# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 24 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 | David Berkoff (USA) | 54.91 | Austin, United States | 13 August 1988 |
| Olympic record | Rick Carey (USA) | 55.41 | Los Angeles, CA, United States | 4 August 1984 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 24 September | Heat 6 | Igor Polyansky | Soviet Union | 55.04 | OR |
| 24 September | Heat 7 | David Berkoff | United States | 54.51 | WR |

## 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 | 7 | David Berkoff | United States | 54.51 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 6 | Igor Polyansky | Soviet Union | 55.04 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Daichi Suzuki | Japan | 55.90 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Sergei Zabolotnov | Soviet Union | 56.13 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Frank Hoffmeister | West Germany | 56.19 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Sean Murphy | Canada | 56.20 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Mark Tewksbury | Canada | 56.20 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | Frank Baltrusch | East Germany | 56.45 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | Dirk Richter | East Germany | 56.52 | q |
| 10 | 6 | Franck Schott | France | 56.76 | q |
| 11 | 6 | Georgi Mihalev | Bulgaria | 57.06 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Jens-Peter Berndt | West Germany | 57.08 | q, WD |
| 13 | 5 | Jay Mortenson | United States | 57.19 | q |
| 14 | 3 | David Lim Fong Jock | Singapore | 57.34 | q, NR |
| 15 | 5 | Shigemori Maruyama | Japan | 57.54 | q |
| 16 | 4 | Manuel Guzmán | Puerto Rico | 57.62 | q |
| 17 | 5 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson | Iceland | 57.70 | q |
| 18 | 6 | Lin Laijiu | China | 57.74 | |
| 19 | 7 | Paul Kingsman | New Zealand | 57.80 | |
| 20 | 7 | Rogério Romero | Brazil | 57.91 | |
| 21 | 6 | Lars Sørensen | Denmark | 58.01 | |
| 22 | 4 | Neil Harper | Great Britain | 58.02 | |
| 23 | 4 | Martín López-Zubero | Spain | 58.06 | |
| 24 | 4 | Patrick Ferland | Switzerland | 58.17 | |
| 25 | 3 | Neil Cochran | Great Britain | 58.25 | |
| 26 | 3 | Alejandro Alvizuri | Peru | 58.37 | |
| 27 | 5 | Carl Wilson | Australia | 58.40 | |
| 28 | 4 | Tamás Deutsch | Hungary | 58.65 | |
| 29 | 3 | Stephen Cullen | Ireland | 58.82 | |
| 30 | 5 | Pavel Vokoun | Czechoslovakia | 58.88 | |
| 31 | 4 | Renaud Boucher | France | 58.90 | |
| 32 | 5 | Simon Upton | Australia | 59.06 | |
| 33 | 3 | Ernesto Vela | Mexico | 59.19 | |
| 34 | 3 | Ilias Malamas | Greece | 59.24 | |
| 35 | 4 | Huang Guoxiong | China | 59.36 | |
| 36 | 3 | Richard Gheel | Ireland | 59.37 | |
| 37 | 5 | Valerio Giambalvo | Italy | 59.48 | |
| 38 | 4 | Wladimir Ribeiro | Brazil | 59.76 | |
| 39 | 3 | Amin Amer | Egypt | 1:00.76 | |
| 40 | 2 | Park Dong-pil | South Korea | 1:01.25 | |
| 41 | 2 | Patrick Sagisi | Guam | 1:01.86 | |
| 42 | 2 | Yip Hor Man | Hong Kong | 1:01.91 | |
| 42 | 2 | Horst Niehaus | Costa Rica | 1:01.91 | |
| 44 | 2 | Brett Halford | Zimbabwe | 1:02.95 | |
| 45 | 2 | Eric Greenwood | Costa Rica | 1:03.11 | |
| 46 | 2 | Pablo Barahona | Honduras | 1:03.90 | |
| 47 | 2 | Bruno N'Diaye | Senegal | 1:05.06 | |
| 48 | 1 | Filippo Piva | San Marino | 1:07.63 | |
| 49 | 1 | Mohamed Abdullah | United Arab Emirates | 1:08.91 | |
| 50 | 1 | Rami Kantari | Lebanon | 1:09.35 | |
| 51 | 1 | Mohamed Bin Abid | United Arab Emirates | 1:10.01 | |
| 52 | 1 | Yul Mark Du Pont | Swaziland | 1:12.50 | |
| | 1 | Paul Yelle | Barbados | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 4 | Dirk Richter | East Germany | 56.66 |
| 10 | 5 | Franck Schott | France | 56.98 |
| 11 | 6 | Jay Mortenson | United States | 57.06 |
| 12 | 7 | Shigemori Maruyama | Japan | 57.13 |
| 13 | 3 | Georgi Mihalev | Bulgaria | 57.17 |
| 14 | 2 | David Lim Fong Jock | Singapore | 57.72 |
| 15 | 1 | Manuel Guzmán | Puerto Rico | 57.95 |
| 16 | 8 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson | Iceland | 58.20 |

### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | Daichi Suzuki | Japan | 55.05 | AS |
| | 4 | David Berkoff | United States | 55.18 | |
| | 5 | Igor Polyansky | Soviet Union | 55.20 | |
| 4 | 6 | Sergei Zabolotnov | Soviet Union | 55.37 | |
| 5 | 1 | Mark Tewksbury | Canada | 56.09 | |
| 6 | 8 | Frank Baltrusch | East Germany | 56.10 | |
| 7 | 2 | Frank Hoffmeister | West Germany | 56.19 | |
| 8 | 7 | Sean Murphy | Canada | 56.32 | |