Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on July 31, 1984.[1] There were 68 competitors from 45 nations.[2] Nations were limited to two swimmers each, down from three in prior Games. The event was won by Rowdy Gaines of the United States, the nation's third victory in four Games—with only the boycotted 1980 Olympics missing. Overall, it was the 11th victory for an American in the men's 100 metre freestyle, most of any nation. Mark Stockwell of Australia took silver. Swedish swimmer Per Johansson repeated as bronze medalist, only the seventh man to earn multiple medals in the event.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Rowdy Gaines (1983)
VenueMcDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium
Date31 July 1984 (heats & final)
Competitors68 from 45 nations
Winning time49.80 OR
Medalists
Rowdy Gaines
 United States
Mark Stockwell
 Australia
Per Johansson
 Sweden
Swimming at the
1984 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mmenwomen
4×200 mmen
Medley relay
4×100 mmenwomen

Background

This was the 19th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.[2]

One of the eight finalists from the 1980 Games returned: bronze medalist Per Johansson of Sweden. The reigning gold medalist, and 1982 world champion, Jörg Woithe of East Germany, was absent due to the Soviet-led boycott. World runner-up Rowdy Gaines had missed the 1980 Games due to the American-led boycott at the peak of his ability; four years later, he was still favored. Johansson had took third at worlds.[2]

With a large field and a reduced maximum per nation, many nations new to the event were able to compete. The Bahamas, Bahrain, the People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Fiji, Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, San Marino, Suriname, Swaziland, and Uganda each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition used a new A/B final format. The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the A final, competing for medals through 8th place. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the semifinals competed in the B final for 9th through 16th place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record Rowdy Gaines (USA)49.36Austin, United States3 April 1981
Olympic record Jim Montgomery (USA)49.99Montreal, Canada25 July 1976

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundSwimmerNationTimeRecord
31 JulyHeat 3Antonio Portela Portugal52.47NR
31 JulyHeat 4Michael Miao Chinese Taipei52.76NR
31 JulyHeat 4Shigeo Ogata Japan52.96NR
31 JulyHeat 6Peter Rohde Denmark51.40NR
31 JulyHeat 9Mohamed Youssef Chinese Taipei53.19NR
31 JulyFinal BAng Peng Siong Singapore51.09NR
31 JulyFinal ARowdy Gaines United States49.80OR
31 JulyFinal AMark Stockwell Australia50.24OC
31 JulyFinal ADano Halsall Switzerland50.50NR
31 JulyFinal AAlberto Mestre Venezuela50.70NR
31 JulyFinal AStéphan Caron France50.70NR

Schedule
Date Time Round
Tuesday, 31 July 19849:10
16:35
16:40		Heats
Final A
Final B

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.[3]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
164Mark Stockwell Australia50.27QA
294Mike Heath United States50.39QA
384Rowdy Gaines United States50.41QA
453Per Johansson Sweden50.57QA
563Dano Halsall Switzerland50.91QA
614Alberto Mestre Venezuela50.99QA
723Dirk Korthals West Germany51.02QA
834Stéphan Caron France51.13QA
975Hans Kroes Netherlands51.19QB
95Thomas Lejdström Sweden51.19QB
1144Michael Delany Australia51.22QB, WD
1224Stéfan Voléry Switzerland51.24QB
1383Edsard Schlingemann Netherlands50.41QB
1465Peter Rohde Denmark51.40QB, NR
1533Ang Peng Siong Singapore51.66QB
1643David Lowe Great Britain51.68QB
1785Fabrizio Rampazzo Italy51.71QB
1835Cyro Delgado Brazil51.74
1974Fernando Cañales Puerto Rico51.75
2073Alexander Schowtka West Germany51.78
2113Paul Easter Great Britain51.83
2293David Churchill Canada51.85
2366Ramiro Estrada Mexico52.07
2425Franz Mortensen Denmark52.22
2515Alexander Pilhatsch Austria52.25
2686Marco Colombo Italy52.34
2736Antonio Portela Portugal52.47NR
2845Ronald Menezes Brazil52.49
2955Blair Hicken Canada52.74
3042Michael Miao Chinese Taipei52.76NR
3156Mu Lati China52.82
3292Shen Jianqiang China52.84
3346Shigeo Ogata Japan52.96NR
3493Mohamed Youssef Egypt53.19NR
3562Kemal Sadri Özün Turkey53.39
3616Li Khai-kam Hong Kong53.48
3754Sean Nottage Bahamas53.66
3882Fabián Ferrari Argentina53.69
3926Satoshi Sumida Japan53.83
4032Hilton Woods Netherlands Antilles53.92
4187Lukman Niode Indonesia54.10
4212Oon Jin Gee Singapore54.17
4352Gökhan Attaroğlu Turkey54.22
4472Fernando Rodríguez Peru54.61
4596Deryck Marks Jamaica54.63
27William Wilson Philippines54.63
4737Erik Rosskopf Virgin Islands54.80
4877César Sánchez Mexico54.94
4967Anthony Nesty Suriname54.99
5057Ahmed Said Egypt55.01
5122Evert Johan Kroon Netherlands Antilles55.20
5276Gordon Scarlett Jamaica55.34
5347Collier Woolard Virgin Islands55.67
5451Samuela Tupou Fiji55.85
5517Ingi Jónsson Iceland56.31
5671Jean-Luc Adorno Monaco56.38
5781Warren Sorby Fiji56.75
5831Rodrigo Leal Guatemala56.80
5961Khaled Al-Assaf Kuwait56.91
6041Ernesto-José Degenhart Guatemala57.20
6188Hamad Bader Bahrain58.16
6278Trevor Ncala Swaziland58.22
6398Michele Piva San Marino59.26
6458Rodolfo Torres Honduras1:00.92
6568Domingos Chivavele Mozambique1:01.38
6621Percy Sayegh Lebanon1:01.88
6711Rami Kantari Lebanon1:01.96
6891Daniel Mulumba Uganda1:07.86

Final B
RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
97Ang Peng Siong Singapore51.09NR
103Stéfan Voléry Switzerland51.42
111David Lowe Great Britain51.48
128Fabrizio Rampazzo Italy51.56
134Hans Kroes Netherlands51.64
5Thomas Lejdström Sweden51.64
156Edsard Schlingemann Netherlands51.74
162Peter Rohde Denmark51.98

Final A

The Australian team protested the final, arguing that the start had not been fair. The Americans had experience with the starter and knew he had a tendency toward a quick trigger. The Australian protest was disallowed.[2]

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
3Rowdy Gaines United States49.80OR
4Mark Stockwell Australia50.24OC
6Per Johansson Sweden50.31
45Mike Heath United States50.41
52Dano Halsall Switzerland50.50NR
67Alberto Mestre Venezuela50.70NR
8Stéphan Caron France50.70NR
81Dirk Korthals West Germany50.93

References
  1. "Swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  2. "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  3. "Los Angeles 1984: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Los Angeles 1984. LA84 Foundation. pp. 502–503. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.