# Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre individual medley

The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 27 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Tamás Darnyi (HUN) | 4:12.36 | Perth, Australia | 8 January 1991 |
| Olympic record | Tamás Darnyi (HUN) | 4:14.75 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| 27 July | Final A | Tamás Darnyi | Hungary | 4:14.23 | 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 | 4 | 4 | Eric Namesnik | United States | 4:17.75 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Tamás Darnyi | Hungary | 4:18.34 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Patrick Kühl | Germany | 4:18.68 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Serghei Mariniuc | Unified Team | 4:19.05 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 4 | Luca Sacchi | Italy | 4:19.42 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 5 | Christian Geßner | Germany | 4:19.92 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | Takahiro Fujimoto | Japan | 4:20.07 | Q, NR |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | David Wharton | United States | 4:20.73 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 2 | Jorge Pérez | Spain | 4:21.33 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Philip Bryant | Australia | 4:21.45 | q |
| 11 | 5 | 8 | Petteri Lehtinen | Finland | 4:22.10 | q, NR |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Curtis Myden | Canada | 4:22.41 | q |
| 13 | 5 | 7 | Jan Bidrman | Sweden | 4:22.96 | q |
| 14 | 3 | 7 | Robert Baird | Canada | 4:24.31 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 7 | Marcin Maliński | Poland | 4:24.72 | q |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Attila Czene | Hungary | 4:26.31 | q |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Marian Satnoianu | Romania | 4:26.33 | |
| 18 | 4 | 6 | Matthew Dunn | Australia | 4:27.65 | |
| 19 | 5 | 6 | Marcel Wouda | Netherlands | 4:28.51 | |
| 20 | 2 | 3 | Igor Łuczak | Poland | 4:28.60 | |
| 21 | 1 | 4 | Desmond Koh | Singapore | 4:28.95 | NR |
| 22 | 2 | 5 | Renato Ramalho | Brazil | 4:29.28 | |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Denislav Kalchev | Bulgaria | 4:31.49 | |
| 24 | 2 | 6 | Clifford Lyne | South Africa | 4:32.64 | |
| 25 | 5 | 1 | Andy Rolley | Great Britain | 4:32.82 | |
| 26 | 3 | 8 | Andrés Minelli | Argentina | 4:33.41 | |
| 27 | 2 | 4 | Alejandro Bermúdez | Colombia | 4:33.87 | |
| 28 | 3 | 1 | David Monasterio | Puerto Rico | 4:36.39 | |
| 29 | 2 | 2 | Ratapong Sirisanont | Thailand | 4:37.95 | |
| 30 | 1 | 6 | Duncan Todd | Hong Kong | 4:41.84 | |
| 31 | 1 | 5 | Roberto Bonilla | Guatemala | 4:43.54 | |
| | 3 | 2 | Toshiaki Kurasawa | Japan | DSQ | |
| | 1 | 3 | Arthur Li Kai Yien | Hong Kong | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 8 | Attila Czene | Hungary | 4:21.28 | |
| 10 | 6 | Curtis Myden | Canada | 4:21.91 | |
| 11 | 4 | Jorge Perez | Spain | 4:22.06 | |
| 12 | 3 | Petteri Lehtinen | Finland | 4:22.10 | =NR |
| 13 | 5 | Philip Bryant | Australia | 4:22.36 | |
| 14 | 1 | Marcin Maliński | Poland | 4:22.59 | |
| 15 | 2 | Jan Bidrman | Sweden | 4:23.52 | |
| 16 | 7 | Robert Baird | Canada | 4:25.06 | |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Tamás Darnyi | Hungary | 4:14.23 | OR |
| | 4 | Eric Namesnik | United States | 4:15.57 | |
| | 2 | Luca Sacchi | Italy | 4:16.34 | NR |
| 4 | 8 | David Wharton | United States | 4:17.26 | |
| 5 | 7 | Christian Geßner | Germany | 4:17.88 | |
| 6 | 3 | Patrick Kühl | Germany | 4:19.66 | |
| 7 | 6 | Serghei Mariniuc | Unified Team | 4:22.93 | |
| 8 | 1 | Takahiro Fujimoto | Japan | 4:23.80 | |