Men 400m Freestyle Swimming XXIV Olympic Games 1988 Seoul, South Korea - Friday, 23rd September

Men 400m Freestyle Swimming XXIV Olympic Games 1988 Seoul, South Korea - Friday, 23rd September - Uwe Dassler, East Germany

Final		time		gap	L	Y	100m	200m	300m
1. Uwe Dassler	East Germany	3:46.95	WR		6	21	55.30s	1:53.17	2:51.40
2. Duncan Armstrong	Australia	3:47.15	AR	+0.20s	1	20	56.41s	1:55.10	2:52.13
3. Artur Wojdat	Poland	3:47.34	NR	+0.39s	3	20	54.78s	1:52.98	2:51.06
4. Matt Cetlinski	United States	3:48.09		+1.14s	8	23	54.57s	1:52.45	2:50.46
5. Mariusz Podkoscielny	Poland	3:48.59		+1.64s	4	20	55.34s	1:53.52	2:51.65
6. Stefan Pfeiffer	West Germany	3:49.96		+3.01s	5	22	56.17s	1:54.22	2:52.19
7. Kevin Boyd	Great Britain	3:50.16		+3.21s	2	22	55.68s	1:53.72	2:51.99
8. Anders Holmertz	Sweden	3:51.04		+4.09s	7	19	54.48s	1:52.32	2:51.08

49 Competitors from 33 Nations. Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool.
Men 400m Freestyle History	1992 Men 400m Freestyle	1984 Men 400m Freestyle

World Record: Artur Wojdat, Poland 3:47.38 Orlando, United States 25th March 1988

Olympic Record: Thomas Fahrner, West Germany 3:50.91 Los Angeles, United States 2nd August 1984

4:10.10 LCM-time done since Jan 1, 1987

4:00.20 SCM-time done since Sep 1, 1987

Final B		time	gap	L	Y	100m	200m	300m
9. Joerg Hoffmann	East Germany	3:52.13		6	18	56.73s	1:55.93	2:54.25
10.Walter Kalaus	Hungary	3:53.24	+1.11s	3	18	56.61s	1:56.06	2:55.61
11.Turlough O'Hare	Canada	3:54.33	+2.20s	1	19	56.81s	1:56.45	2:56.15
12.Carlos Scanavino	Uruguay	3:54.36	+2.23s	2	24	56.70s	1:56.77	2:56.53
13.Ian Brown	Australia	3:54.63	+2.50s	4	23	56.08s	1:55.96	2:55.45
14.Dan Jorgensen	United States	3:55.34	+3.21s	5	20	56.11s	1:56.06	2:55.94
15.Salvador Vassallo	Puerto Rico	3:55.39	+3.26s	7	20	56.99s	1:56.26	2:56.17
16.Zoltan Szilagyi	Hungary	3:56.00	+3.87s	8	21	57.03s	1:56.93	2:57.01

Todor 66	index Swimming OG
index Seoul 1988	index Swimming Seoul 1988


Men 50m Freestyle	Women 50m Freestyle
Men 100m Freestyle	Women 100m Freestyle
Men 200m Freestyle	Women 200m Freestyle
Men 400m Freestyle	Women 400m Freestyle
Men 1500m Freestyle	Women 800m Freestyle
Men 100m Backstroke	Women 100m Backstroke
Men 200m Backstroke	Women 200m Backstroke
Men 100m Breaststroke	Women 100m Breaststroke
Men 200m Breaststroke	Women 200m Breaststroke
Men 100m Butterfly	Women 100m Butterfly
Men 200m Butterfly	Women 200m Butterfly
Men 200m Medley	Women 200m Medley
Men 400m Medley	Women 400m Medley
Men 4x100m Freestyle Relay	Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Men 4x200m Freestyle Relay
Men 4x100m Medley Relay	Women 4x100m Medley Relay

