| | Event type

200 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	22 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul
Participants	44 from 32 countries

Igor Polyansky (URS) came into Seoul as the heavy favorite in this event, having lost only one race since 1985, that at the 1987 European Championships to his teammate, Sergey Zabolotnov. They had set the last two world records, with Zabolotnov setting his at the 1984 Friendship Games in Moscow, just after the Los Angeles Olympics, but Polyansky broke that record in 1985 with 1:58.14. In the Seoul final, Zabolotnov led at 100 metres, but Polyansky took the lead on the third lap. He held on for the gold medal and East German Frank Baltrusch finished quickly for silver, as Zabolotnov fell off the medal stand and placed fourth.

The bronze medal went to New Zealander Paul Kingsman, whose best previous international finish had been a third at the 1987 Pan Pacs. The awards ceremony would not go so well for him or for Polyansky. First, Kingsman was introduced as from the Soviet Union. Then Polyansky had to stand there as they corrected that, but they overdid it, and announced the playing of the New Zealand national anthem. Fortunately that was corrected and the Soviet anthem was actually played.

Pos	Number	Competitor	NOC	R1	B Final	Final
1	532	Igor Polyansky	URS	2:01.70 (2 h6)	–	1:59.37 (1)	Gold
2	253	Frank Baltrusch	GDR	2:01.49 (1 h5)	–	1:59.60 (2)	Silver
3	434	Paul Kingsman	NZL	2:02.20 (4 h6)	–	2:00.48 (3)	Bronze
4	541	Sergey Zabolotnov	URS	2:01.27 (1 h6)	–	2:00.52 (4)
5	264	Dirk Richter	GDR	2:01.54 (1 h4)	–	2:01.67 (5)
6	199	Jens-Peter Berndt	FRG	2:01.77 (3 h6)	–	2:01.84 (6)
7	580	Dan Veatch	USA	2:01.73 (2 h4)	–	2:02.26 (7)
8	64	Rogério Romero	BRA	2:02.26 (2 h5)	–	2:02.28 (8)
9	210	Frank Hoffmeister	FRG	2:03.34 (4 h4)	2:01.65 (1)	–
10	547	Steve Bigelow	USA	2:03.64 (5 h4)	2:02.95 (2)	–
11	152	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	2:03.33 (3 h5)	2:03.70 (3)	–
12	88	Mark Tewksbury	CAN	2:04.02 (6 h5)	2:03.79 (4)	–
13	68	Georgi Mihalev	BUL	2:02.71 (3 h4)	2:04.24 (5)	–
14	307	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	2:03.17 (5 h6)	2:04.42 (6)	–
15	384	Daichi Suzuki	JPN	2:03.36 (4 h5)	2:04.67 (7)	–
16	231	Gary Binfield	GBR	2:03.79 (1 h3)	2:04.90 (8)	–
17	344	Stefano Battistelli	ITA	2:03.63 (5 h5)	–	–		1
18	83	Sean Murphy	CAN	2:03.81 (6 h4)	–	–
19	438	Alejandro Alvizuri	PER	2:04.29 (2 h3)	–	–
20	236	John Davey	GBR	2:04.70 (3 h3)	–	–
21	181	David Holderbach	FRA	2:04.83 (6 h6)	–	–
=22	29	Simon Upton	AUS	2:05.08 (7 h6)	–	–
=22	428	Ernesto Vela	MEX	2:05.08 (4 h3)	–	–
24	333	Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson	ISL	2:05.61 (7 h5)	–	–
25	331	Richard Gheel	IRL	2:05.71 (5 h3)	–	–
26	132	Lars Sørensen	DEN	2:05.73 (8 h6)	–	–
27	330	Stephen Cullen	IRL	2:06.98 (1 h2)	–	–
28	493	Pavel Vokoun	TCH	2:07.24 (7 h4)	–	–
29	471	Patrick Ferland	SUI	2:07.77 (2 h2)	–	–
30	106	Lin Laijiu	CHN	2:08.28 (6 h3)	–	–
31	461	David Lim	SGP	2:08.65 (3 h2)	–	–
32	379	Shigemori Maruyama	JPN	2:09.16 (7 h3)	–	–
33	63	Vladimir Ribeiro	BRA	2:11.48 (4 h2)	–	–
34	124	Horst Niehaus	CRC	2:12.83 (5 h2)	–	–
35	123	Eric Greenwood	CRC	2:15.42 (6 h2)	–	–
36	283	Patrick Sagisi	GUM	2:15.82 (7 h2)	–	–
37	601	Brett Halford	ZIM	2:17.84 (1 h1)	–	–
38	300	Pablo Barahona	HON	2:21.61 (2 h1)	–	–
39	500	Mohammed Alghafri	UAE	2:29.64 (3 h1)	–	–
40	503	Mohamed Bin Abid	UAE	2:36.21 (4 h1)	–	–
41	417	Rami Kantari	LBN	2:40.29 (5 h1)	–	–
DQ	276	Charalampos Papanikolaou	GRE	– (DQ h3)	–	–
DQ	305	Tamás Darnyi	HUN	– (DQ h5)	–	–
DQ	404	Park Dong-Pil	KOR	– (DQ h2)	–	–

