The men's 4x200 metre freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 relay was a swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event held as part of the swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Saturday August 8, 1936 to Saturday August 15, 1936. There was a total of 248 participants from 29 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's...

 programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held on Monday, August 10, 1936 and on Tuesday, August 11, 1936.

The United States replaced two swimmer between the semi-finals and the final. Seventy-four swimmers from 18 nations competed.

Medalists

Shigeo Arai Shigeo Arai was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medal for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay and bronze medal for 100 m freestyle in the 1936 Summer Olympics.Serving in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, he was killed in Burma on July 18, 1944.... Shigeo Sugiura Shigeo Sugiura was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medal for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay in the 1936 Summer Olympics, alongside Masanori Yusa, Masaharu Taguchi, and Shigeo Arai.-External links:*... Masaharu Taguchi Masaharu Taguchi was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medal for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay in the 1936 Summer Olympics, alongside Masanori Yusa, Shigeo Sugiura, and Shigeo Arai.-External links:*... Masanori Yusa Masanori Yusa was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medals for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay in the 1932 Summer Olympics and 1936 Summer Olympics...

Ralph Flanagan Ralph Flanagan (swimmer) Ralph Drew Flanagan was an American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.In the 1936 Olympics he won a silver medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event, was fourth in the 400 m freestyle event and fifth in the 1500 m freestyle event.He died in Los Alamitos, California.-External links:*... John Macionis John Macionis John Joseph Macionis is a former American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.Born in Philadelphia, Macionis swam for Big Brothers, Germantown Y.M.C.A., and Central High School, where he captained the swim team and set a world's record in the 200 yard freestyle in 1933... Jack Medica Jack Medica Jack Chapman Medica was an American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.In the 1936 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle event and silver medals in the 1500-meter freestyle event and in 4x200-meter freestyle relay event.After his retirement, brought on by World War... Paul Wolf Paul Wolf Paul G. Wolf was an American swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event.He was born in Madison, Indiana and died in Pasadena, California....

Oszkár Abay-Nemes Oszkár Abay-Nemes Oszkár Abay-Nemes was an Hungarian swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.In the 1936 Olympics he won a bronze medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event. He was also seventh in his semifinal of the 100 m freestyle event and did not advance.-External links:*... Ferenc Csik Ferenc Csík Ferenc Csik was an Hungarian swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.In the 1936 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 100 m freestyle event and a bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay event. Csik went on to become a medical doctor, and died in an air raid while assisting a... Ödön Gróf Ödön Gróf Ödön Gróf was an Hungarian swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.In the 1936 Olympics he won a bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay event... Árpád Lengyel Árpad Lengyel Árpád Lengyel was an Hungarian swimmer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.He was born in Kaposvár and died in Edgewater, New Jersey, United States....

Note: The International Olympic Committee medal database shows only these swimmers as medalists. Ralph Gilman and Charles Hutter swam for the United States in the semi-finals but were not credited with silver medals.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics.

World Record	8:52.2	Masanori Yusa Masanori Yusa was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medals for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay in the 1932 Summer Olympics and 1936 Summer Olympics...   Shozo Makino Shozo Makino (swimmer) was a Japanese freestyle swimmer.He was born in Shizuoka.Makino won a silver medal for the 1500 m freestyle in the 1932 Summer Olympics, and a bronze medal for the 400 m freestyle in the 1936 Summer Olympics.-Competitive highlights:...   Sunao Ishiharada Sunao Ishiharada is a Japanese freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics.He was born in Kagoshima Prefecture.In 1932 he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 1500 metre freestyle event....   Hiroshi Negami	Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...  (JPN Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... )	August 19, 1935
Olympic Record	8:58.4	Yasuji Miyazaki Yasuji Miyazaki was a Japanese swimmer. He competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics. There, he won two gold medals, in the 100 m freestyle event and 4x200 m freestyle relay event.-External links:*...   Masanori Yusa Masanori Yusa was a Japanese freestyle swimmer. He won gold medals for the Men's 4×200 m freestyle relay in the 1932 Summer Olympics and 1936 Summer Olympics...   Hisakichi Toyoda Hisakichi Toyoda was a Japanese swimmer who competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics. There he won the gold medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event. He was born in Yamaguchi, Japan, and is the grandfather of three-time Olympian Kenji Watanabe.-References:**...   Takashi Yokoyama Takashi Yokoyama (swimmer) Takashi Yokoyama was a Japanese swimmer. He competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics. There, he won a gold medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay event.-External links:*...	Los Angeles Los Ángeles Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	August 9, 1932

In the final the Japan set a new world record with 8:51.5 minutes.

Semifinals

Monday, August 10, 1936: The fastest two in each semi-final and the next two fastest from across the semi-finals advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmers	Time	Qual.
1		9:21.7	QQ
2		9:40.0	QQ
3		9:42.5
4		9:45.8
5		10:50.5
6		10:51.0

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmers	Time	Qual.
1		9:10.4	QQ
2		9:20.8	QQ
3		9:30.8	qq
4		9:39.6
5		10:58.4
6		10:59.8
—		DSQ

Semifinal 3

Place	Swimmers	Time	Qual.
1		8:56.1	QQ
2		9:21.4	QQ
3		9:35.3	qq
4		9:40.3
5		10:05.3

Final

Tuesday, August 11, 1936:

Place	Swimmers	Time
1		8:51.5 WR
2		9:03.0
3		9:12.3
4		9:18.2
5		9:19.0
6		9:21.5
7		9:27.5
8		9:37.5