# Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The final of the men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on August 2, 1984. The first eight swimmers qualified for the final, while the next eight qualified for the B-final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World record | Vladimir Salnikov (URS) | 3:48.32 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 19 February 1983 |
| Olympic record | Vladimir Salnikov (URS) | 3:51.31 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 24 July 1980 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| 2 August | Final B | Thomas Fahrner | West Germany | 3:50.91 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Stefan Pfeiffer | West Germany | 3:53.41 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | John Mykkanen | United States | 3:53.43 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 4 | George DiCarlo | United States | 3:53.44 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 4 | Justin Lemberg | Australia | 3:53.89 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | Darjan Petrič | Yugoslavia | 3:54.39 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | 5 | Marco Dell'Uomo | Italy | 3:55.00 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | Ron McKeon | Australia | 3:55.06 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Franck Iacono | France | 3:55.07 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Thomas Fahrner | West Germany | 3:55.26 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Peter Szmidt | Canada | 3:55.65 | q |
| 11 | 3 | 5 | Carlos Scanavino | Uruguay | 3:55.92 | q, WD |
| 12 | 1 | 3 | Juan Enrique Escalas | Spain | 3:55.93 | q |
| 13 | 2 | 3 | Borut Petrič | Yugoslavia | 3:56.07 | q, WD |
| 14 | 5 | 6 | Stefano Grandi | Italy | 3:56.23 | q |
| 15 | 2 | 5 | Marcelo Jucá | Brazil | 3:57.43 | q |
| 16 | 4 | 6 | Mike Davidson | New Zealand | 3:57.88 | q |
| 16 | 5 | 5 | Arne Borgstrøm | Norway | 3:57.88 | q |
| 18 | 3 | 3 | Andrew Astbury | Great Britain | 3:58.41 | q |
| 19 | 2 | 6 | David Shemilt | Canada | 3:58.43 | |
| 20 | 2 | 7 | Marc Van De Weghe | Belgium | 4:00.01 | |
| 21 | 3 | 2 | Anders Grillhammar | Sweden | 4:00.26 | |
| 22 | 2 | 2 | Shigeo Ogata | Japan | 4:02.97 | |
| 23 | 4 | 2 | Jean-Marie François | Venezuela | 4:03.08 | |
| 24 | 1 | 6 | Anders Holmertz | Sweden | 4:03.67 | |
| 25 | 5 | 6 | Paul Howe | Great Britain | 4:04.07 | |
| 26 | 3 | 7 | Alejandro Lecot | Argentina | 4:05.74 | |
| 27 | 5 | 1 | Keisuke Okuno | Japan | 4:06.31 | |
| 28 | 3 | 1 | William Wilson | Philippines | 4:06.86 | |
| 29 | 4 | 1 | Gökhan Attaroglu | Turkey | 4:07.07 | |
| 30 | 1 | 7 | Franz Mortensen | Denmark | 4:09.80 | |
| 31 | 5 | 7 | Evert Johan Kroon | Netherlands Antilles | 4:11.97 | |
| 32 | 1 | 2 | Scott Newkirk | Virgin Islands | 4:12.61 | |
| 33 | 1 | 1 | Wu Ming-hsun | Chinese Taipei | 4:13.11 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Ahmet Nakkaş | Turkey | 4:16.49 | |
| 35 | 5 | 8 | Lin Chun-hong | Chinese Taipei | 4:20.65 | |
| 36 | 4 | 8 | Julian Bolling | Sri Lanka | 4:23.42 | |
| | 4 | 7 | Fabián Ferrari | Argentina | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 4 | Thomas Fahrner | West Germany | 3:50.91 | OR |
| 10 | 3 | Juan Enrique Escalas | Spain | 3:55.25 | |
| 11 | 5 | Peter Szmidt | Canada | 3:56.99 | |
| 12 | 6 | Stefano Grandi | Italy | 3:57.17 | |
| 13 | 7 | Arne Borgstrøm | Norway | 3:57.46 | |
| 14 | 8 | Andrew Astbury | Great Britain | 3:58.14 | |
| 15 | 2 | Marcelo Jucá | Brazil | 3:58.23 | |
| 16 | 1 | Mike Davidson | New Zealand | 3:58.24 | |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | George DiCarlo | United States | 3:51.23 | |
| | 5 | John Mykkanen | United States | 3:51.49 | |
| | 6 | Justin Lemberg | Australia | 3:51.79 | OC |
| 4 | 4 | Stefan Pfeiffer | West Germany | 3:52.91 | |
| 5 | 8 | Franck Iacono | France | 3:54.58 | NR |
| 6 | 2 | Darjan Petrič | Yugoslavia | 3:54.88 | |
| 7 | 7 | Marco Dell'Uomo | Italy | 3:55.44 | |
| 8 | 1 | Ron McKeon | Australia | 3:55.48 | |