17 (3)	2:24.96
5	2	Tuomo Kerola	FIN	33.38 (3) 36.97 (3)	1:10.35 (4) 37.47 (4)	1:47.82 (5) 38.05 (5)	2:25.87
6	8	Julio Abreu	PAR	35.10 (6) 38.60 (6)	1:13.70 (6) 40.38 (6)	1:54.08 (6) 41.14 (6)	2:35.22
DQ	3	Sérgio Ribeiro	BRA	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	1	Wolfram Sperling	GDR	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Rick Colella	USA	33.28 (1) 36.47 (3)	1:09.75 (1) 35.57 (1)	1:45.32 (1) 35.76 (1)	2:21.08	QOR
2	5	Nikolay Pankin	URS	33.69 (5) 36.35 (2)	1:10.04 (3) 36.03 (2)	1:46.07 (2) 36.75 (2)	2:22.82	Q
3	3	Giorgio Lalle	ITA	33.50 (3) 36.29 (1)	1:09.79 (2) 36.65 (3)	1:46.44 (3) 37.19 (3)	2:23.63
4	6	David Leigh	GBR	33.60 (4) 36.93 (=4)	1:10.53 (4) 37.12 (4)	1:47.65 (4) 37.93 (5)	2:25.58
5	7	Tateki Shinya	JPN	34.06 (6) 36.93 (=4)	1:10.99 (5) 37.49 (5)	1:48.48 (5) 37.68 (4)	2:26.16
6	1	Gustavo Lozano	MEX	33.38 (2) 38.23 (6)	1:11.61 (6) 39.85 (6)	1:51.46 (6) 40.43 (6)	2:31.89
DQ	2	Carlos Nazario	PUR	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	John Hencken	USA	31.93 (1) 35.40 (1)	1:07.33 (1) 36.63 (1)	1:43.96 (1) 37.27 (3)	2:21.23	Q
2	6	Walter Kusch	FRG	33.06 (4) 36.46 (2)	1:09.52 (2) 37.14 (4)	1:46.66 (2) 36.29 (1)	2:22.95	Q
3	3	Nobutaka Taguchi	JPN	32.65 (2) 37.16 (4)	1:09.81 (3) 37.05 (3)	1:46.86 (3) 37.26 (2)	2:24.12
4	2	Dave Heinbuch	CAN	33.41 (5) 36.63 (3)	1:10.04 (4) 36.93 (2)	1:46.97 (4) 38.32 (5)	2:25.29
5	7	Steffen Kriechbaum	AUT	32.90 (3) 37.31 (5)	1:10.21 (5) 37.27 (5)	1:47.48 (5) 38.25 (4)	2:25.73
6	1	Paul Jarvie	AUS	33.89 (6) 37.48 (6)	1:11.37 (6) 38.98 (6)	1:50.35 (6) 39.80 (6)	2:30.15
7	8	Henrique Vicêncio	POR	36.24 (7) 41.61 (7)	1:17.85 (7) 42.04 (7)	1:59.89 (7) 42.08 (7)	2:41.97
DNS	5	Albán Vermes	HUN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	David Wilkie	GBR	31.70 (1) 35.18 (1)	1:06.88 (1) 35.66 (1)	1:42.54 (1) 35.75 (1)	2:18.29	QOR
2	3	Charles Keating	USA	32.52 (3) 35.84 (2)	1:08.36 (2) 36.23 (2)	1:44.59 (2) 37.63 (4)	2:22.22	Q
3	5	Aigars Kudis	URS	32.58 (4) 36.73 (4)	1:09.31 (4) 37.55 (5)	1:46.86 (4) 36.59 (2)	2:23.45
4	6	Ove Wisløff	NOR	32.47 (2) 36.25 (3)	1:08.72 (3) 37.00 (3)	1:45.72 (3) 37.77 (5)	2:23.49
5	1	Orlando Catinchi	PUR	33.70 (6) 37.84 (6)	1:11.54 (6) 37.38 (4)	1:48.92 (6) 37.35 (3)	2:26.27
6	7	Cezary Śmiglak	POL	33.14 (5) 36.98 (5)	1:10.12 (5) 37.84 (6)	1:47.96 (5) 39.45 (6)	2:27.41
7	8	Zdravko Divjak	YUG	36.12 (7) 39.45 (7)	1:15.57 (7) 38.94 (7)	1:54.51 (7) 39.56 (7)	2:34.07
DQ	2	Paul Naisby	GBR	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Final (24 July 1976 — 19:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	David Wilkie	GBR	31.24 (1) 35.25 (3)	1:06.49 (2) 34.35 (1)	1:40.84 (1) 34.27 (1)	2:15.11	WR
2	3	John Hencken	USA	31.32 (2) 34.77 (1)	1:06.09 (1) 35.41 (3)	1:41.50 (2) 35.76 (2)	2:17.26
3	5	Rick Colella	USA	32.13 (4) 35.31 (4)	1:07.44 (4) 35.34 (2)	1:42.78 (3) 36.42 (5)	2:19.20
4	2	Graham Smith	CAN	32.00 (3) 35.01 (2)	1:07.01 (3) 35.96 (5)	1:42.97 (4) 36.45 (6)	2:19.42
5	6	Charles Keating	USA	32.32 (5) 36.03 (6)	1:08.35 (6) 35.87 (4)	1:44.22 (5) 36.57 (7)	2:20.79
6	7	Arvydas Juozaitis	URS	32.62 (7) 36.27 (8)	1:08.89 (7) 37.09 (7)	1:45.98 (7) 35.89 (3)	2:21.87
7	1	Nikolay Pankin	URS	32.47 (6) 35.36 (5)	1:07.83 (5) 36.64 (6)	1:44.47 (6) 37.74 (8)	2:22.21
8	8	Walter Kusch	FRG	32.75 (8) 36.26 (7)	1:09.01 (8) 37.26 (8)	1:46.27 (8) 36.09 (4)	2:22.36