Men 200m Breaststroke Swimming Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki, Finland - Saturdaty, 2nd August

Men 200m Breaststroke Swimming Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki, Finland - Saturdaty, 2nd August - Gold Medal: John Davies, Australia

Final		time	gap	L	Y
1. John Davies	Australia	2:34.4	OR	4	23
2. Bowen Stassforth	United States	2:34.7	+0.3s	6	25
3. Herbert Klein	Germany	2:35.9	+1.5s	5	29
4. Nobuyasu Hirayama	Japan	2:37.4	+3.0s	1	18
5. Takayoshi Kajikawa	Japan	2:38.6	+4.2s	3	18
6. Jiro Nagasawa	Japan	2:39.1	+4.7s	7	20
7. Maurice Lusien	France	2:39.8	+5.4s	8	25
8. Ludevit Komadel	Czechoslovakia	2:40.1	+5.7s	2	24

Venue: Helsinki Swimming Stadium. 40 Competitors from 27 Nations.

World Record: Herbert Klein, Germany 2:27.3 Munchen, West Germany 9 June 1951

Olympic Record: Joe Verdeur, United States 2:39.3 London, Great Britain 7 August 1948

Todor 66	index Swimming OG
index Helsinki 1952	index Swimming Helsinki 1952


Men 100m Freestyle	Women 100m Freestyle
Men 400m Freestyle	Women 400m Freestyle
Men 1500m Freestyle
Men 100m Backstroke	Women 100m Backstroke
Men 200m Breaststroke	Women 200m Breaststroke
Men 4x200m Freestyle Relay	Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay

It was virtually mixed Breaststroke and Butterfly event.
1956 Men 200m Butterfly	1956 Men 200m Breaststroke
Men 200m Breaststroke History	1948 Men 200m Breaststroke

For the first and last time in Olympic Breaststroke history every finalist used the butterfly stroke as by the next Olympic Games the butterfly would be contested as a separate event. Although the German world record holder Herbert Klein was in the field there was no clear favourite for this race and the evenly matched performances of some of the main contenders in the heats and semi-finals did not help to resolve the issue of favouritism. Klein led the final at the halfway stage but was passed by Australia's John Davies and Bowen Stassforth of the USA over the second half of the race. Although Davies had finished fourth in this event in 1948 in London, his victory in Helsinki was unexpected.

Semifinals

Semi 1	Team	time	Rk.
1. John Davies	AUS	2:36.8	1.
2. Komadeľ Ľudovít	TCH	2:38.8	5.
3. Nobuyasu Hirayama	JPN	2:39.1	6.
4. Gerald Holan	USA	2:39.2	9.
5. Monty Nitzkowski	USA	2:41.4	11.
6. Daan Buijze	NED	2:42.6	13.
7. Orlando Cossani	ARG	2:43.1	14.
8. George Portelance	CaN	2:43.8	15.

Semi 2	Team	time	Rk.
1. Herbert Klein	GER	2:37.0	2.
2. Takayoshi Kajikawa	JPN	2:37.3	3.
3. Bowen Stassforth	USA	2:38.7	4.
4. Jiro Nagasawa	JPN	2:39.0	6.
5. Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:39.1	8.
6. David Hawkins	AUS	2:39.8	10.
7. Nikola Trojanović	YUG	2:41.8	12.
8. Vladimir Borisenko	URS	2:46.2	16.

Heats

Heat 1	Team	time	Rk.
1. Monty Nitzkowski	USA	2:40.6	9.
2. Pierre Joly dit Dumesnil	FRA	2:43.4	17.
3. Marek Petrusewicz	POL	2:44.0	19.
4. Juha Tikka	FIN	2:46.3	24.
5. Brian Barnes	GBR	2:48.6	31.
6. René Kohn	LUX	2:59.3	37.

Heat 2	Team	time	Rk.
1. John Davies	AUS	2:39.7	7.
2. Jiro Nagasawa	JPN	2:40.4	8.
3. Nikola Trojanović	YUG	2:42.4	14.
4. Bengt Rask	SWE	2:45.3	22.
5. Ludovicus Schoenmaekers	BEL	2:46.5	25.
6. Yury Kurchashov	URS	2:47.3	26.
7. Alfons Oehy	SUI	2:54.8	36.
8. Muhammad Bashir	PAK	3:01.3	38.

Heat 3	Team	time	Rk.
1. Komadeľ Ľudovít	TCH	2:38.9	3.
2. Orlando Cossani	ARG	2:39.6	5.
3. Takayoshi Kajikawa	JPN	2:39.6	5.
4. Walter Ocampo	MEX	2:44.8	21.
5. Octavio Mobiglia	BRA	2:46.1	23.
-. Giorgio Grilz	ITA

Heat 4	Team	time	Rk.
1. Bowen Stassforth	USA	2:39.3	4.
2. David Hawkins	AUS	2:41.2	11.
3. George Portelance	CaN	2:42.5	15.
4. Pyotr Skripchenkov	URS	2:47.3	26.
5. Blago Barbijeri	YUG	2:47.3	26.
6. Knud Gleie	DEN	2:51.4	34.
7. Vladimír Skovajsa	TCH	2:53.3	35.

Heat 5	Team	time	Rk.
1. Gerald Holan	USA	2:36.8	1.
2. Maurice Lusien	FRA	2:40.9	10.
3. Nobuyasu Hirayama	JPN	2:41.5	12.
4. Adhemar Grijó Filho	BRA	2:47.6	29.
5. Habib Suharko	INA	2:51.3	33.

Heat 6	Team	time	Rk.
1. Herbert Klein	GER	2:37.0	2.
2. Daan Buijze	NED	2:41.9	13.
3. Vladimir Borisenko	URS	2:43.2	16.
4. Aulis Kähkönen	FIN	2:43.8	18.
5. Manuel Sanguily	CUB	2:44.5	20.
6. Vlastimil Linhart	TCH	2:48.0	30.
7. Awad Moukhtar Halloudah	EGY	2:50.5	32.
8. Eduardo Barbeiro	POR	3:04.6	39.