1988 Summer Olympics / Swimming

At the XXIV Summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988 , 31 swimming competitions were held, 16 for men and 15 for women, and two in synchronized swimming.

The outstanding swimmers of these games were Matt Biondi (five gold, one silver, one bronze) and Kristin Otto (six gold). For men, the dominance of the big swimming nations was less than in previous years. There were also medals for nations like Hungary , Italy or Spain . In the relays, the traditional nations retained the upper hand due to the range of performance. For women, the GDR was the dominant nation. They won 22 of 45 medals to be awarded. But nations like Costa Rica and the People's Republic of China also attracted attention with podium places. Since those games, China has been growing stronger as a swimming nation.

Men

50 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	time
1	United States	Matt Biondi	22.14 s ( WR )
2	United States	Tom Jager	22.36 s
3	URS	Gennady Prigoda	22.71 s
4th	SUI	Daniel Halsall	22.83 s
5	SUI	Stéfan Voléry	22.84 s
6th	URS	Vladimir Tkachenko	22.88 s
7th	FRG	Frank Henter	23.03 s
8th	OUT	Andrew Baildon	23.15 s

100 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	time
1	United States	Matt Biondi	48.63 s
2	United States	Christopher Jacobs	49.08 s
3	FRA	Stéphan Caron	49.62 s
4th	URS	Gennady Prigoda	49.75 s
5	URS	Yuri Bashkatov	50.08 s
6th	OUT	Andrew Baildon	50.23 s
7th	SWE	Per Johansson	50.35 s
8th	SWE	Tommy Werner	50.54 s

200 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	time
1	OUT	Duncan Armstrong	1: 47.25 min ( WR )
2	SWE	Not so Holmertz	1: 47.89 min
3	United States	Matt Biondi	1: 47.99 min
4th	POLE	Artur Wojdat	1: 48.40 min
5	FRG	Michael Gross	1: 48.59 min
6th	GDR	Steffen Zesner	1: 48.77 min
7th	United States	Troy Dalbey	1: 48.86 min
8th	FRG	Thomas Fahrner	1: 49.19 min

400 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	time
1	GDR	Uwe Daßler	3: 46.95 min ( WR )
2	OUT	Duncan Armstrong	3: 47.15 min
3	POLE	Artur Wojdat	3: 47.34 min
4th	United States	Matt Cetlinski	3: 48.09 min
5	POLE	Mariusz Podkościelny	3: 48.59 min
6th	FRG	Stefan Pfeiffer	3: 49.96 min
7th	GBR	Kevin Boyd	3: 50.16 min
8th	SWE	Not so Holmertz	3: 51.04 min

1500 m freestyle

space	country	athlete	time
1	URS	Vladimir Salnikov	15: 00.40 min
2	FRG	Stefan Pfeiffer	15: 02.69 min
3	GDR	Uwe Daßler	15:06:15 min
4th	United States	Matt Cetlinski	15: 06.42 min
5	POLE	Mariusz Podkościelny	15: 14.76 min
6th	FRG	Rainer Henkel	15: 18.19 min
7th	GBR	Kevin Boyd	15: 21.16 min
8th	YUG	Darjan Petrič	15: 37.12 min

100 m back

space	country	athlete	time
1	JPN	Daichi Suzuki	55.05 s
2	United States	David Berkoff	55.18 s
3	URS	Igor Polyansky	55.20 s
4th	URS	Sergei Sabolotnov	55.37 s
5	CAN	Mark Tewksbury	56.09 s
6th	GDR	Frank Baltrusch	56.10 s
7th	FRG	Frank Hoffmeister	56.19 s
8th	CAN	Sean Murphy	56.32 s

After Igor Poljanski had set a new Olympic record in the sixth prelim with 55.04 s, world record holder David Berkoff undercut this achievement in the subsequent prelim and improved his own world record by 0.40 s to 54.51 s.

