Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

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Swimming at the
1972 Summer Olympics
Sample picture of the event (unofficial)
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
4 × 200 mmen
Medley relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place September 1.[1] This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.

Rick DeMont of the United States originally won the gold medal in 4:00.26. Following the race, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped DeMont of his gold medal[2] after his post-race urinalysis tested positive for traces of the banned substance ephedrine contained in his prescription asthma medication, Marax. The positive test following the 400-meter freestyle final also deprived him of a chance at multiple medals, as he was not permitted to swim in any other events at the 1972 Olympics, including the 1,500-meter freestyle for which he was the then-current world record-holder. Before the Olympics, DeMont had properly declared his asthma medications on his medical disclosure forms, but the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) had not cleared them with the IOC's medical committee. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has recognized his gold medal performance in the 1972 Summer Olympics in 2001, but only the IOC has the power to restore his rankings, and it has not done so.[3]

Medalists

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Gold Brad Cooper
 Australia
Silver Steve Genter
 United States
Bronze Tom McBreen
 United States

Results

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Heats

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Heat 1

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Gunnar Larsson  Sweden 4:09.88
2 Ton van Klooster  Netherlands 4:11.72
3 Guillermo García  Mexico 4:15.33
4 Alain Charmey  Switzerland 4:18.25
5 Bruce Robertson  Canada 4:20.31
6 Neil Dexter  Great Britain 4:24.80
7 Kamal Kenawi Ali Moustafa  Egypt 4:24.97

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Bengt Gingsjö  Sweden 4:06.59 OR, Q
2 Hans Fassnacht  West Germany 4:09.23
3 Udo Poser  East Germany 4:09.62
4 Peter Rosenkranz  West Germany 4:14.01
5 Tomás Becerra  Colombia 4:20.78
6 Dae Imlani  Philippines 4:24.01
7 Dimitrios Theodoropoulos  Greece 4:30.54

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Steve Genter  United States 4:05.89 OR, Q
2 Anders Bellbring  Sweden 4:08.38
3 Aleksandr Samsonov  Soviet Union 4:11.46
4 Wolfram Sperling  East Germany 4:14.73
5 Sverre Kile  Norway 4:20.86
6 José Luis Prado  Mexico 4:22.31
7 Friðrik Guðmundsson  Iceland 4:26.25

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Brad Cooper  Australia 4:04.59 OR, Q
2 Werner Lampe  West Germany 4:04.80 Q
3 Ralph Hutton  Canada 4:09.27
4 Władysław Wojtakajtis  Poland 4:16.04
5 Alfredo Machado  Brazil 4:18.05
6 Arnaldo Cinquetti  Italy 4:19.49
7 Gustavo González  Argentina 4:21.22

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Rick DeMont  United States 4:05.70 Q
2 Graham Windeatt  Australia 4:05.92 Q
3 Gerardo Vera  Venezuela 4:11.37
4 Jorge Delgado  Ecuador 4:12.29
5 Mark Treffers  New Zealand 4:14.10
6 Antonio Corell  Spain 4:17.81
7 Jo O-ryeon  South Korea 4:21.78

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Tom McBreen  United States 4:06.09 Q
2 Brian Brinkley  Great Britain 4:06.44 Q
3 Graham White  Australia 4:08.29
4 Ron Jacks  Canada 4:16.08
5 Viktor Aboimov  Soviet Union 4:17.04
6 Klaus Dockhorn  East Germany 4:17.98
7 Guillermo Pacheco  Peru 4:18.78
8 François Deley  Belgium 4:24.73

Final

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Rank Athlete Country Time Notes
1 Brad Cooper  Australia 4:00.27 OR
2 Steve Genter  United States 4:01.94
3 Tom McBreen  United States 4:02.64
4 Graham Windeatt  Australia 4:02.93
5 Brian Brinkley  Great Britain 4:06.69
6 Bengt Gingsjö  Sweden 4:06.75
7 Werner Lampe  West Germany 4:06.97
Rick DeMont  United States 4:00.26 DSQ

Key: DSQ = Disqualified, OR = Olympic record

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's 400 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ^ Neil Amdur, "Of Gold and Drugs," The New York Times (September 4, 1972). Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  3. ^ "Better late than never". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Associated Press. 30 January 2001. Archived from the original on 7 May 2001.
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