Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event.

Men's 100 meter backstroke at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Venue	Stade Nautique d'Antwerp
Dates	August 22–23
Competitors	12 from 6 nations
Medalists
Warren Kealoha  United States Ray Kegeris  United States Gérard Blitz  Belgium

A total of 12 swimmers from six nations competed in the event, which was held on Sunday, August 22 and on Monday, August 23, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	1:15.6	Otto Fahr	Magdeburg (GER)	April 29, 1912
Olympic Record	1:20.8	Harry Hebner	Stockholm (SWE)	July 10, 1912

In the first semi-final Ray Kegeris bettered the Olympic record to 1:17.8 minutes. In the second semi-final Warren Kealoha set a new world record with 1:14.8 minutes.

Results

Semifinals

Sunday, August 22, 1920: The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Ray Kegeris (USA)	1:17.8	Q OR
2	Harold Kruger (USA)	1:19.0	Q
3	Gaspard Lemaire (BEL)	1:28.0
4	Asbjørn Wang (NOR)	1:28.2
5	Henri Matter (FRA)
6	George Robertson (GBR)

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Warren Kealoha (USA)	1:14.8	Q WR
2	Gérard Blitz (BEL)	1:18.6	Q
3	Perry McGillivray (USA)	1:20.4	q
4	Per Holmström (SWE)	1:26.0
5	George Webster (GBR)
6	Daniel Lehu (FRA)

Final

Monday, August 23, 1920:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	Warren Kealoha (USA)	1:15.2
2	Ray Kegeris (USA)	1:16.8
3	Gérard Blitz (BEL)	1:19.0
4	Perry McGillivray (USA)	1:19.4
5	Harold Kruger (USA)

Notes

• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 2 May 2008.