200 m back

space	country	athlete	time
1	URS	Igor Polyansky	1: 59.37 min
2	GDR	Frank Baltrusch	1: 59.60 min
3	NZL	Paul Kingsman	2: 00.48 min
4th	URS	Sergei Sabolotnov	2: 00.52 min
5	GDR	Dirk Richter	2: 01.67 min
6th	FRG	Jens-Peter Berndt	2: 01.84 min
7th	United States	Dan Veatch	2: 02.26 min
8th	BRA	Rogério Romero	2: 02.28 min

100 m chest

space	country	athlete	time
1	GBR	Adrian Moorhouse	1: 02.04 min
2	HUN	Károly Güttler	1: 02.05 min
3	URS	Dimitri Volkov	1: 02.20 min
4th	CAN	Victor Davis	1: 02.38 min
5	HUN	Tamás Debnár	1: 02.50 min
6th	United States	Rich Schroeder	1: 02.55 min
7th	ITA	Gianni Minervini	1: 02.93 min
8th	GDR	Christian Poswiat	1: 03.43 min

200 m chest

space	country	athlete	time
1	HUN	József Szabó	2: 13.52 min
2	GBR	Nick Gillingham	2: 14.12 min
3	ESP	Sergio López Miró	2: 15.21 min
4th	United States	Mike Barrowman	2: 15.45 min
5	URS	Valeri Losyk	2: 16.16 min
6th	URS	Vadim Alexeyev	2: 16.70 min
7th	CAN	Jon Cleveland	2: 17.10 min
8th	HUN	Péter Szabó	2: 17.12 min

100 m butterfly

space	country	athlete	time
1	SUR	Anthony Nesty	53.00 s
2	United States	Matt Biondi	53.01 s
3	GBR	Andrew Jameson	53.30 s
4th	OUT	Jon Seven	53.33 s
5	FRG	Michael Gross	53.44 s
6th	United States	Jay Mortenson	54.07 s
7th	CAN	Tom Ponting	54.09 s
8th	URS	Vadim Yaroshchuk	54.60 s

200 m butterfly

space	country	athlete	time
1	FRG	Michael Gross	1: 56.94 min
2	THE	Benny Nielsen	1: 58.24 min
3	NZL	Anthony Mosse	1: 58.28 min
4th	CAN	Tom Ponting	1: 58.91 min
5	United States	Mel Stewart	1: 59.19 min
6th	OUT	David Wilson	1: 59.20 min
7th	CAN	Jon Kelly	1: 59.48 min
8th	SUR	Anthony Nesty	2: 00.80 min

200 m layers

space	country	athlete	time
1	HUN	Tamás Darnyi	2: 00.17 min ( WR )
2	GDR	Patrick Kühl	2: 01.61 min
3	URS	Vadim Yaroshchuk	2: 02.40 min
4th	URS	Mikhail Zubkov	2: 02.92 min
5	FRG	Peter Bermel	2: 03.81 min
6th	OUT	Robert Bruce	2: 04.34 min
7th	GDR	Raik Hannemann	2: 04.82 min
8th	CAN	Gary Anderson	2: 06.35 min

400 m layers

space	country	athlete	time
1	HUN	Tamás Darnyi	4: 14.75 min ( WR )
2	United States	David Wharton	4: 17.36 min
3	ITA	Stefano Battistelli	4: 18.01 min
4th	HUN	József Szabó	4: 18.15 min
5	GDR	Patrick Kühl	4: 18.44 min
6th	FRG	Jens-Peter Berndt	4: 21.71 min
7th	ITA	Luca Sacchi	4: 23.23 min
8th	FRG	Peter Bermel	4: 24.02 min

4 × 100 m freestyle

space	country	Athletes	time
1	United States	Christopher Jacobs Troy Dalbey Tom Jager Matt Biondi	3: 16.53 min ( WR )
2	URS	Gennady Prigoda Yuri Bashkatow Nikolai Evsejew Vladimir Tkachenko	3: 18.33 min
3	GDR	Dirk Richter Thomas Flemming Lars Hinneburg Steffen Zesner	3: 19.82 min
4th	FRA	Stéphan Caron Christophe Kalfayan Laurent Neuville Bruno Gutzeit	3: 20.02 min
5	SWE	Per Johansson Tommy Werner Joakim Holmquist Göran Titus	3: 21.07 min
6th	FRG	Michael Groß Thomas Fahrner Björn Zikarsky Peter Sitt	3: 21.65 min
7th	GBR	Mike Fibbens Mark Foster Roland Lee Andy Jameson	3: 21.71 min
8th	ITA	Roberto Gleria Giorgio Lamberti Fabrizio Rampazzo Andrea Ceccarini	3: 22.93 min

