The breaststroke event, at the time contested exclusively by men, over 440 yards, or approximately 400 metres, made its Olympic debut at the Games of the III Olympiad in St. Louis in 1904. The event was shortened to 200 metres at the Games of the IV Olympiad in London in 1908 – which was the first time that Olympic swimming events took place in a purpose-built swimming pool, as opposed to open water – and has been contested at every Olympic Games since.
The inaugural event, swum in a 100-metre pool dug into the infield of the newly-opened White City Stadium, London in July, 1908, was won by Englishman Frederick Holman, who beat Scotsman William Robertson and Swede Pontus Hanson in the final. In that final, Hanson held a definite lead after 50 metres, but was joined at halfway by Robinson who, in turn, was overhauled by Holman on the final lap. Holman drew away in the closing stages to win by two yards and, in so doing, set the first officially recognised long course world record for the men’s 200-metre breaststroke, 3:09.2.
Since 1908, the only other British man to have won an Olympic gold medal in the 200-metre breaststroke event was Scotsman David Wilkie, who did so at the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal on July 24, 1976. Silver medallist, behind American John Hencken, at the Munich Olympics four years earlier, Wilkie set a new Olympic record of 2:18.29 in his heat and, in the final, reversed the previous placings with his old rival, winning the gold medal in a new long course record time of 2:15.11. Wilkie was, in fact, the only swimmer from outside the United States to win one of the 13 gold medals available in Montreal.