The Olympic record was 3:50.91, set by West German Thomas Fahrner in winning the B final in Los Angeles. The standard in Seoul was so high that to qualify for the final, one had to better that record, the biggest casualty being 1986 World Champion and 1987 European runner-up, West German Rainer Henkel, who barely made the B final and elected not to contest that race. The high standard of qualifying set the stage for a dramatic final.
The current world record holder was Poland's Artur Wojdat, who trained in the USA and had swum 3:48.38 earlier in 1988 at the US Nationals. In the final the early leader was Sweden's Anders Holmertz followed by American Matt Cetlinski, the 1987 Pan Pacific champion. Cetlinski took the lead at 300 metres, followed by Wojdat and Holmertz, with East German Uwe Dassler in fourth, and Australian Duncan Armstrong, already the winner of the 200 free in Seoul, moving up slightly, but still in seventh. Cetlinski continued to lead at 350 but he was dying, and Wojdat and Dassler moved ahead on the final lap. Armstrong, who swam the final 100 in 55.02, finished very quickly and moved up to the silver medal, passing Wojdat. But he could not catch Dassler, who finished in 55.55 for gold, as Cetlinski dropped off the podium to fourth.
Dassler finished in 3:46.95 to break Wojdat's world record. But Wojdat also bettered it in third, with 3:47.34, as did Armstrong in second with 3:47.15, and it took a world record time just to get on the podium. Wojdat called it "The Race of the Century" which was echoed by Terry Stoddard, his Mission Viejo coach, who said "Yes, definitely. It was the greatest race in history."

Heats - Friday, 23rd September

Heat 7		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
3. Artur Wojdat	Poland	3:49.68	+0.17s	-	20	1.	55.66s	1:54.38	2:53.30
4. Uwe Dassler	East Germany	3:49.90	+0.39s	-	21	2.	55.79s	1:54.54	2:53.56
7. Duncan Armstrong	Australia	3:50.64	+1.13s	-	20	3.	56.41s	1:56.39	2:54.42
11.Dan Jorgensen	United States	3:52.64	+3.13s	-	20	4.	56.45s	1:55.92	2:54.70
17.Turlough O'Hare	Canada	3:55.35	+5.84s	-	19	5.	56.96s	1:56.89	2:56.23
19.Roberto Gleria	Italy	3:56.33	+6.82s	-	19	6.	55.96s	1:55.11	2:56.02
27.Aleksandr Bazanov	Soviet Union	3:58.74	+9.23s	-	23	7.	57.35s	1:57.99	2:58.33
29.Jean-Marie Arnould	Belgium	3:59.91	+10.40s	-	22	8.	57.33s	1:57.26	2:58.89

Heat 6		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
5. Kevin Boyd	Great Britain	3:50.01	+0.50s	-	22	1.	56.27s	1:54.30	2:51.98
6. Anders Holmertz	Sweden	3:50.06	+0.55s	-	19	2.	55.78s	1:54.31	2:53.10
8. Matt Cetlinski	United States	3:50.82	+1.31s	-	23	3.	56.00s	1:54.34	2:52.78
9. Ian Brown	Australia	3:51.09	+1.58s	-	23	4.	56.05s	1:54.78	2:53.37
12.Giorgio Lamberti	Italy	3:53.29	+3.78s	-	19	5.	56.19s	1:54.99	2:54.55
15.Carlos Scanavino	Uruguay	3:54.86	+5.35s	-	24	6.	57.01s	1:56.63	2:56.33
18.Zoltan Szilagyi	Hungary	3:56.29	+6.78s	-	21	7.	56.57s	1:55.70	2:55.40
30.Franck Iacono	France	4:00.04	+10.53s	-	22	8.	56.91s	1:56.06	2:57.51

