Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

Swimming events at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m		women
1500 m	men
Backstroke
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Breaststroke
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Butterfly
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
Individual medley
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
Freestyle relay
4×100 m	men	women
4×200 m	men
Medley relay
4×100 m	men	women

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place September 1. 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 eight lengths of the pool.

Rick DeMont of the United States originally won the 400 metre freestyle in 4:00.26, but was disqualified after he tested positive for ephedrine. In 2001, Jacques Rogge gave him his medal, but the IOC couldn't annuel Bradford Cooper's result.

Medalists[edit]

Gold	Brad Cooper Australia (AUS)
Silver	Steve Genter United States (USA)
Bronze	Tom McBreen United States (USA)

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

Final[edit]

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Brad Cooper	Australia	4:00.27	OR
	Steve Genter	United States	4:01.94
	Tom McBreen	United States	4:02.64
4	Graham Windeatt	Australia	4:02.93
5	Brian Brinkley	Great Britain	4:06.69
6	Bengt Gingsjö	Sweden	4:06.75
7	Werner Lampe	West Germany	4:06.97
	Rick DeMont	United States	4:00.26	DQ