Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre team swimming

The men's 200 metre team swimming was an event on the swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics schedule in Paris. It was held on August 12, 1900. 20 swimmers from two nations constituted four teams; 18 of the swimmers actually swam.

Men's 200 metre team swimming at the Games of the II Olympiad
Venue	River Seine
Date	August 12
Competitors	20 from 2 nations
Medalists
Deutscher Schwimm-Verband Berlin  Germany Tritons Lillois  France Pupilles de Neptune de Lille  France

Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
200 m	men
1000 m	men
4000 m	men
Backstroke
200 m	men
Other
200 m team	men
200 m obstacle	men
Underwater	men

There were four heats, with five swimmers in each heat. Scoring used a fairly strange system—swimmers were seeded into the heats, then received a number of points depending on what place they received in which heat. The five swimmers in the first heat were given between 1 and 5 points, with the winner receiving 1 and points increasing with place. The swimmers in the second heat received between 6 and 10 points, and so on. The scores of the five swimmers on a team were summed, and the team with the fewest points won. This gave a strong advantage to the German team, which had three swimmers in the first heat, and an equally strong disadvantage to the Parisian team, with three swimmers in the fourth heat.

If points are given by best time regardless of heat, the Pupilles de Neptune and the Tritons switch places, though the Germans still win and the Parisian team still takes fourth.[1]