The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1976 Summer Olympics took place on July 19 at the Olympic Pool, Montreal. There were 55 competitors from 33 nations, with each nation having up to three swimmers. The medals were swept the United States, the only time there has been a medal sweep in the men's 200 metre freestyle (nations were later limited to two swimmers, making sweeps impossible). Bruce Furniss took gold, John Naber silver, and Jim Montgomery bronze. It was the second consecutive and third overall victory by an American swimmer. Background This was the fifth appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. Two of the 8 finalists from the 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist Werner Lampe and sixth-place finisher Klaus Steinbach, both of West Germany. Reigning Olympic champion Mark Spitz had retired at the age of 22 after winning 7 gold medals in 1972. The American team was still strong, however. Jim Montgomery had won the inaugural 1973 World Aquatics Championships. Tim Shaw, the 1975 World Champion who had broken Spitz's world record, did not swim in this event after finishing 5th in the U.S. trials (he competed in longer races in 1976). The 1975 runner-up, Bruce Furniss, however, had broken Shaw's record three times and was a favourite in this event. Montgomery and Furniss were joined by backstroke specialist John Naber. The Bahamas, Bulgaria, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. Australia and the United States made their fifth appearance each, the only two nations to have competed in all prior editions of the event. Competition format The competition used a two-round (heats, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 8 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke,