Swimming at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke
The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1952 Olympic Games took place between 31 July and 2 August at the Swimming Stadium. 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
Results
Heats
16 fastest swimmer advanced to semifinals.
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Monte Nitzkowski | | 2:40.6 | |
| 2 | Pierre Joly dit Dumesnil | | 2:43.4 | |
| 3 | Marek Petrusewicz | | 2:44.0 | |
| 4 | Juha Tikka | | 2:46.3 | |
| 5 | Brian Barnes | | 2:48.6 | |
| 6 | René Kohn | | 2:59.3 | |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | John Davies | | 2:39.7 | |
| 2 | Jiro Nagasawa | | 2:40.4 | |
| 3 | Nikola Trojanović | | 2:42.4 | |
| 4 | Bengt Rask | | 2:45.3 | |
| 5 | Ludovicus Schoenmaekers | | 2:46.5 | |
| 6 | Yury Kurchashov | | 2:47.3 | |
| 7 | Alfons Oehy | | 2:54.8 | |
| 8 | Muhammad Bashir | | 3:01.3 | |
Heat 3
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Ľudovít Komadel | | 2:38.9 | |
| 2 | Orlando Cossani | | 2:39.6 | |
| 3 | Takayoshi Kajikawa | | 2:39.6 | |
| 4 | Walter Ocampo | | 2:44.8 | |
| 5 | Octavio Mobiglia | | 2:46.1 | |
| 6 | Giorgio Grilz | | – | disqualified |
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Bowen Stassforth | | 2:39.3 | |
| 2 | David Hawkins | | 2:41.2 | |
| 3 | George Portelance | | 2:42.5 | |
| 4 | Pyotr Skripchenkov | | 2:47.3 | |
| 5 | Blago Barbieri | | 2:47.3 | |
| 6 | Knud Gleie | | 2:51.4 | |
| 7 | Vladimír Skovajsa | | 2:53.3 | |
Heat 5
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Gerald Holan | | 2:36.8 | |
| 2 | Maurice Lusien | | 2:40.9 | |
| 3 | Nobuyasu Hirayama | | 2:41.5 | |
| 4 | Adhemar Grijó Filho | | 2:47.6 | |
| 5 | Habib Suharko | | 2:51.3 | |
Heat 6
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Herbert Klein | | 2:37.0 | |
| 2 | Daan Buijze | | 2:41.9 | |
| 3 | Vladimir Borisenko | | 2:43.2 | |
| 4 | Aulis Kähkönen | | 2:43.8 | |
| 5 | Manuel Sanguily | | 2:44.5 | |
| 6 | Vlastimil Linhart | | 2:48.0 | |
| 7 | Awad Moukhtar Halloudah | | 2:50.5 | |
| 8 | Eduardo Barbeiro | | 3:04.6 | |
Semifinals
Eight fastest swimmers advanced to final.
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | John Davies | | 2:36.8 | |
| 2 | Ľudovít Komadeľ | | 2:38.8 | |
| 3 | Nobuyasu Hirayama | | 2:39.1 | |
| 4 | Gerald Holan | | 2:39.2 | |
| 5 | Monte Nitzkowski | | 2:41.4 | |
| 6 | Daan Buijze | | 2:42.6 | |
| 7 | Orlando Cossani | | 2:43.1 | |
| 8 | George Portelance | | 2:43.8 | |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Note |
| 1 | Herbert Klein | | 2:37.0 | |
| 2 | Takayoshi Kajikawa | | 2:37.3 | |
| 3 | Bowen Stassforth | | 2:38.7 | |
| 4 | Jiro Nagasawa | | 2:39.0 | |
| 5 | Maurice Lusien | | 2:39.1 | |
| 6 | David Hawkins | | 2:39.8 | |
| 7 | Nikola Trojanović | | 2:41.8 | |
| 8 | Vladimir Borisenko | | 2:46.2 | |
Final
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| John Davies | | 2:34.4 | OR |
| Bowen Stassforth | | 2:34.7 | |
| Herbert Klein | | 2:35.9 | |
| 4 | Nobuyasu Hirayama | | 2:37.4 | |
| 5 | Takayoshi Kajikawa | | 2:38.6 | |
| 6 | Jiro Nagasawa | | 2:39.1 | |
| 7 | Maurice Lusien | | 2:39.8 | |
| 8 | Ľudovít Komadeľ | | 2:40.1 | |
Key: OR = Olympic record
