Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place 25 October. This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	Roland Matthes  East Germany
Silver	Mitch Ivey  United States
Bronze	Jack Horsley  United States

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Mitch Ivey	United States	2:11.3
2	Franco Del Campo	Italy	2:16.3
3	Franco Chino	Italy	2:19.5
4	José Joaquín Santibáñez	Mexico	2:20.7
5	Jim Shaw	Canada	2:21.0
6	Hans Ljungberg	Sweden	2:22.3
7	Tony Asamali	Philippines	2:30.0
8	Antonio Cruz	Guatemala	2:36.3

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Jack Horsley	United States	2:13.7
2	Reinhard Blechert	West Germany	2:16.5
3	Jaime Monzó	Spain	2:20.1

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Roland Matthes	East Germany	2:13.6
2	Santiago Esteva	Spain	2:15.8
3	Joachim Röther	East Germany	2:16.1
4	Ejvind Pedersen	Denmark	2:16.6
5	Karl Byrom	Australia	2:20.7
6	Eliseo Vidal	Cuba	2:21.3
7	Leonardo Baremboin	Argentina	2:25.2
8	Francisco Ramis	Puerto Rico	2:30.4

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Leonid Dobroskokin	Soviet Union	2:16.1
2	Bob Schoutsen	Netherlands	2:18.2
3	Jaime Rivera	Mexico	2:20.7
4	Lars Kraus Jensen	Denmark	2:22.5
5	Gerald Evard	Switzerland	2:24.7
6	Chan King-ming	Chinese Taipei	2:46.9

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Gary Hall Sr.	United States	2:16.2
2	Mátyás Borlói	Hungary	2:17.9
3	Rinus van Beek	Netherlands	2:21.2
4	Luis Angel Acosta	Mexico	2:24.0
5	Ronnie Wong	Hong Kong	2:38.6

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Roland Matthes	East Germany	2:09.6	OR
	Mitch Ivey	United States	2:10.6
	Jack Horsley	United States	2:10.9
4	Gary Hall Sr.	United States	2:12.6
5	Santiago Esteva	Spain	2:12.9
6	Leonid Dobroskokin	Soviet Union	2:15.4
7	Joachim Röther	East Germany	2:15.8
8	Franco Del Campo	Italy	2:16.5

Key: OR = Olympic record