Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

The men's 200 metre freestyle was a swimming event in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. It the shortest freestyle swimming event. It was on 11 August and 12 August 1900. There were 26 swimmers. These swimmers were from 10 different nations. Frederick Lane of Australia won. Zoltán Halmay of Hungary was in 2nd place. Karl Ruberl of Austria was in 3rd place.
Background

This was the first 200 metres event in the Olympics. This event would also be in the 1904 Olympics. However, in 1904, the distance would be 220 yards. The 200 metres was not in the Olympics until the 1968 Summer Olympics. It has been at every Olympics since 1968.

Frederick Lane of Australia was the favorite swimmer in this race. He had won the British 220 yards championships in 1899. Rob Derbyshire of Great Britain was also a favorite swimmer. He had won the 1898 British championships. Derbyshire and Lane tied the British championships in 1900. However, Derbyshire had a stomach virus. He did not compete in the 1900 games. This easily made Lane the favorite. Zoltán Halmay of Hungary was probably the 2nd famous swimmer.

There were no official records in the 200 metres before this race. There would not be official world records until 1902. Otto Wahle had the fastest time in the first semifinal. His time was 2:35.6. This was the first Olympic record for this event. In the 5th semifinal, Karl Ruberl's time was 2:22.6. This became the new Olympic record.

Competition

The competition was in 2 rounds. There was the semifinals and the final. There were 5 semifinal rounds. Each semifinal had about 12 swimmers. However, many swimmers quit before the race. This left 4-6 swimmers in each round. The fastest swimmer in each semifinal went to the final. The 5 fastest times also went to the finals. If you went to the finals because you won a round, that would not count as one of the fastest 5 times. This meant that there was 10 swimmers in the finals.

The races were in the Seine. This swimming event used freestyle swimming. This means that the stroke was not regulated.

Schedule

 Date Time Round Saturday, 10 August 1900  10:00  Semifinals Sunday, 12 August 1900  14:30  Final

Results

Semifinals

In the first round, there were 5 semifinals. The winner of each semifinal went to the final The 5 fastest losers also went to the finals. The semifinals were on 11 August.

Semifinal 1

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time  Notes 1      2:35.6  ,  2      2:40.0   3      2:50.4   4      3:05.8   5      3:35.0  

Semifinal 2

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time  Notes 1      2:38.0   2      2:51.0   3  R. Féret    3:12.2   4      3:24.0  

Semifinal 3

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time  Notes 1      2:59.0   2      3:13.0   3      3:46.6   4  Texier    3:47.0   5      3:47.6   —  Pujol      

Semifinal 4

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time  Notes 1      3:05.0   2      3:10.4   3      3:42.0   4  Richard von Foregger    4:32.0   5  Jacques Léauté    4:39.4  

Semifinal 5

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time  Notes 1      2:22.6  ,  2      2:47.0   3      2:47.4   4      2:48.0   5  A. Adam    4:28.0   6  Ronaux    4:36.4  

Final

The final was on 12 August. Wahle did not start in the final. Lane won easily. He was 6 seconds ahead of Halmay and Ruberl.

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Time       2:25.2       2:31.4       2:32.0 4      2:45.6 5      2:53.0 6      2:55.0 7      2:56.2 8      2:58.2 9      Unknown —      

Results summary

 Rank  Swimmer  Nation  Semifinals  Final  Notes       2:59.0  2:25.2         2:38.0  2:31.4         2:22.6  2:32.0   4      2:40.0  2:45.6   5      2:48.0  2:53.0   6      2:47.0  2:55.0   7      3:05.0  2:56.2   8      2:50.4  2:58.2   9      2:47.4  Unknown   10      2:35.6     11      2:51.0 rowspan=16    12      3:05.8   13      3:10.4   14  R. Féret    3:12.2   15      3:13.0   16      3:24.0   17      3:35.0   18      3:42.0   19      3:46.6   20  Texier    3:47.0   21      3:47.6   22  A. Adam    4:28.0   23  Richard von Foregger    4:32.0   24  Ronaux    4:36.4   25  Jacques Léauté    4:39.4   26  Pujol      

References

Category:Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics