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

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 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place September 2. This swimming event used the breaststroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Gold	John Hencken United States
Silver	David Wilkie Great Britain
Bronze	Nobutaka Taguchi Japan

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Klaus Katzur	East Germany	2:26.32	Q
2	Bill Mahony	Canada	2:26.71
3	Roger-Philippe Menu	France	2:30.05
4	Guðjón Guðmundsson	Iceland	2:32.40
5	Sokhon Yi	Cambodia	2:34.77
6	János Tóth	Hungary	2:37.40

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Nobutaka Taguchi	Japan	2:23.45	Q
2	Felipe Muñoz	Mexico	2:25.99	Q
3	Pedro Balcells	23x15px Spain	2:29.29
4	Robert Stoddart	Canada	2:30.08
5	Cezary Śmiglak	Poland	2:34.51
6	Morkal Faruk	Turkey	2:43.69
7	Piero Ferracuti	El Salvador	2:45.73

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	David Wilkie	Great Britain	2:24.54	Q
2	Walter Kusch	West Germany	2:26.43
3	Steffen Kriechbaum	Austria	2:30.09
4	Malcolm O'Connell	Great Britain	2:31.21
5	Jean-Pierre Dubey	Switzerland	2:31.56
6	Gustavo Salcedo	Mexico	2:32.81
7	Osvaldo Boretto	Argentina	2:31.84	DSQ

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Rick Colella	United States	2:25.40	Q
2	Vladimir Kosinsky	Soviet Union	2:28.00
3	Angel Chakarov	Bulgaria	2:30.27
4	Andreas Hellmann	West Germany	2:32.60
5	Liam Ball	Ireland	2:33.47
6	Nigel Johnson	Great Britain	2:34.37
7	Karl Christian Koch	Denmark	2:38.47

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	Igor Cherdakov	Soviet Union	2:26.21	Q
2	Brian Job	United States	2:26.91
3	José Sylvio Fiolo	Brazil	2:30.21
4	Rainer Hradetzky	East Germany	2:32.48
5	Amman Jaalmani	23x15px Philippines	2:33.54
6	Michele Di Pietro	Italy	2:36.49

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Note
1	John Hencken	United States	2:24.88	Q
2	Nikolay Pankin	Soviet Union	2:26.71
3	Paul Jarvie	Australia	2:27.83
4	Mike Whitaker	Canada	2:33.47
5	Rudi Vingerhoets	Belgium	2:36.89
6	Gregor Betz	West Germany	2:36.96
7	Alfredo Hunger	Peru	2:37.20
8	Alejandro Cabrera	El Salvador	2:56.60

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	John Hencken	United States	2:21.55	WR
	David Wilkie	Great Britain	2:23.67
	Nobutaka Taguchi	Japan	2:23.88
4	Rick Colella	United States	2:24.28
5	Felipe Muñoz	Mexico	2:26.44
6	Walter Kusch	West Germany	2:26.55
7	Igor Cherdakov	Soviet Union	2:27.15
8	Klaus Katzur	East Germany	2:27.44