Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke

The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1956 Olympic Games took place between 30 November and 6 December. 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	Masaru Furukawa  Japan
Silver	Masahiro Yoshimura  Japan
Bronze	Kharis Yunichev  Soviet Union

Results

Heats

Three heats were held; the swimmers with the fastest eight times advanced to the Finals. The athletes that advanced are highlighted.

Heat One

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Masaru Furukawa	Japan	2:36.1
2	Knud Gleie	Denmark	2:36.4
3	Farid Dosayev	Soviet Union	2:43.9
4	Louis Kozma	Belgium	2:48.4
5	Shamsher Khan	India	3:17.0
–	Octávio Mobiglia	Brazil	DSQ
–	Palsons Naibula	Philippines	DSQ

Heat Two

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Igor Zaseda	Soviet Union	2:40.1
2	Terry Gathercole	Australia	2:40.2
3	Manuel Sanguily	Cuba	2:41.8
4	René Kohn	Luxembourg	2:50.9
5	István Szívós	Hungary	3:18.7
–	Álvaro Gómez	Colombia	DSQ
–	Herbert Klein	Germany	DSQ

Heat Three

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time
1	Masahiro Yoshimura	Japan	2:38.6
2	Kharis Yunichev	Soviet Union	2:41.2
3	Hugues Broussard	France	2:43.0
4	Gilbert Desmit	Belgium	2:43.5
5	Christopher Walkden	Great Britain	2:47.1
6	Robert Hughes	United States	2:52.2
–	Ghulam Rasul	Pakistan	DSQ

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Masaru Furukawa	Japan	2:34.7
	Masahiro Yoshimura	Japan	2:36.7
	Kharis Yunichev	Soviet Union	2:36.8
4	Terry Gathercole	Australia	2:38.7
5	Igor Zaseda	Soviet Union	2:39.0
6	Knud Gleie	Denmark	2:40.0
7	Manuel Sanguily	Cuba	2:42.0
	Hugues Broussard	France		DSQ

A loophole in the rules allowed swimmers to swim below the surface of the water, which was quicker and more efficient, with Furukawa spending 75% of the race underwater. Underwater swimming was banned in early 1957.

Key: DSQ = Disqualified