Round One

Date	22 September 1988 — 10:00
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Sergey Zabolotnov	URS	2:01.27	Q
2	–	Frank Baltrusch	GDR	2:01.49	Q
3	–	Dirk Richter	GDR	2:01.54	Q
4	–	Igor Polyansky	URS	2:01.70	Q
5	–	Dan Veatch	USA	2:01.73	Q
6	–	Jens-Peter Berndt	FRG	2:01.77	Q
7	–	Paul Kingsman	NZL	2:02.20	Q
8	–	Rogério Romero	BRA	2:02.26	Q
9	–	Georgi Mihalev	BUL	2:02.71	q
10	–	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	2:03.17	q
11	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	2:03.33	q
12	–	Frank Hoffmeister	FRG	2:03.34	q
13	–	Daichi Suzuki	JPN	2:03.36	q
14	–	Stefano Battistelli	ITA	2:03.63	q
15	–	Steve Bigelow	USA	2:03.64	q
16	–	Gary Binfield	GBR	2:03.79	q
17	–	Sean Murphy	CAN	2:03.81
18	–	Mark Tewksbury	CAN	2:04.02
19	–	Alejandro Alvizuri	PER	2:04.29
20	–	John Davey	GBR	2:04.70
21	–	David Holderbach	FRA	2:04.83
=22	–	Ernesto Vela	MEX	2:05.08
=22	–	Simon Upton	AUS	2:05.08
24	–	Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson	ISL	2:05.61
25	–	Richard Gheel	IRL	2:05.71
26	–	Lars Sørensen	DEN	2:05.73
27	–	Stephen Cullen	IRL	2:06.98
28	–	Pavel Vokoun	TCH	2:07.24
29	–	Patrick Ferland	SUI	2:07.77
30	–	Lin Laijiu	CHN	2:08.28
31	–	David Lim	SGP	2:08.65
32	–	Shigemori Maruyama	JPN	2:09.16
33	–	Vladimir Ribeiro	BRA	2:11.48
34	–	Horst Niehaus	CRC	2:12.83
35	–	Eric Greenwood	CRC	2:15.42
36	–	Patrick Sagisi	GUM	2:15.82
37	–	Brett Halford	ZIM	2:17.84
38	–	Pablo Barahona	HON	2:21.61
39	–	Mohammed Alghafri	UAE	2:29.64
40	–	Mohamed Bin Abid	UAE	2:36.21
41	–	Rami Kantari	LBN	2:40.29
DQ	–	Park Dong-Pil	KOR	–
DQ	–	Charalampos Papanikolaou	GRE	–
DQ	–	Tamás Darnyi	HUN	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Brett Halford	ZIM	2:17.84	30.91 (1)	1:05.77 (1)	1:41.08 (1)	34.86 (1)	35.31 (1)	36.76 (1)
2	–	Pablo Barahona	HON	2:21.61	32.54 (2)	1:07.84 (2)	1:44.49 (2)	35.30 (2)	36.65 (2)	37.12 (2)
3	–	Mohammed Alghafri	UAE	2:29.64	33.37 (3)	1:11.62 (3)	1:51.10 (3)	38.25 (3)	39.48 (3)	38.54 (3)
4	–	Mohamed Bin Abid	UAE	2:36.21	34.83 (5)	1:14.25 (4)	1:55.83 (4)	39.42 (4)	41.58 (4)	40.38 (4)
5	–	Rami Kantari	LBN	2:40.29	34.39 (4)	1:14.64 (5)	1:57.66 (5)	40.25 (5)	43.02 (5)	42.63 (5)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Stephen Cullen	IRL	2:06.98	29.52 (4)	1:01.48 (2)	1:33.74 (2)	31.96 (2)	32.26 (1)	33.24 (1)
2	–	Patrick Ferland	SUI	2:07.77	28.56 (1)	1:00.30 (1)	1:33.33 (1)	31.74 (1)	33.03 (3)	34.44 (3)
3	–	David Lim	SGP	2:08.65	29.50 (3)	1:02.18 (3)	1:34.98 (3)	32.68 (3)	32.80 (2)	33.67 (2)
4	–	Vladimir Ribeiro	BRA	2:11.48	29.28 (2)	1:02.31 (4)	1:36.12 (4)	33.03 (4)	33.81 (4)	35.36 (4)
5	–	Horst Niehaus	CRC	2:12.83	30.36 (6)	1:03.46 (6)	1:37.44 (5)	33.10 (5)	33.98 (6)	35.39 (5)
6	–	Eric Greenwood	CRC	2:15.42	29.77 (5)	1:03.30 (5)	1:38.64 (6)	33.53 (6)	35.34 (7)	36.78 (7)
7	–	Patrick Sagisi	GUM	2:15.82	31.15 (7)	1:05.84 (7)	1:39.77 (7)	34.69 (7)	33.93 (5)	36.05 (6)
DQ	–	Park Dong-Pil	KOR	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Gary Binfield	GBR	2:03.79	28.53 (2)	59.46 (2)	1:31.00 (1)	30.93 (1)	31.54 (1)	32.79 (3)	q
2	–	Alejandro Alvizuri	PER	2:04.29	28.13 (1)	59.08 (1)	1:31.06 (2)	30.95 (2)	31.98 (5)	33.23 (5)
3	–	John Davey	GBR	2:04.70	28.73 (4)	1:00.42 (=3)	1:32.32 (3)	31.69 (5)	31.90 (3)	32.38 (2)
4	–	Ernesto Vela	MEX	2:05.08	29.53 (7)	1:01.12 (6)	1:33.07 (5)	31.59 (3)	31.95 (4)	32.01 (1)
5	–	Richard Gheel	IRL	2:05.71	29.39 (6)	1:00.99 (5)	1:32.72 (4)	31.60 (4)	31.73 (2)	32.99 (4)
6	–	Lin Laijiu	CHN	2:08.28	29.03 (5)	1:01.47 (7)	1:34.33 (7)	32.44 (7)	32.86 (6)	33.95 (6)
7	–	Shigemori Maruyama	JPN	2:09.16	28.58 (3)	1:00.42 (=3)	1:33.94 (6)	31.84 (6)	33.52 (7)	35.22 (7)
DQ	–	Charalampos Papanikolaou	GRE	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Dirk Richter	GDR	2:01.54	28.50 (4)	58.99 (3)	1:30.11 (3)	30.49 (1)	31.12 (3)	31.43 (1)	Q
2	–	Dan Veatch	USA	2:01.73	28.15 (2)	58.82 (1)	1:29.84 (2)	30.67 (2)	31.02 (2)	31.89 (3)	Q
3	–	Georgi Mihalev	BUL	2:02.71	28.70 (7)	59.65 (4)	1:31.22 (5)	30.95 (3)	31.57 (5)	31.49 (2)	q
4	–	Frank Hoffmeister	FRG	2:03.34	27.88 (1)	58.86 (2)	1:29.57 (1)	30.98 (4)	30.71 (1)	33.77 (6)	q
5	–	Steve Bigelow	USA	2:03.64	28.60 (5)	59.95 (6)	1:31.54 (6)	31.35 (5)	31.59 (6)	32.10 (4)	q
6	–	Sean Murphy	CAN	2:03.81	28.22 (3)	59.69 (5)	1:31.00 (4)	31.47 (6)	31.31 (4)	32.81 (5)
7	–	Pavel Vokoun	TCH	2:07.24	28.62 (6)	1:00.19 (7)	1:33.01 (7)	31.57 (7)	32.82 (7)	34.23 (7)

