Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke

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The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between 30 November and 6 December.[1] This swimming event used the breaststroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold Masaru Furukawa
 Japan
Silver Masahiro Yoshimura
 Japan
Bronze Kharis Yunichev
 Soviet Union

Results

Heats

Three heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the Finals. The athletes that advanced are highlighted.

Heat One

Rank Athlete Country Time
1 Masaru Furukawa Japan 2:36.1
2 Knud Gleie Denmark 2:36.4
3 Farid Dosayev Soviet Union 2:43.9
4 Louis Kozma Belgium 2:48.4
5 Shamsher Khan India 3:19.0
- Octávio Mobiglia Brazil DSQ
-
Palsons Naibula
Philippines DSQ

Heat Two

Rank Athlete Country Time
1 Igor Zaseda Soviet Union 2:40.1
2 Terry Gathercole Australia 2:40.2
3 Manuel Sanguily Cuba 2:41.8
4
Ren Kohn
Luxembourg 2:50.9
5 István Szívós Hungary 3:18.7
- Álvaro Gómez Colombia DSQ
- Herbert Klein Germany DSQ

Heat Three

Rank Athlete Country Time
1 Masahiro Yoshimura Japan 2:38.6
2 Kharis Yunichev Soviet Union 2:41.2
3 Hugues Broussard France 2:43.0
4 Gilbert Desmit Belgium 2:43.5
5 Christopher Walkden Great Britain 2:47.1
6 Robert Hughes United States 2:52.2
- Ghulam Rasul Pakistan DSQ

Final

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Masaru Furukawa  Japan 2:34.7
2 Masahiro Yoshimura  Japan 2:36.7
3 Kharis Yunichev  Soviet Union 2:36.8
4 Terry Gathercole  Australia 2:38.7
5 Igor Zaseda  Soviet Union 2:39.0
6 Knud Gleie  Denmark 2:40.0
7 Manuel Sanguily  Cuba 2:42.0
Hugues Broussard  France DSQ

A loophole in the rules allowed swimmers to swim below the surface of the water, which was quicker and more efficient, with Furukawa spending 75% of the race underwater. Underwater swimming was banned in early 1957.[2]

Key: DSQ = Disqualified

References

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Breaststroke". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  2. .