Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle  The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place August 29. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.  8 fastest swimmer from seven heats advanced to final. Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3 Heat 4 Heat 5 Heat 6 Heat 7  Key: WR = World record