# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics

The 1988 Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea. The swimming competition, held from September 18 to September 25, was notable for the seven medals, including five golds, won by Matt Biondi, the six golds won by Kristin Otto, and the three individual golds won by Janet Evans. 633 participants from 77 countries were competing.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 11 | 8 | 9 | 28 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 8 | 6 | 4 | 18 |
| 3 | Hungary (HUN) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | Soviet Union (URS) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 5 | Australia (AUS) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | West Germany (FRG) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | Japan (JPN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Suriname (SUR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | China (CHN) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | Costa Rica (CRC) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 18 | New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 20 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (22 entries) | Totals (22 entries) | 31 | 31 | 32 | 94 |

## Events

The swimming program for 1988 included two new events, the men's and women's 50 m freestyle, bringing the total number of events to 31.
The following events were contested:
* Freestyle: 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m (women), 1500 m (men),
* Backstroke: 100 m, 200 m
* Breaststroke: 100 m, 200 m
* Butterfly: 100 m, 200 m
* Individual Medley: 200 m, 400 m
* Relay: 4 × 100 m free, 4 × 200 m free (men); 4 × 100 m medley

## Competition schedule

All dates are in 1988.
| date | Morning session | Afternoon session |
| Sept.18 | no competition | women's 100 freestyle (prelims) men's 100 breaststroke (prelims) women's 400 I.M. (prelims) men's 200 freestyle (prelims) |
| Sept.19 | women's 100 freestyle (finals) men's 100 breaststroke (finals) women's 400 I.M. (finals) men's 200 freestyle (finals) | |
| Sept.20 | men's 100 butterfly (prelims) women's 200 freestyle (prelims) men's 400 I.M. (prelims) women's 200 breaststroke (prelims) men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (prelims) | |
| Sept.21 | | men's 100 butterfly (finals) women's 200 freestyle (finals) men's 400 I.M. (finals) women's 200 breaststroke (finals) men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay (finals) |
| Sept.22 | women's 400 freestyle (prelims) men's 100 freestyle (prelims) women's 100 backstroke (prelims) men's 200 backstroke (prelims) women's 4x100 Free Relay | women's 400 freestyle (finals) men's 100 freestyle (finals) women's 100 backstroke (finals) men's 200 backstroke (finals) women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (finals) |
| Sept.23 | men's 400 freestyle (prelims) women's 100 butterfly (prelims) men's 200 breaststroke (prelims) women's 100 breaststroke (prelims) men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (prelims) women's 800 freestyle (prelims) | men's 400 freestyle (final) women's 100 butterfly (finals) men's 200 breaststroke (finals) women's 100 breaststroke (finals) men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay (finals) |
| Sept.24 | men's 200 butterfly (prelims) women's 200 I.M. (prelims) men's 50 freestyle (prelims) men's 100 backstroke (prelims) women's 4x100 Medley Relay (prelims) men's 1500 freestyle (prelims) | women's 200 I.M. (finals) men's 200 butterfly (finals) men's 50 freestyle (finals) women's 800 freestyle (finals) men's 100 backstroke (finals) women's 4 × 100 medley relay (finals) |
| Sept.25 | women's 200 butterfly (prelims) men's 200 I.M. (prelims) women's 50 freestyle (prelims) men's 4 × 100 medley relay (prelims) women's 200 backstroke (prelims) | men's 200 I.M. (finals) women's 200 butterfly (finals) women's 50 freestyle (finals) men's 1500 freestyle (finals) women's 200 backstroke (finals) men's 4 × 100 medley relay (finals) |

