1988 Olympic Games - Swimming - Men's 200 Meter Individual Medley - Tamas Darnyi HUN

Tamás Darnyi 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.

[@sewgood22]

He's a legend ♡♡♡

[@TheCopper05]

One of the Best IMer's

[@KolyaDickinson]

I was 11 and never forget !!! Salut my Friends from Rio de Janeiro/ Brasil!!!

[@chrisverby3047]

This guy's closing freestyle leg was in another category altogether. Otherwise well balanced in the other 3 strokes, but that freestyle was insane.

[@gianlucamantovan9510]

His possible mark in 400 crawl around 1991 would have been beaten only by Thorpe.

[@chrisverby3047]

@@gianlucamantovan9510 actually, I think Kieran Perkins would have easily beaten darnyi.

[@gianlucamantovan9510]

@@chrisverby3047 not so easy to reply as Darnyi set his 400 Im pb in 1991, Perkins in 400 crawl in 1994. I would rate Darnyi around 3.44 at his best in 1991 if he had prepared for one year that race only, thus no Im competition.

[@Ineddiblehulk]

You can’t just fabricate a time from a complete hypothetical with no data to back it up 🤦‍♂️ this is just utter nonsense

[@arlieferguson3990]

30 seconds/50m in an IM race is very fast.