# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke

The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 23 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Victor Davis (CAN) | 2:13.34 | Los Angeles, United States | 2 August 1984 |
| Olympic record | Victor Davis (CAN) | 2:13.34 | Los Angeles, United States | 2 August 1984 |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Nick Gillingham | Great Britain | 2:14.58 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | József Szabó | Hungary | 2:14.97 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Mike Barrowman | United States | 2:15.85 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Valeriy Lozik | Soviet Union | 2:16.31 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Jonathan Cleveland | Canada | 2:16.87 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Sergio López Miró | Spain | 2:17.06 | Q |
| 7 | 7 | Péter Szabó | Hungary | 2:17.10 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | Vadim Alexeev | Soviet Union | 2:17.15 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | Cameron Grant | Canada | 2:17.62 | q |
| 10 | 7 | Shigehiro Takahashi | Japan | 2:17.69 | q |
| 11 | 6 | Alexandre Yokochi | Portugal | 2:17.87 | q |
| 12 | 4 | Sidney Appelboom | Belgium | 2:18.02 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Radek Beinhauer | Czechoslovakia | 2:18.02 | q |
| 14 | 7 | Alexander Marček | Czechoslovakia | 2:18.44 | q |
| 15 | 7 | Adrian Moorhouse | Great Britain | 2:18.51 | q, WD |
| 16 | 5 | Étienne Dagon | Switzerland | 2:18.68 | q |
| 17 | 6 | Cédric Penicaud | France | 2:18.72 | q |
| 18 | 5 | Gary O'Toole | Ireland | 2:18.93 | |
| 19 | 5 | Kirk Stackle | United States | 2:19.47 | |
| 20 | 6 | Pablo Restrepo | Colombia | 2:19.58 | |
| 21 | 7 | Ian McAdam | Australia | 2:19.68 | |
| 22 | 4 | Yoon Joo-il | South Korea | 2:19.94 | |
| 23 | 3 | Javier Careaga | Mexico | 2:20.11 | |
| 24 | 6 | Joaquín Fernández | Spain | 2:20.34 | |
| 25 | 4 | Ronald Dekker | Netherlands | 2:20.84 | |
| 26 | 3 | Pierre-Yves Eberle | Switzerland | 2:20.65 | |
| 27 | 4 | Christian Poswiat | East Germany | 2:20.99 | |
| 28 | 4 | Luc van de Vondel | Belgium | 2:21.50 | |
| 29 | 4 | Petri Suominen | Finland | 2:22.01 | |
| 30 | 4 | Hironobu Nagahata | Japan | 2:22.23 | |
| 31 | 3 | Mark Warnecke | West Germany | 2:22.55 | |
| 31 | 5 | Hartmut Wedekind | West Germany | 2:22.55 | |
| 33 | 2 | Tsai Hsin-yen | Chinese Taipei | 2:23.80 | |
| 34 | 3 | Thomas Böhm | Austria | 2:24.15 | |
| 35 | 3 | Chang Qing | China | 2:24.45 | |
| 36 | 3 | Richard Lockhart | New Zealand | 2:24.52 | |
| 37 | 3 | Eyal Stigman | Israel | 2:25.18 | |
| 38 | 4 | Jin Fu | China | 2:26.05 | |
| 39 | 2 | Wirmandi Sugriat | Indonesia | 2:26.17 | |
| 40 | 2 | Manuel Gutiérrez | Panama | 2:26.57 | |
| 41 | 7 | Jan-Erick Olsen | Norway | 2:26.70 | |
| 42 | 1 | Anthony Beks | New Zealand | 2:27.26 | |
| 43 | 2 | Arnþór Ragnarsson | Iceland | 2:27.93 | |
| 44 | 2 | Cícero Tortelli | Brazil | 2:28.82 | |
| 45 | 2 | Nikolaos Fokianos | Greece | 2:28.91 | |
| 46 | 3 | Patrick Concepcion | Philippines | 2:29.62 | |
| 47 | 1 | Ng Yue Meng | Singapore | 2:30.74 | |
| 48 | 2 | Watt Kam Sing | Hong Kong | 2:30.78 | |
| 49 | 1 | Kraig Singleton | Virgin Islands | 2:36.45 | |
| 50 | 1 | Quách Hoài Nam | Vietnam | 2:39.69 | |
| 51 | 1 | Amine El-Domyati | Lebanon | 2:44.34 | |
| 52 | 1 | Obaid Al-Rumaithi | United Arab Emirates | 2:50.49 | |
| | 2 | Christian Toft | Denmark | DSQ | |
| | 5 | David Leblanc | France | DSQ | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 3 | Alexandre Yokochi | Portugal | 2:18.01 |
| 10 | 5 | Shigehiro Takahashi | Japan | 2:18.03 |
| 11 | 2 | Sidney Appelboom | Belgium | 2:18.08 |
| 12 | 6 | Radek Beinhauer | Czechoslovakia | 2:18.13 |
| 13 | 1 | Étienne Dagon | Switzerland | 2:18.17 |
| 14 | 4 | Cameron Grant | Canada | 2:18.36 |
| 15 | 7 | Alexander Marček | Czechoslovakia | 2:18.51 |
| 16 | 8 | Cédric Penicaud | France | 2:18.95 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | József Szabó | Hungary | 2:13.52 | EU |
| | 4 | Nick Gillingham | Great Britain | 2:14.12 | |
| | 7 | Sergio López Miró | Spain | 2:15.21 | NR |
| 4 | 3 | Mike Barrowman | United States | 2:15.45 | |
| 5 | 6 | Valeriy Lozik | Soviet Union | 2:16.16 | |
| 6 | 8 | Vadim Alexeev | Soviet Union | 2:16.70 | |
| 7 | 2 | Jonathan Cleveland | Canada | 2:17.10 | |
| 8 | 1 | Péter Szabó | Hungary | 2:17.12 | |