## Medal summary
### Men’s events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | Matt Biondi United States | 22.14 WR | Tom Jager United States | 22.36 | Gennadiy Prigoda Soviet Union | 22.71 |
| 100 m freestyle details | Matt Biondi United States | 48.63 OR | Chris Jacobs United States | 49.08 | Stéphan Caron France | 49.62 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Duncan Armstrong Australia | 1:47.25 WR | Anders Holmertz Sweden | 1:47.89 | Matt Biondi United States | 1:47.99 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Uwe Dassler East Germany | 3:46.95 WR | Duncan Armstrong Australia | 3:47.15 OC | Artur Wojdat Poland | 3:47.34 |
| 1500 m freestyle details | Vladimir Salnikov Soviet Union | 15:00.40 | Stefan Pfeiffer West Germany | 15:02.69 | Uwe Dassler East Germany | 15:06.15 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Daichi Suzuki Japan | 55.05 AS | David Berkoff United States | 55.18 | Igor Polyansky Soviet Union | 55.20 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Igor Polyansky Soviet Union | 1:59.37 | Frank Baltrusch East Germany | 1:59.60 | Paul Kingsman New Zealand | 2:00.48 NR |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Adrian Moorhouse Great Britain | 1:02.04 NR | Károly Güttler Hungary | 1:02.05 | Dmitry Volkov Soviet Union | 1:02.20 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | József Szabó Hungary | 2:13.52 ER | Nick Gillingham Great Britain | 2:14.12 | Sergio López Miró Spain | 2:15.21 NR |
| 100 m butterfly details | Anthony Nesty Suriname | 53.00 OR | Matt Biondi United States | 53.01 | Andy Jameson Great Britain | 53.30 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Michael Gross West Germany | 1:56.94 OR | Benny Nielsen Denmark | 1:58.24 NR | Anthony Mosse New Zealand | 1:58.28 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Tamás Darnyi Hungary | 2:00.17 WR | Patrick Kühl East Germany | 2:01.61 | Vadim Yaroshchuk Soviet Union | 2:02.40 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Tamás Darnyi Hungary | 4:14.75 WR | David Wharton United States | 4:17.36 | Stefano Battistelli Italy | 4:18.01 |
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Chris Jacobs Troy Dalbey Tom Jager Matt Biondi Doug Gjertsen* Brent Lang* Shaun Jordan* | 3:16.53 WR | Soviet Union (URS) Gennadiy Prigoda Yuri Bashkatov Nikolai Yevseyev Vladimir Tkachenko Raimundas Mažuolis* Oleksiy Boryslavskiy* | 3:18.33 ER | East Germany (GDR) Dirk Richter Thomas Flemming Lars Hinneburg Steffen Zesner | 3:19.82 |
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay details | United States (USA) Troy Dalbey Matt Cetlinski Doug Gjertsen Matt Biondi Craig Oppel* Dan Jorgensen* | 7:12.51 (WR) | East Germany (GDR) Uwe Daßler Sven Lodziewski Thomas Flemming Steffen Zesner Lars Hinneburg* | 7:13.68 | West Germany (FRG) Erik Hochstein Thomas Fahrner Rainer Henkel Michael Gross Peter Sitt* Stefan Pfeiffer* | 7:14.35 |
| 4 × 100 m medley relay details | United States (USA) David Berkoff Richard Schroeder Matt Biondi Chris Jacobs Jay Mortenson* Tom Jager* | 3:36.93 | Canada (CAN) Mark Tewksbury Victor Davis Tom Ponting Sandy Goss | 3:39.28 | Soviet Union (URS) Igor Polyansky Dmitry Volkov Vadim Yaroshchuk Gennadiy Prigoda Sergey Zabolotnov* Valeriy Lozik* Konstantin Petrov* Nikolay Yevseyev* | 3:39.96 |
* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

