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 25, 1988
Date Finished: September 25, 1988
| Gold: | Tamás Darnyi |
| Silver: | Patrick Kühl |
| Bronze: | Vadym Yaroshchuk |
Tamás Darnyi (HUN) had been the best individual medleyer since 1985 and had already won the 400 IM in Seoul. In that race he had easily defeated American silver medalist [David Wharton], considered to be his biggest competition. It was expected they would duel again in the 200 but Wharton inexplicably did not qualify for the final, leaving Darnyi with no real competition. In the final he did not take the lead early. The butterfly opener was led by Soviet [Vadim Yaroshchuk], with East German Patrick Kühl taking over on the second leg, the backstroke. The three were close at 150, with Yaroshchuk leading and Darnyi in third place, but Darnyi’s freestyle put the gold medal away, as he won by almost 1½ seconds. Kühl passed Yaroshchuk on the final lap for silver.\n\nDarnyi had won the 200/400 IM double. Four years later, in Seoul, he would win the two events again, becoming only the second man, after East German Roland Matthes in the 1968/72 backstroke events, to double-double in a stroke or specialty. This would later be repeated in the IMs by Ukrainian [Iana Klochkova] in 2000-04.
| Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tamás Darnyi | 21 | Hungary | HUN | Gold | WR |
| 2 | Patrick Kühl | 20 | East Germany | GDR | Silver | |
| 3 | Vadym Yaroshchuk | 22 | Soviet Union | URS | Bronze | |
| 4 | Mikhail Zubkov | 20 | Soviet Union | URS | ||
| 5 | Peter Bermel | 21 | West Germany | FRG | ||
| 6 | Robert Bruce | 19 | Australia | AUS | ||
| 7 | Raik Hannemann | 20 | East Germany | GDR | ||
| 8 | Gary Anderson | 19 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 9 | Dave Wharton | 19 | United States | USA | ||
| 10 | John Davey | 23 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
| 11 | Neil Cochran | 23 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
| 12 | Christophe Bordeau | 20 | France | FRA | ||
| 13 | Luca Sacchi | 20 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 14 | Kharalambos Papanikolaou | 19 | Greece | GRE | ||
| 15 | Jens-Peter Berndt | 25 | West Germany | FRG | ||
| 16 | Bill Stapleton | 23 | United States | USA | ||
| 17 | Rob Woodhouse | 22 | Australia | AUS | ||
| 18 | Roberto Cassio | 20 | Italy | ITA | ||
| 19 | Takahiro Fujimoto | 18 | Japan | JPN | ||
| 20 | Gary O'Toole | 20 | Ireland | IRL | ||
| 21 | Darren Ward | 19 | Canada | CAN | ||
| 22 | Satoshi Takeda | 20 | Japan | JPN | ||
| 23 | József Szabó | 19 | Hungary | HUN | ||
| 24 | Javier Careaga | 20 | Mexico | MEX | ||
| 25 | Rodrigo González | 20 | Mexico | MEX | ||
| 26 | Júlio López | 21 | Brazil | BRA | ||
| 27 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson | 21 | Iceland | ISL | ||
| 28 | Diogo Madeira | 18 | Portugal | POR | ||
| 29 | Renato Ramalho | 21 | Brazil | BRA | ||
| 30 | René Concepcion | 19 | Philippines | PHI | ||
| 31T | Xie Jun | 19 | China | CHN | ||
| 31T | Martín López-Zubero | 19 | Spain | ESP | ||
| 33 | Sidney Appelboom | 21 | Belgium | BEL | ||
| 34 | David Lim | 22 | Singapore | SIN | ||
| 35 | Lee Jae-Su | 20 | South Korea | KOR | ||
| 36 | Sergio López | 20 | Spain | ESP | ||
| 37 | Richard Sam Bera | 16 | Indonesia | INA | ||
| 38 | Wirmandi Sugriat | 17 | Indonesia | INA | ||
| 39 | Hakan Eskioğlu | 17 | Turkey | TUR | ||
| 40 | Yip Hor Man | 18 | Hong Kong | HKG | ||
| 41 | Desmond Koh | 15 | Singapore | SIN | ||
| 42 | Sultan Al-Otaibi | 18 | Kuwait | KUW | ||
| 43 | Eric Greenwood | 21 | Costa Rica | CRC | ||
| 44 | Horst Niehaus | 20 | Costa Rica | CRC | ||
| 45 | Jonathan Sakovich | 18 | Guam | GUM | ||
| 46 | Kraig Singleton | 16 | United States Virgin Islands | ISV | ||
| 47 | Graham Thompson | 24 | Zimbabwe | ZIM | ||
| 48 | Li Arthur | 16 | Hong Kong | HKG | ||
| 49 | Tsai Hsin-Yen | 17 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | ||
| 50 | Vaughan Smith | 19 | Zimbabwe | ZIM | ||
| 51 | Chiang Chi-Li | 17 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | ||
| 52 | Mouhamed Diop | 24 | Senegal | SEN | ||
| 53 | Mohamed Bin Abid | 19 | United Arab Emirates | UAE | ||
| 54 | Bruno N'Diaye | 19 | Senegal | SEN | ||
| 55 | Mohamed Abdullah | United Arab Emirates | UAE | |||
| 56 | Rami Kantari | 25 | Lebanon | LIB |