Heat 5		time		gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
1. Mariusz Podkoscielny	Poland	3:49.51	OR		-	20	1.	55.91s	1:54.07	2:52.14
2. Stefan Pfeiffer	West Germany	3:49.52		+0.01s	-	22	2.	56.53s	1:54.51	2:52.47
10.Rainer Henkel	West Germany	3:51.50		+1.99s	-	24	3.	55.62s	1:53.63	2:52.52
13.Walter Kalaus	Hungary	3:53.44		+3.93s	-	18	4.	56.11s	1:54.68	2:53.75
14.Joerg Hoffmann	East Germany	3:53.78		+4.27s	-	18	5.	57.16s	1:55.78	2:55.02
20.Darjan Petric	Yugoslavia	3:56.94		+7.43s	-	24	6.	57.11s	1:56.29	2:56.51
23.Cristiano Michelena	Brazil	3:57.79		+8.28s	-	17	7.	57.19s	1:57.42	2:58.50
26.Gary Van Der Meulen	Canada	3:57.99		+8.48s	-	23	8.	57.44s	1:57.10	2:57.73
31.Claus Christensen	Denmark	4:00.46		+10.95s	-	20	6.	58.58s	1:58.52	2:59.16
32.Yoshiyuki Mizumoto	Japan	4:02.02		+12.51s	-	19	7.	59.07s	2:00.15	3:01.22
38.Shigeo Ogata	Japan	4:05.68		+16.17s	-	19	8.	57.42s	1:58.40	3:01.39

Heat 4		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
16.Salvador Vassallo	Puerto Rico	3:55.30	+5.79s	-	20	1.	56.97s	1:56.23	2:55.56
21.Henrik Jangvall	Sweden	3:57.41	+7.90s	-	21	2.	58.24s	1:57.86	2:57.86
22.Daniel Serra	Spain	3:57.46	+7.95s	-	20	3.	57.66s	1:57.95	2:57.95
24.John Anthony Day	Great Britain	3:57.91	+8.40s	-	23	4.	57.45s	1:57.10	2:57.26
25.Alberto Bottini	Switzerland	3:57.92	+8.41s	-	21	5.	57.35s	1:57.54	2:58.33

Heat 3		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
28.Igor Majcen	Yugoslavia	3:58.90	+9.39s	-	19	1.	59.01s	1:59.81	3:00.30
33.David Castro	Brazil	4:02.48	+12.97s	-	24	2.	58.45s	2:00.17	3:01.89
34.Ignacio Escamilla	Mexico	4:03.16	+13.65s	-	31	3.	58.63s	2:00.39	3:01.89
35.Carlos Romo	Mexico	4:04.02	+14.51s	-	21	4.	59.21s	2:00.86	3:01.99
36.Jeff Ong	Malaya	4:04.57	+15.06s	-	16	5.	57.79s	2:00.76	3:03.63
37.Ragnar Gudmundsson	Iceland	4:05.12	+15.61s	-	20	6.	59.39s	2:00.97	3:03.33
39.Wook Yang	South Korea	4:05.81	+16.30s	-	15	7.	59.26s	2:01.44	3:04.48
42.Soon-Kun Kwon	South Korea	4:08.02	+18.51s	-	19	8.	58.75s	2:01.46	3:04.70

Heat 2		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
40.Ming-Sun Wu	Taiwan	4:06.66	+17.15s	-	20	1.	59.70	2:01.99	3:04.74
41.Jonathan Sakovich	Guam	4:06.89	+17.38s	-	18	2.	59.31s	2:02.61	3:06.32
43.Richard Bera	Indonesia	4:08.70	+19.19s	-	16	3.	59.09s	2:02.57	3:05.84
44.Mun Kit Koh	Singapore	4:15.54	+26.03s	-	15	4.	1:01.17	2:06.32	3:11.21
45.Arthur Li	Hong Kong	4:18.50	+28.99s	-	16	5.	59.88s	2:04.16	3:11.27
46.Julian Bolling	Sri Lanka	4:18.88	+29.37s	-	22	6.	1:01.15	2:06.28	3:13.07

Heat 1		time	gap	L	Y	Rk	100m	200m	300m
47.Bassam Al Ansari	UA Emirates	4:39.36	+49.85s	-		1.	1:05.04	2:17.02	3:29.40
48.Emile Lahoud	Lebanon	4:47.09	+57.58s	-	13	2.	1:07.94	2:21.73	3:35.88
49.Mohamed Bin Abid	UA Emirates	4:47.28	+57.77s	-	19	3.	1:02.98	2:15.69	3:29.58

