1988 Olympic Men's 100m Backstroke final - Daichi Suzuki

Huge upset. David Berkoff of the famous Berkoff Blastoff broke the world record in morning qualifying, defeating Daichi Suzuki by more than a second in the same heat. He matter of factly told Armen Keteyian of NBC that the final would be a two man race between himself and Igor Polyansky, with a world record required to win. This final did not approach the world record, a half second slower.

In 1988 the under water strategy was revolutionizing the backstroke. The rules were later amended to allow no more than 15 meters before surfacing.

GOLD - Daichi Suzuki (JPN), 55.05
SILVER - David Berkoff (USA), 55.18
BRONZE - Igor Polyansky (URS), 55.20

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[Chris K]

Shortly after this. It was 10m a few months after this race, then to 15m in '91 i believe

[JohnnyWishbone85]

Wow. People got away with that shit? Dayum.

[whatisavailable11]

wait when did the 15m rule come into effect?

[Adam C]

あなたは同性愛者である。

[NACSFOREVER2]

もの凄い番狂わせって酷い言い方だな。勝ちは勝ち、負けは負け。

確かに世界記録よりかはだいぶ遅いタイム、遅いレースだったかも­しれないが、

結果は結果。バーコフの技術を盗んだだの、何だの言ってるのもい­るんだな。

良かれと思ったら泳法を真似するのは当然のことだろう。

それを盗んだ、そして頭に来てるっていう言い方は良くないね。

レースでタラレバ言ってもしょうがないでしょ。。。

[bzach71]

Polianski could have won it if he didnt take the extra stroke....he's ahead (slightly) (3:09)

[Jack Weger]

The under water stategy was also disallowed in the Women's 200m Fly, especially

in 1998 World Championships with future Gold Medalist Misty Hyman.

[lexsoft]

Mark Tewskbury, swimmer at lane 1 here was the man who upset both Jeff Rouse and David Berkoff 4 years later in Barcelona 1992.

[lexsoft]

I agree, this was the huge upset then; I was a fan of David Berkoff, hoping he took the gold, but Suzuki stealed it from him.

[megablahmusicman]

he used to be mine at waq. ahhhhhhh