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Frank Baltrusch	GDR	2:01.49	28.18 (3)	58.45 (1)	1:29.38 (1)	30.27 (1)	30.93 (1)	32.11 (4)	Q
2	–	Rogério Romero	BRA	2:02.26	28.23 (4)	59.51 (4)	1:30.64 (3)	31.28 (4)	31.13 (3)	31.62 (2)	Q
3	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	2:03.33	29.02 (7)	1:00.29 (6)	1:31.88 (6)	31.27 (3)	31.59 (4)	31.45 (1)	q
4	–	Daichi Suzuki	JPN	2:03.36	27.80 (1)	59.39 (3)	1:31.43 (5)	31.59 (6)	32.04 (6)	31.93 (3)	q
5	–	Stefano Battistelli	ITA	2:03.63	28.87 (6)	1:00.32 (7)	1:31.39 (4)	31.45 (5)	31.07 (2)	32.24 (5)	q
6	–	Mark Tewksbury	CAN	2:04.02	27.94 (2)	58.71 (2)	1:30.35 (2)	30.77 (2)	31.64 (5)	33.67 (7)
7	–	Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson	ISL	2:05.61	28.50 (5)	1:00.12 (5)	1:32.69 (7)	31.62 (7)	32.57 (7)	32.92 (6)
DQ	–	Tamás Darnyi	HUN	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #6