Final		time		gap	L	Y	100m	200m	300m
1. Uwe Dassler	East Germany	3:46.95	WR		6	21	55.30s	1:53.17	2:51.40
2. Duncan Armstrong	Australia	3:47.15	AR	+0.20s	1	20	56.41s	1:55.10	2:52.13
3. Artur Wojdat	Poland	3:47.34	NR	+0.39s	3	20	54.78s	1:52.98	2:51.06
4. Matt Cetlinski	United States	3:48.09		+1.14s	8	23	54.57s	1:52.45	2:50.46
5. Mariusz Podkoscielny	Poland	3:48.59		+1.64s	4	20	55.34s	1:53.52	2:51.65
6. Stefan Pfeiffer	West Germany	3:49.96		+3.01s	5	22	56.17s	1:54.22	2:52.19
7. Kevin Boyd	Great Britain	3:50.16		+3.21s	2	22	55.68s	1:53.72	2:51.99
8. Anders Holmertz	Sweden	3:51.04		+4.09s	7	19	54.48s	1:52.32	2:51.08
Final B		time		gap	L	Y	100m	200m	300m
9. Joerg Hoffmann	East Germany	3:52.13			6	18	56.73s	1:55.93	2:54.25
10.Walter Kalaus	Hungary	3:53.24		+1.11s	3	18	56.61s	1:56.06	2:55.61
11.Turlough O'Hare	Canada	3:54.33		+2.20s	1	19	56.81s	1:56.45	2:56.15
12.Carlos Scanavino	Uruguay	3:54.36		+2.23s	2	24	56.70s	1:56.77	2:56.53
13.Ian Brown	Australia	3:54.63		+2.50s	4	23	56.08s	1:55.96	2:55.45
14.Dan Jorgensen	United States	3:55.34		+3.21s	5	20	56.11s	1:56.06	2:55.94
15.Salvador Vassallo	Puerto Rico	3:55.39		+3.26s	7	20	56.99s	1:56.26	2:56.17
16.Zoltan Szilagyi	Hungary	3:56.00		+3.87s	8	21	57.03s	1:56.93	2:57.01
Heats		time		gap	L	Y	100m	200m	300m
1. Mariusz Podkoscielny	Poland	3:49.51	OR		-	20	55.91s	1:54.07	2:52.14
2. Stefan Pfeiffer	West Germany	3:49.52		+0.01s	-	22	56.53s	1:54.51	2:52.47
3. Artur Wojdat	Poland	3:49.68		+0.17s	-	20	55.66s	1:54.38	2:53.30
4. Uwe Dassler	East Germany	3:49.90		+0.39s	-	21	55.79s	1:54.54	2:53.56
5. Kevin Boyd	Great Britain	3:50.01		+0.50s	-	22	56.27s	1:54.30	2:51.98
6. Anders Holmertz	Sweden	3:50.06		+0.55s	-	19	55.78s	1:54.31	2:53.10
7. Duncan Armstrong	Australia	3:50.64		+1.13s	-	20	56.41s	1:56.39	2:54.42
8. Matt Cetlinski	United States	3:50.82		+1.31s	-	23	56.00s	1:54.34	2:52.78
9. Ian Brown	Australia	3:51.09		+1.58s	-	23	56.05s	1:54.78	2:53.37
10.Rainer Henkel	West Germany	3:51.50		+1.99s	-	24	55.62s	1:53.63	2:52.52
11.Dan Jorgensen	United States	3:52.64		+3.13s	-	20	56.45s	1:55.92	2:54.70
12.Giorgio Lamberti	Italy	3:53.29		+3.78s	-	19	56.19s	1:54.99	2:54.55
13.Walter Kalaus	Hungary	3:53.44		+3.93s	-	18	56.11s	1:54.68	2:53.75
14.Joerg Hoffmann	East Germany	3:53.78		+4.27s	-	18	57.16s	1:55.78	2:55.02
15.Carlos Scanavino	Uruguay	3:54.86		+5.35s	-	24	57.01s	1:56.63	2:56.33
16.Salvador Vassallo	Puerto Rico	3:55.30		+5.79s	-	20	56.97s	1:56.23	2:55.56
17.Turlough O'Hare	Canada	3:55.35		+5.84s	-	19	56.96s	1:56.89	2:56.23