4 × 200 m freestyle

space	country	Athletes	time
1	United States	Troy Dalbey Matthew Cetlinski Douglas Gjertsen Matt Biondi	7: 12.51 min ( WR )
2	GDR	Uwe Daßler Sven Lodziewski Thomas Flemming Steffen Zesner	7: 13.68 min
3	FRG	Erik Hochstein Thomas Fahrner Rainer Henkel Michael Groß	7: 14.35 min
4th	OUT	Tom Stachewicz Ian Brown Jason Plummer Duncan Armstrong	7: 15.23 min
5	ITA	Roberto Gleria Giorgio Lamberti Massimo Trevisan Valerio Giambalvo	7: 16.00 min
6th	SWE	Anders Holmertz Tommy Werner Michael Söderlund Christer Wallin	7: 19.10 min
7th	FRA	Michel Pou Franck Iacono Olivier Fougeroud Ludovic Dépickère	7: 24.69 min
8th	CAN	Turlough O'Hare Donald Goss Donald Haddow Gary Vandermeulen	7: 24.91 min

4 × 100 m layers

space	country	Athletes	time
1	United States	David Berkoff Richard Schroeder Matt Biondi Christopher Jacobs	3: 36.93 min ( WR )
2	CAN	Mark Tewksbury Victor Davis Thomas Ponting Donald Goss	3: 39.28 min
3	URS	Igor Polyansky Dimitri Volkov Vadim Yaroschtschuk Gennady Prigoda	3: 39.96 min
4th	FRG	Frank Hoffmeister Alexander Mayer Michael Groß Björn Zikarsky	3: 42.98 min
5	JPN	Daichi Suzuki Hironobu Nagahata Hiroshi Miura Shigeo Ogata	3: 44.36 min
6th	OUT	Carl Wilson Ian McAdam Jon Seven Andrew Baildon	3: 45.85 min
7th	NED	Hans Kroes Ron Dekker Frank Drost Patrick Dybiona	3: 46.55 min
	GBR	Neil Harper Adrian Moorhouse Andy Jameson Mark Foster	DQ

Women

50 m freestyle

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto	25.49 s
2	CHN	Yang Wenyi	25.64 s
3	GDR	Katrin Meissner	25.71 s
	United States	Jill Sterkel	25.71 s
5	United States	Leigh Ann Fetter	25.78 s
6th	ROME	Tamara Costache	25.80 s
7th	FRA	Catherine Plewinski	25.90 s
8th	OUT	Karen van Werdenum	26.01 s

100 m freestyle

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto	54.93 s
2	CHN	Zhuang Yong	55.47 s
3	FRA	Catherine Plewinski	55.49 s
4th	GDR	Manuela Stellmach	55.52 s
5	CRC	Silvia Poll	55.90 s
6th	NED	Karen Brienesse	56.15 s
7th	United States	Dara Torres	56.25 s
8th	NED	Conny van Bentum	56.54 s

200 m freestyle

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Heike Friedrich	1: 57.65 min
2	CRC	Silvia Poll	1: 58.67 min
3	GDR	Manuela Stellmach	1: 59.01 min
4th	United States	Mary Wayte	1: 59.04 min
5	URS	Natalia Trefilova	1: 59.24 min
6th	United States	Mitzi Kremer	2: 00.23 min
7th	FRG	Stephanie Ortwig	2: 00.73 min
8th	FRA	Cécile Prunier	2: 02.88 min

400 m freestyle

space	country	Athlete	time
1	United States	Janet Evans	4: 03.85 min ( WR )
2	GDR	Heike Friedrich	4: 05.94 min
3	GDR	Anke Möhring	4: 06.62 min
4th	United States	Tami Bruce	4: 08.16 min
5	OUT	Janelle Elford	4: 10.64 min
6th	BEL	Isabelle Arnould	4: 11.73 min
7th	FRG	Stephanie Ortwig	4: 13.05 min
8th	URS	Natalia Trefilova	4: 13.92 min