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Sergey Zabolotnov	URS	2:01.27	27.31 (2)	57.91 (1)	1:29.54 (2)	30.60 (1)	31.63 (4)	31.73 (4)	Q
2	–	Igor Polyansky	URS	2:01.70	27.20 (1)	58.11 (2)	1:28.76 (1)	30.91 (3)	30.65 (2)	32.94 (8)	Q
3	–	Jens-Peter Berndt	FRG	2:01.77	28.76 (4)	59.48 (3)	1:30.56 (3)	30.72 (2)	31.08 (3)	31.21 (1)	Q
4	–	Paul Kingsman	NZL	2:02.20	29.08 (5)	1:00.10 (5)	1:30.65 (4)	31.02 (4)	30.55 (1)	31.55 (3)	Q
5	–	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	2:03.17	28.36 (3)	59.73 (4)	1:31.88 (5)	31.37 (5)	32.15 (7)	31.29 (2)	q
6	–	David Holderbach	FRA	2:04.83	29.26 (6)	1:00.69 (6)	1:32.77 (6)	31.43 (6)	32.08 (6)	32.06 (=5)
7	–	Simon Upton	AUS	2:05.08	29.36 (7)	1:01.04 (8)	1:33.02 (7)	31.68 (8)	31.98 (5)	32.06 (=5)
8	–	Lars Sørensen	DEN	2:05.73	29.39 (8)	1:00.89 (7)	1:33.19 (8)	31.50 (7)	32.30 (8)	32.54 (7)

B Final

Date	22 September 1988 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Frank Hoffmeister	FRG	2:01.65	28.38 (1)	59.61 (1)	1:30.60 (1)	31.23 (=3)	30.99 (1)	31.05 (1)
2	–	Steve Bigelow	USA	2:02.95	28.90 (5)	1:00.01 (4)	1:31.58 (2)	31.11 (2)	31.57 (2)	31.37 (3)
3	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	2:03.70	29.08 (8)	1:00.33 (7)	1:32.11 (4)	31.25 (5)	31.78 (3)	31.59 (5)
4	–	Mark Tewksbury	CAN	2:03.79	29.05 (7)	1:00.28 (6)	1:32.54 (7)	31.23 (=3)	32.26 (6)	31.25 (2)
5	–	Georgi Mihalev	BUL	2:04.24	28.64 (4)	59.70 (2)	1:32.09 (3)	31.06 (1)	32.39 (=7)	32.15 (6)
6	–	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	2:04.42	29.01 (6)	1:00.92 (8)	1:32.90 (8)	31.91 (8)	31.98 (4)	31.52 (4)
7	–	Daichi Suzuki	JPN	2:04.67	28.59 (3)	59.85 (3)	1:32.24 (5)	31.26 (6)	32.39 (=7)	32.43 (7)
8	–	Gary Binfield	GBR	2:04.90	28.55 (2)	1:00.21 (5)	1:32.32 (6)	31.66 (7)	32.11 (5)	32.58 (8)

Final Round

Date	22 September 1988 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Igor Polyansky	URS	1:59.37	27.14 (1)	57.49 (1)	1:28.20 (1)	30.35 (2)	30.71 (3)	31.17 (5)
2	–	Frank Baltrusch	GDR	1:59.60	27.98 (3)	58.57 (3)	1:29.02 (3)	30.59 (3)	30.45 (2)	30.58 (1)
3	–	Paul Kingsman	NZL	2:00.48	28.74 (7)	59.48 (5)	1:29.53 (4)	30.74 (5)	30.05 (1)	30.95 (4)
4	–	Sergey Zabolotnov	URS	2:00.52	27.23 (2)	57.53 (2)	1:28.97 (2)	30.30 (1)	31.44 (7)	31.55 (8)
5	–	Dirk Richter	GDR	2:01.67	28.99 (8)	59.94 (8)	1:30.77 (6)	30.95 (6)	30.83 (4)	30.90 (3)
6	–	Jens-Peter Berndt	FRG	2:01.84	28.69 (6)	59.42 (4)	1:30.66 (5)	30.73 (4)	31.24 (6)	31.18 (6)
7	–	Dan Veatch	USA	2:02.26	28.63 (5)	59.75 (6)	1:30.82 (7)	31.12 (7)	31.07 (5)	31.44 (7)
8	–	Rogério Romero	BRA	2:02.28	28.52 (4)	59.79 (7)	1:31.41 (8)	31.27 (8)	31.62 (8)	30.87 (2)