18.Zoltan Szilagyi	Hungary	3:56.29		+6.78s	-	21	56.57s	1:55.70	2:55.40
19.Roberto Gleria	Italy	3:56.33		+6.82s	-	19	55.96s	1:55.11	2:56.02
20.Darjan Petric	Yugoslavia	3:56.94		+7.43s	-	24	57.11s	1:56.29	2:56.51
21.Henrik Jangvall	Sweden	3:57.41		+7.90s	-	21	58.24s	1:57.86	2:57.86
22.Daniel Serra	Spain	3:57.46		+7.95s	-	20	57.66s	1:57.95	2:57.95
23.Cristiano Michelena	Brazil	3:57.79		+8.28s	-	17	57.19s	1:57.42	2:58.50
24.John Anthony Day	Great Britain	3:57.91		+8.40s	-	23	57.45s	1:57.10	2:57.26
25.Alberto Bottini	Switzerland	3:57.92		+8.41s	-	21	57.35s	1:57.54	2:58.33
26.Gary Van Der Meulen	Canada	3:57.99		+8.48s	-	23	57.44s	1:57.10	2:57.73
27.Aleksandr Bazanov	Soviet Union	3:58.74		+9.23s	-	23	57.35s	1:57.99	2:58.33
28.Igor Majcen	Yugoslavia	3:58.90		+9.39s	-	19	59.01s	1:59.81	3:00.30
29.Jean-Marie Arnould	Belgium	3:59.91		+10.40s	-	22	57.33s	1:57.26	2:58.89
30.Franck Iacono	France	4:00.04		+10.53s	-	22	56.91s	1:56.06	2:57.51
31.Claus Christensen	Denmark	4:00.46		+10.95s	-	20	58.58s	1:58.52	2:59.16
32.Yoshiyuki Mizumoto	Japan	4:02.02		+12.51s	-	19	59.07s	2:00.15	3:01.22
33.David Castro	Brazil	4:02.48		+12.97s	-	24	58.45s	2:00.17	3:01.89
34.Ignacio Escamilla	Mexico	4:03.16		+13.65s	-	31	58.63s	2:00.39	3:01.89
35.Carlos Romo	Mexico	4:04.02		+14.51s	-	21	59.21s	2:00.86	3:01.99
36.Jeff Ong	Malaya	4:04.57		+15.06s	-	16	57.79s	2:00.76	3:03.63
37.Ragnar Gudmundsson	Iceland	4:05.12		+15.61s	-	20	59.39s	2:00.97	3:03.33
38.Shigeo Ogata	Japan	4:05.68		+16.17s	-	19	57.42s	1:58.40	3:01.39
39.Wook Yang	South Korea	4:05.81		+16.30s	-	15	59.26s	2:01.44	3:04.48
40.Ming-Sun Wu	Taiwan	4:06.66		+17.15s	-	20	59.70	2:01.99	3:04.74
41.Jonathan Sakovich	Guam	4:06.89		+17.38s	-	18	59.31s	2:02.61	3:06.32
42.Soon-Kun Kwon	South Korea	4:08.02		+18.51s	-	19	58.75s	2:01.46	3:04.70
43.Richard Bera	Indonesia	4:08.70		+19.19s	-	16	59.09s	2:02.57	3:05.84
44.Mun Kit Koh	Singapore	4:15.54		+26.03s	-	15	1:01.17	2:06.32	3:11.21
45.Arthur Li	Hong Kong	4:18.50		+28.99s	-	16	59.88s	2:04.16	3:11.27
46.Julian Bolling	Sri Lanka	4:18.88		+29.37s	-	22	1:01.15	2:06.28	3:13.07
47.Bassam Al Ansari	UA Emirates	4:39.36		+49.85s	-		1:05.04	2:17.02	3:29.40
48.Emile Lahoud	Lebanon	4:47.09		+57.58s	-	13	1:07.94	2:21.73	3:35.88
49.Mohamed Bin Abid	UA Emirates	4:47.28		+57.77s	-	19	1:02.98	2:15.69	3:29.58

Prepared and maintained by Todor Krastev

todor1966@yahoo.com
Last updated: 15 Apr 2023
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