800 m freestyle

space	country	Athlete	time
1	United States	Janet Evans	8: 20.20 min
2	GDR	Astrid Strauss	8: 22.09 min
3	OUT	Julie McDonald	8: 22.93 min
4th	GDR	Anke Möhring	8: 23.09 min
5	United States	Tami Bruce	8: 30.86 min
6th	OUT	Janelle Elford	8: 30.94 min
7th	BEL	Isabelle Arnould	8: 37.47 min
8th	BUL	Antoaneta Strumenliewa	8: 41.05 min

100 m back

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto	1: 00.89 min
2	HUN	Krisztina Egerszegi	1: 01.56 min
3	GDR	Cornelia Sirch	1: 01.57 min
4th	United States	Betsy Mitchell	1: 02.71 min
5	United States	Beth Barr	1: 02.78 min
6th	CRC	Silvia Poll	1: 03.34 min
7th	OUT	Nicole Livingstone	1: 04.15 min
8th	FRG	Marion Aizpors	1: 04.19 min

200 m back

space	country	Athlete	time
1	HUN	Krisztina Egerszegi	2: 09.29 min
2	GDR	Kathrin Zimmermann	2: 10.61 min
3	GDR	Cornelia Sirch	2: 11.45 min
4th	United States	Beth Barr	2: 12.39 min
5	OUT	Nicole Livingstone	2: 13.43 min
6th	United States	Andrea Hayes	2: 15.02 min
7th	NED	Jolanda de Royer	2: 15.17 min
8th	FRG	Svenja Schlicht	2: 15.94 min

100 m chest

space	country	Athlete	time
1	BUL	Tanja Dangalakowa	1: 07.95 min
2	BUL	Antoaneta Frenkewa	1: 08.74 min
3	GDR	Silke Hörner	1: 08.83 min
4th	CAN	Allison Higson	1: 08.86 min
5	URS	Jelena Volkova	1: 09.24 min
6th	United States	Tracey McFarlane	1: 09.60 min
7th	CHN	Huang Xiaomin	1: 10.53 min
8th	GDR	Annett Rex	1: 10.67 min

200 m chest

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Silke Hörner	2: 26.71 min ( WR )
2	CHN	Huang Xiaomin	2: 27.49 min
3	BUL	Antoaneta Frenkewa	2: 28.34 min
4th	BUL	Tanya Bogomilova	2: 28.43 min
5	URS	Julia Bogacheva	2: 28.54 min
6th	BEL	Ingrid Lempereur	2: 29.42 min
7th	CAN	Allison Higson	2: 29.60 min
8th	ITA	Manuela Dalla Valle	2: 29.86 min

100 m butterfly

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto	59.00 s
2	GDR	Birte Weigang	59.45 s
3	CHN	Qian Hong	59.52 s
4th	FRA	Catherine Plewinski	59.58 s
5	United States	Janel Jorgensen	1: 00.48 min
6th	NED	Conny van Bentum	1: 00.62 min
7th	United States	Mary T. Meagher	1: 00.97 min
8th	CHN	Wang Xiaohong	1: 01.15 min

200 m butterfly

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Kathleen North	2: 09.51 min
2	GDR	Birte Weigang	2: 09.91 min
3	United States	Mary T. Meagher	2: 10.80 min
4th	ROME	Stela Marian Pura	2: 11.28 min
5	United States	Trina Radke	2: 11.55 min
6th	JPN	Kiyomi Takahashi	2: 11.62 min
7th	CHN	Wang Xiaohong	2: 12.34 min
8th	NED	Conny van Bentum	2: 13.17 min

200 m layers

space	country	Athlete	time
1	GDR	Daniela hunger	2: 12.59 min
2	URS	Elena Dendeberova	2: 13.31 min
3	ROME	Noemi Lung	2: 14.85 min
4th	OUT	Jodie Clatworthy	2: 16.31 min
5	NED	Marianne Muis	2: 16.40 min
6th	ROME	Aneta Pătrășcoiu	2: 16.70 min
7th	CHN	Lin Li	2: 17.42 min
8th	United States	Whitney Hedgepeth	2: 17.99 min