### Women’s events

| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 50 m freestyle details | Kristin Otto East Germany | 25.49 (OR) | Yang Wenyi China | 25.64 | Jill Sterkel United States | 25.71 |
| 50 m freestyle details | Kristin Otto East Germany | 25.49 (OR) | Yang Wenyi China | 25.64 | Katrin Meissner East Germany | 25.71 |
| 100 m freestyle details | Kristin Otto East Germany | 54.93 | Zhuang Yong China | 55.47 | Catherine Plewinski France | 55.49 |
| 200 m freestyle details | Heike Friedrich East Germany | 1:57.65 (OR) | Silvia Poll Costa Rica | 1:58.67 | Manuela Stellmach East Germany | 1:59.01 |
| 400 m freestyle details | Janet Evans United States | 4:03.85 (WR) | Heike Friedrich East Germany | 4:05.94 | Anke Möhring East Germany | 4:06.62 |
| 800 m freestyle details | Janet Evans United States | 8:20.20 (OR) | Astrid Strauß East Germany | 8:22.09 | Julie McDonald Australia | 8:22.93 |
| 100 m backstroke details | Kristin Otto East Germany | 1:00.89 | Krisztina Egerszegi Hungary | 1:01.56 | Cornelia Sirch East Germany | 1:01.57 |
| 200 m backstroke details | Krisztina Egerszegi Hungary | 2:09.29 (OR) | Katrin Zimmermann East Germany | 2:10.61 | Cornelia Sirch East Germany | 2:11.45 |
| 100 m breaststroke details | Tanya Dangalakova Bulgaria | 1:07.95 (OR) | Antoaneta Frenkeva Bulgaria | 1:08.74 | Silke Hörner East Germany | 1:08.83 |
| 200 m breaststroke details | Silke Hörner East Germany | 2:26.71 (WR) | Huang Xiaomin China | 2:27.49 | Antoaneta Frenkeva Bulgaria | 2:28.34 |
| 100 m butterfly details | Kristin Otto East Germany | 59.00 (OR) | Birte Weigang East Germany | 59.45 | Hong Qian China | 59.52 |
| 200 m butterfly details | Kathleen Nord East Germany | 2:09.51 | Birte Weigang East Germany | 2:09.91 | Mary T. Meagher United States | 2:10.80 |
| 200 m individual medley details | Daniela Hunger East Germany | 2:12.59 (OR) | Yelena Dendeberova Soviet Union | 2:13.31 | Noemi Lung Romania | 2:14.85 |
| 400 m individual medley details | Janet Evans United States | 4:37.76 | Noemi Lung Romania | 4:39.46 | Daniela Hunger East Germany | 4:39.76 |
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay details | East Germany (GDR) Kristin Otto Katrin Meissner Daniela Hunger Manuela Stellmach Sabina Schulze* Heike Friedrich* | 3:40.63 | Netherlands (NED) Marianne Muis Mildred Muis Conny van Bentum Karin Brienesse Diana van der Plaats* | 3:43.39 | United States (USA) Mary Wayte Mitzi Kremer Laura Walker Dara Torres Paige Zemina* Jill Sterkel* | 3:44.25 |
| 4 × 100 m medley relay details | East Germany (GDR) Kristin Otto Silke Hörner Birte Weigang Katrin Meissner Cornelia Sirch* Manuela Stellmach* | 4:03.74 | United States (USA) Beth Barr Tracey McFarlane Janel Jorgensen Mary Wayte Betsy Mitchell* Mary T. Meagher* Dara Torres* | 4:07.90 | Canada (CAN) Lori Melien Allison Higson Jane Kerr Andrea Nugent Keltie Duggan* Patricia Noall* | 4:10.49 |
* Swimmers who participated in the heats only and received medals.

## Participating nations

633 swimmers from 77 nations competed.
* Angola (8)
* Argentina (2)
* Australia (25)
* Austria (6)
* Bahamas (1)
* Bangladesh (2)
* Barbados (1)
* Belgium (7)
* Bermuda (1)
* Bolivia (1)
* Brazil (15)
* Bulgaria (8)
* Canada (31)
* China (24)
* Chinese Taipei (8)
* Colombia (1)
* Costa Rica (8)
* Czechoslovakia (6)
* Denmark (15)
* East Germany (26)
* Egypt (5)
* Fiji (5)
* Finland (1)
* France (25)
* Great Britain (38)
* Greece (4)
* Guam (4)
* Guatemala (1)
* Honduras (3)
* Hong Kong (10)
* Hungary (13)
* Iceland (6)
* India (1)
* Indonesia (2)
* Ireland (5)
* Israel (1)
* Italy (21)
* Japan (23)
* Kuwait (2)
* Lebanon (4)
* Luxembourg (2)
* Malaysia (2)
* Mexico (10)
* Mozambique (2)
* Netherlands (11)
* Netherlands Antilles (1)
* Norway (2)
* New Zealand (7)
* Panama (1)
* Peru (2)
* Philippines (4)
* Poland (5)
* Portugal (12)
* Puerto Rico (3)
* Romania (5)
* San Marino (2)
* Senegal (2)
* Singapore (5)
* South Korea (15)
* Soviet Union (27)
* Spain (11)
* Sri Lanka (2)
* Suriname (1)
* Swaziland (2)
* Sweden (18)
* Switzerland (10)
* Trinidad and Tobago (1)
* Tunisia (1)
* Turkey (2)
* United Arab Emirates (6)
* United States (44)
* Virgin Islands (6)
* Uruguay (1)
* Vietnam (2)
* West Germany (29)
* Yugoslavia (3)
* Zimbabwe (4)