Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metre freestyle
| Men's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
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| Venue | Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool | ||||||||||||
| Date | 18 September 1988 (heats) 19 September 1988 (finals) |
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| Competitors | 63 from 41 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:47.25 WR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Duncan Armstrong |
 Australia
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Anders Holmertz |
 Sweden
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Matt Biondi |
 United States
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The men's 200-metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.
Australia's Duncan Armstrong set a new world record to win the Olympic title in the event. Swimming in lane six and coming from third at the final turn, he edged out a vastly experienced field for the gold medal in 1:47.25. His time also sliced 0.19 seconds off the global standard set by West Germany's Michael Gross at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Sweden's Anders Holmertz overtook U.S. swimmer Matt Biondi about midway through the final stretch, but could not catch Armstrong near the wall to finish with a silver in 1:47.89. Leading almost the entire race, Biondi faded down the stretch to break the 1:48 barrier and take the bronze at 1:47.99.
Poland's Artur Wojdat, a top qualifier on the morning preliminaries, dropped off the podium to a fourth-place time in 1:48.40. Meanwhile, Groß missed a chance to defend his Olympic title with a fifth-place finish in 1:48.59.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
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