Swimming at the 1988 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Seoul, South Korea
Venue(s): Indoor Swimming Pool, Olympic Park, Seoul
Date Started: September 23, 1988
Date Finished: September 23, 1988
Format: Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.
| Gold: | József Szabó |
| Silver: | Nick Gillingham |
| Bronze: | Sergio López |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Beks | 21 | New Zealand | NZL | 2:27.26 | |
| 2 | Ng Yue Meng | 18 | Singapore | SIN | 2:30.74 | |
| 3 | Kraig Singleton | 16 | United States Virgin Islands | ISV | 2:36.45 | |
| 4 | Quách Hoài Nam | 18 | Vietnam | VIE | 2:39.69 | |
| 5 | Amine El-Domyati | 26 | Lebanon | LIB | 2:44.34 | |
| 6 | Obaid Al-Rumaithi | 16 | United Arab Emirates | UAE | 2:50.49 |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsai Hsin-Yen | 17 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | 2:23.80 | |
| 2 | Wirmandi Sugriat | 17 | Indonesia | INA | 2:26.17 | |
| 3 | Manuel Gutiérrez | 23 | Panama | PAN | 2:26.57 | |
| 4 | Arnþór Ragnarsson | 20 | Iceland | ISL | 2:27.93 | |
| 5 | Cicero Torteli | 21 | Brazil | BRA | 2:28.82 | |
| 6 | Nikolaos Fokianos | 23 | Greece | GRE | 2:28.91 | |
| 7 | Watt Kam Sing | 21 | Hong Kong | HKG | 2:30.78 | |
| AC | Christian Toft | 19 | Denmark | DEN | DQ |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Javier Careaga | 20 | Mexico | MEX | 2:20.11 | |
| 2 | Pierre-Yves Eberle | 20 | Switzerland | SUI | 2:20.85 | |
| 3 | Mark Warnecke | 18 | West Germany | FRG | 2:22.55 | |
| 4 | Thomas Böhm | 22 | Austria | AUT | 2:24.15 | |
| 5 | Chang Qing | 21 | China | CHN | 2:24.45 | |
| 6 | Richard Lockhart | 25 | New Zealand | NZL | 2:24.52 | |
| 7 | Eyal Shtigman | 25 | Israel | ISR | 2:25.18 | |
| 8 | Patrick Concepcion | 20 | Philippines | PHI | 2:29.62 |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sidney Appelboom | 21 | Belgium | BEL | 2:18.02 | QC |
| 2 | Yun Ju-Il | 15 | South Korea | KOR | 2:19.94 | |
| 3 | Ron Dekker | 22 | Netherlands | NED | 2:20.84 | |
| 4 | Christian Poswiat | 20 | East Germany | GDR | 2:20.99 | |
| 5 | Luc Van de Vondel | 23 | Belgium | BEL | 2:21.50 | |
| 6 | Petri Suominen | 17 | Finland | FIN | 2:22.01 | |
| 7 | Hironobu Nagahata | 19 | Japan | JPN | 2:22.23 | |
| 8 | Jin Fu | 23 | China | CHN | 2:26.05 |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valeriy Lozik | 20 | Soviet Union | URS | 2:16.31 | QU |
| 2 | Jon Cleveland | 17 | Canada | CAN | 2:16.87 | QU |
| 3 | Radek Beinhauer | 18 | Czechoslovakia | TCH | 2:18.02 | QC |
| 4 | Étienne Dagon | 28 | Switzerland | SUI | 2:18.68 | QC |
| 5 | Gary O'Toole | 20 | Ireland | IRL | 2:18.93 | |
| 6 | Kirk Stackle | 20 | United States | USA | 2:19.47 | |
| 7 | Hartmut Wedekind | 24 | West Germany | FRG | 2:22.55 | |
| AC | David Leblanc | 20 | France | FRA | DQ |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Gillingham | 21 | Great Britain | GBR | 2:14.58 | QU |
| 2 | József Szabó | 19 | Hungary | HUN | 2:14.97 | QU |
| 3 | Sergio López | 20 | Spain | ESP | 2:17.06 | QU |
| 4 | Vadim Alekseyev | 18 | Soviet Union | URS | 2:17.15 | QU |
| 5 | Alexandre Yokochi | 23 | Portugal | POR | 2:17.87 | QC |
| 6 | Cédric Pénicaud | 16 | France | FRA | 2:18.72 | |
| 7 | Pablo Restrepo | 28 | Colombia | COL | 2:19.58 | |
| 8 | Joaquín Fernández | 17 | Spain | ESP | 2:20.34 |
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Barrowman | 19 | United States | USA | 2:15.85 | QU |
| 2 | Péter Szabó | 20 | Hungary | HUN | 2:17.10 | QU |
| 3 | Cam Grant | 18 | Canada | CAN | 2:17.62 | QC |
| 4 | Shigehiro Takahashi | 27 | Japan | JPN | 2:17.69 | QC |
| 5 | Alexander Marček | 20 | Czechoslovakia | TCH | 2:18.44 | QC |
| 6 | Adrian Moorhouse | 24 | Great Britain | GBR | 2:18.51 | QC |
| 7 | Ian McAdam | 20 | Australia | AUS | 2:19.68 | |
| 8 | Jan-Erick Olsen | 22 | Norway | NOR | 2:26.70 |