Swimming at the 1932 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Los Angeles, United States
Venue(s): Olympic Park Swimming Stadium, Los Angeles, California
Date Started: August 11, 1932
Date Finished: August 13, 1932
| Gold: | Yoshiyuki Tsuruta |
| Silver: | Reizo Koike |
| Bronze: | Teófilo Yldefonso |
The world record holder Leonard Spence, a Guyanan who would later compete for Bermuda in international competition, was not present in Los Angeles, so the man who had blazed a trail for Japan at the Amsterdam Olympics, the defending champion Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, was considered the man to beat. The final was a high water mark for Asian swimmers as the seemingly obligatory three Japanese racers were joined by two from the Philippines. Only Erwin Sietas of Germany represented the rest of the world but it was he who led the field for the majority of the race. The German faded out of the medals in the closing stages and Tsuruta became the first man to retain a breaststroke title as he defeated his fellow countryman, Reizo Koike, by a second. Teófilo Yldefonso of the Philippines repeated his Amsterdam performance in third. Yldefonso was captured in World War II and died in a Japanese prison camp after being a participant in the infamous Bataan Death March.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoshiyuki Tsuruta | 28 | Japan | JPN | Gold | |
| 2 | Reizo Koike | 16 | Japan | JPN | Silver | |
| 3 | Teófilo Yldefonso | 29 | Philippines | PHI | Bronze | |
| 4 | Erwin Sietas | 22 | Germany | GER | ||
| 5 | Jikirum Adjaluddin | 21 | Philippines | PHI | ||
| 6 | Shigeo Nakagawa | 22 | Japan | JPN | ||
| 4 h1 r2/3 | Ulysse Cartonnet | 20 | France | FRA | ||
| 4 h2 r2/3 | Walter Spence | 31 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 5 h1 r2/3 | Toivo Reingoldt | 26 | Finland | FIN | ||
| 3 h2 r1/3 | Justo José Caraballo | 17 | Argentina | ARG | ||
| 3 h3 r1/3 | Alfred Schoebel | 21 | France | FRA | ||
| 4 h1 r1/3 | Basil Francis | 17 | United States | USA | ||
| 4 h2 r1/3 | Edwin Moles | 23 | United States | USA | ||
| 4 h3 r1/3 | John Paulsen | 18 | United States | USA | ||
| 5 h1 r1/3 | Sigfrid Heyner | 23 | Sweden | SWE | ||
| 5 h2 r1/3 | Dick Wyndham | Canada | CAN | |||
| 5 h3 r1/3 | Pablo Zierold | Mexico | MEX | |||
| 6 h1 r1/3 | Harry Forsell | Brazil | BRA |