400 m layers

space	country	Athlete	time
1	United States	Janet Evans	4: 37.76 min
2	ROME	Noemi Lung	4: 39.46 min
3	GDR	Daniela hunger	4: 39.76 min
4th	URS	Elena Dendeberova	4: 40.44 min
5	GDR	Kathleen North	4: 41.64 min
6th	OUT	Jodie Clatworthy	4: 45.86 min
7th	CHN	Lin Li	4: 47.05 min
8th	OUT	Donna Procter	4: 47.51 min

4 × 100 m freestyle

space	country	Athletes	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto Katrin Meißner Daniela Hunger Manuela Stellmach	3: 40.63 min
2	NED	Marinne Muis Mildred Muis Conny van Bentum Karin Brienesse	3: 43.39 min
3	United States	Mary Wayte Mitzi Kremer Laura Walker Dara Torres	3: 44.25 min
4th	CHN	Xia Fujie Yang Wenyi Lou Yaping Zhuang Yong	3: 44.69 min
5	URS	Jelena Dendeberowa Svetlana Isakowa Natalja Trefilowa Svetlana Koptschikowa	3: 44.99 min
6th	CAN	Kathy Bald Patricia Noall Andrea Nugent Jane Kerr	3: 46.75 min
7th	FRG	Stephanie Ortwig Marion Aizpors Christiane Pielke Karin Seick	3: 46.90 min
8th	THE	Gitta Jensen Pia Sørensen Mette Jacobsen Annette Møldrup Jørgensen	3: 49.25 min

4 × 100 m layers

space	country	Athletes	time
1	GDR	Kristin Otto Silke Hörner Birte Weigang Katrin Meißner	4: 03.74 min
2	United States	Beth Barr Tracey McFarlane Janet Jorgensen Mary Wayte	4: 07.90 min
3	CAN	Lori Melien Allison Higson Jane Kerr Andrea Nugent	4: 10.49 min
4th	OUT	Nicole Livingstone Lara Hooiveld Fiona Alessandri Karen van Werdenum	4: 11.57 min
5	NED	Jolanda de Rover Linda Moes Conny van Bentum Karen Brienesse	4: 12.19 min
6th	BUL	Bistra Gospodinowa Tanja Bogomilowa Newjana Mitewa Natascha Christowa	4: 12.36 min
7th	FRG	Svenja Schlicht Britta Dahm Gabi Rehabilitation Marion Aizpors	4: 12.89 min
8th	ITA	Lorenza Vigarani Manuela Della Valle Ilaria Tocchini Silvia Persi	4: 13.85 min

Synchronized swimming

singles

space	country	athlete	Points
1	CAN	Carolyn Waldo	200.150
2	United States	Tracie Ruiz-Conforto	197.633
3	JPN	Mikako Kotani	191,850
4th	FRA	Muriel Hermione	190.100
5	SUI	Karin Singer	185,600
6th	GBR	Nicola Shearn	181.933
7th	URS	Christina Thalassinidou	180.650
8th	FRG	Gerlind Scheller	175.983

duet

space	country	Athletes	Points
1	CAN	Michelle Cameron Carolyn Waldo	197.717
2	United States	Karen Josephson Sarah Josephson	197.284
3	JPN	Miyako Tanaka Mikako Kotani	190.159
4th	FRA	Karine Schuler Anne Capron	184.792
5	SUI	Edith Boss Karin Singer	183,950
6th	URS	Maria Tschernjajewa Tatjana Titowa	182.667
7th	GBR	Nicola Shearn Lian Goodwin	179.075
8th	MEX	Sonia Cárdeñas Lourdes Candini	176.833

literature

• Official Report on the Olympic Games in Seoul Volume One, Part Two (PDF) (25.99 MB)
• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. Chronicle IV. Seoul 1988 - Atlanta 1996. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-328-00830-6 .