Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place September 2. 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	Mike Stamm  United States
Bronze	Mitch Ivey  United States

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Zoltán Verrasztó	Hungary	2:09.89
2	Colin Cunningham	Great Britain	2:11.06
3	Bill Kennedy	Canada	2:12.55
4	Rafael Rocha	Mexico	2:15.81
5	Ian MacKenzie	Canada	2:16.36
6	Sergio Hasbún	El Salvador	2:27.93
7	Mark Crocker	Hong Kong	2:33.64

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mike Stamm	United States	2:07.51
2	Neil Martin	Australia	2:12.09
3	Nenad Miloš	Yugoslavia	2:12.99
4	Lutz Wanja	East Germany	2:13.46
5	Sarun Van	Cambodia	2:24.42
6	Chiang Jin Choon	Malaysia	2:26.51

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Brad Cooper	Australia	2:07.90
2	Tim McKee	United States	2:08.19
3	Massimo Nistri	Italy	2:12.85
4	José Urueta	Mexico	2:13.85
5	Lars Børgesen	Denmark	2:14.50
6	Rômulo Arantes Filho	Brazil	2:18.15
7	Gerardo Rosario	Philippines	2:23.53

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Mitch Ivey	United States	2:09.32
2	Jean-Paul Berjeau	France	2:09.93
3	Bob Schoutsen	Netherlands	2:10.56
4	Tadashi Honda	Japan	2:11.11
5	Róbert Rudolf	Hungary	2:13.64
6	John Hawes	Canada	2:15.34
7	Norbert Verweyen	West Germany	2:15.94
8	Predrag Miloš	Yugoslavia	2:18.43

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
1	Roland Matthes	East Germany	2:06.62
2	Lothar Noack	East Germany	2:08.80
3	Anders Sandberg	Sweden	2:11.36
4	Ejvind Pedersen	Denmark	2:12.30
5	Helmut Podolan	Austria	2:13.63
6	Pierre Baehr	France	2:14.65
7	Bruce Featherston	Australia	2:18.63
8	Gustavo González	Argentina	2:19.74

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Roland Matthes	East Germany	2:02.82	=WR
	Mike Stamm	United States	2:04.09
	Mitch Ivey	United States	2:04.33
4	Brad Cooper	Australia	2:06.59
5	Tim McKee	United States	2:07.29
6	Lothar Noack	East Germany	2:08.67
7	Zoltán Verrasztó	Hungary	2:10.09
8	Jean-Paul Berjeau	France	2:11.77

Key: =WR = Equalled world record