Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

This was the sixth appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games.{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/6576 |work=Olympedia |title=200 metres Freestyle, Men |access-date=19 June 2021}}

One of the 8 finalists from the 1976 Games returned: fourth-place finisher Andrey Krylov of the Soviet Union. The American-led boycott severely impacted swimming in 1980; the United States had swept this event in 1976. The 1978 World Aquatics Championships winner and runner-up were Americans; neither Bill Forrester nor Rowdy Gaines (who also held the world record) could compete. World bronze medalist Sergey Koplyakov of the Soviet Union was the favourite in their absence.

Algeria, Angola, Czechoslovakia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Australia made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event other than the absent United States.

The competition used a two-round (heats, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 8 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

{{World Olympic Record

| world_athlete = {{flagathlete|Rowdy Gaines|USA}}

| world_mark = 1:49.16

| world_place = Austin, United States

| world_date = 11 April 1980

| olympic_athlete = {{flagIOCathlete|Bruce Furniss|USA|1976 Summer}}

| olympic_mark = 1:50.29

| olympic_place = Montreal, Canada

| olympic_date = 19 July 1976

}}

The following records were established during the competition:

All times are Moscow Time (UTC+3)

{{reflist}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 200 m Freestyle Men}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 Metre Freestyle}}

F

Category:200 metre freestyle at the Olympics

Category:Men's events at the 1980 Summer Olympics