Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre individual medley
The men's 200 metre individual medley event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 25 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| 24 September | Final A | Tamás Darnyi | | 2:00.17 | |
Results
Heats
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | Tamás Darnyi | | 2:02.15 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Vadim Yaroshchuk | | 2:02.77 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Patrick Kühl | | 2:03.77 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Mikhail Zubkov | | 2:03.79 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Gary Anderson | | 2:04.00 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | Raik Hannemann | | 2:04.03 | Q |
| 7 | 8 | Peter Bermel | | 2:04.18 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | Robert Bruce | | 2:04.31 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | David Wharton | | 2:04.64 | q |
| 10 | 7 | Jens-Peter Berndt | | 2:04.80 | q |
| 11 | 7 | Christophe Bordeau | | 2:04.95 | q |
| 12 | 6 | Bill Stapleton | | 2:05.32 | q |
| 13 | 6 | Luca Sacchi | | 2:05.45 | q |
| 14 | 7 | Charalambos Papanikolaou | | 2:05.53 | q |
| 15 | 6 | John Davey | | 2:05.55 | q |
| 16 | 7 | Neil Cochran | | 2:05.56 | q |
| 17 | 8 | Rob Woodhouse | | 2:05.87 | |
| 18 | 6 | Roberto Cassio | | 2:05.88 | |
| 19 | 5 | Takahiro Fujimoto | | 2:07.23 | |
| 20 | 6 | Gary O'Toole | | 2:07.77 | |
| 21 | 8 | Darren Ward | | 2:07.84 | |
| 22 | 5 | Satoshi Takeda | | 2:08.11 | |
| 23 | 7 | József Szabó | | 2:09.08 | |
| 24 | 5 | Javier Careaga | | 2:09.38 | |
| 25 | 5 | Rodrigo González | | 2:09.52 | |
| 26 | 4 | Júlio César Rebolal | | 2:09.62 | |
| 27 | 5 | Eðvarð Þór Eðvarðsson | | 2:10.18 | |
| 28 | 4 | Diogo Madeira | | 2:10.21 | |
| 29 | 5 | Renato Ramalho | | 2:10.32 | |
| 30 | 4 | René Concepcion | | 2:10.37 | |
| 31 | 5 | Xie Jun | | 2:10.52 | |
| 31 | 5 | Martín López-Zubero | | 2:10.52 | |
| 33 | 4 | Sidney Appelboom | | 2:10.55 | |
| 34 | 4 | David Lim Fong Jock | | 2:11.57 | |
| 35 | 3 | Lee Jae-soo | | 2:11.88 | |
| 36 | 8 | Sergio López Miró | | 2:13.48 | |
| 37 | 3 | Richard Sam Bera | | 2:13.90 | |
| 38 | 4 | Wirmandi Sugriat | | 2:13.93 | |
| 39 | 3 | Hakan Eskioğlu | | 2:14.32 | |
| 40 | 4 | Yip Hor Man | | 2:14.65 | |
| 41 | 3 | Desmond Koh | | 2:14.77 | |
| 42 | 2 | Sultan Al-Otaibi | | 2:15.63 | |
| 43 | 3 | Eric Greenwood | | 2:15.64 | |
| 44 | 2 | Horst Niehaus | | 2:16.16 | |
| 45 | 3 | Jonathan Sakovich | | 2:16.70 | |
| 46 | 2 | Kraig Singleton | | 2:16.93 | |
| 47 | 2 | Graham Thompson | | 2:17.06 | |
| 48 | 3 | Arthur Li Kai Yien | | 2:17.10 | |
| 49 | 2 | Tsai Hsin-yen | | 2:17.95 | |
| 50 | 1 | Vaughan Smith | | 2:18.07 | |
| 51 | 2 | Chiang Chi-li | | 2:18.76 | |
| 52 | 2 | Mouhamed Diop | | 2:20.74 | |
| 53 | 1 | Mohamed Bin Abid | | 2:29.08 | |
| 54 | 2 | Bruno N'Diaye | | 2:29.18 | |
| 55 | 1 | Mohamed Abdullah | | 2:31.44 | |
| 56 | 1 | Rami Kantari | | 2:34.53 | |
| 3 | Patrick Concepcion | | | |
| 8 | Jan Bidrman | | | |
Finals
Final B
Final A
