The men's 1500 metre freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

was a swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event held as part of the swimming at the 1932 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1932 Summer Olympics

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Saturday August 6, 1932 to Saturday August 13, 1932. There was a total of 128 participants from 20 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's...

 programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Thursday August 11, 1932 to Saturday August 13, 1932.

Fifteen swimmers from eight nations competed.

Medalists

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1932 Summer Olympics.

World Record	19:07.2	Arne Borg Arne Borg Claes Arne Borg was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records during the 1920s.He won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1926...	Bologna Bologna Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...  (ITA Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... )	September 2, 1927
Olympic Record	19:51.8	Arne Borg Arne Borg Claes Arne Borg was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records during the 1920s.He won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1926...	Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...  (NED Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... )	August 6, 1928

In the first semi-final Kusuo Kitamura

Kusuo Kitamura

was a Japanese swimmer who competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics.There he won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle event. He was born in Kōchi, Japan.-External links:*...

 set a new Olympic record with 19:51.6 minutes. Shozo Makino

Shozo Makino (swimmer)

was a Japanese freestyle swimmer.He was born in Shizuoka.Makino won a silver medal for the 1500 m freestyle in the 1932 Summer Olympics, and a bronze medal for the 400 m freestyle in the 1936 Summer Olympics.-Competitive highlights:...

 bettered this record in the second semi-final with 19:38.7 minutes. In the final Kusuo Kitamura

Kusuo Kitamura

was a Japanese swimmer who competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics.There he won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle event. He was born in Kōchi, Japan.-External links:*...

 again took the Olympic record with 19:12.4 minutes.

Heats

Thursday August 11, 1932: The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced to the final. In the second heat Sunao Ishiharada

Sunao Ishiharada

is a Japanese freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics.He was born in Kagoshima Prefecture.In 1932 he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 1500 metre freestyle event....

 and Boy Charlton

Boy Charlton

Andrew Murray Charlton , known popularly as Boy Charlton, was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1920s and 1930s who won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...

tied for second place which allowed ten swimmers to advance to the semi-finals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:55.2	QQ
2		20:01.0	QQ
3		20:01.2	qq
4		23:52.4

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:58.4	QQ
2		20:09.5	QQ
		20:09.5	QQ

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		20:06.0	QQ
2		20:12.6	QQ
3		21:04.5
4		22:39.2

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:53.3	QQ
2		20:48.1	QQ
3		22:19.6
4		23:40.0

Semifinals

Friday August 12, 1932: The fastest three in each semi-final advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:51.6	QQ OR
2		20:04.2	QQ
3		20:06.9	QQ
4		20:31.2
5		20:58.7

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:38.7	QQ OR
2		19:51.8	QQ
3		19:52.5	QQ
4		19:53.1
5		20:03.7

Final

Saturday August 13, 1932:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		19:12.4 OR
2		19:14.1
3		19:39.5
4		19:45.1
5		20:02.7
6		20:09.7