Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.[1] There were 75 competitors from 52 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. The event was won by Alexander Popov of the Unified Team. Gustavo Borges's bronze was Brazil's first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle since 1960. Stéphan Caron of France repeated as bronze medalist, the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. It was the first time since 1968 that the United States had competed and not won the event and the first time since 1956 that the Americans had competed and not taken any medal, as Jon Olsen finished fourth and defending champion Matt Biondi came in fifth.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Alexander Popov
VenuePiscines Bernat Picornell
Date28 July 1992 (heats & finals)
Competitors75 from 52 nations
Winning time49.02
Medalists
Alexander Popov
 Unified Team
Gustavo Borges
 Brazil
Stéphan Caron
 France

Background

This was the 21st 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]

Five of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist Matt Biondi of the United States, bronze medalist Stéphan Caron of France, fourth-place finisher Gennadiy Prigoda of the Soviet Union (now competing for the Unified Team), sixth-place finisher Andrew Baildon of Australia, and eighth-place finisher Tommy Werner of Sweden.

Biondi was the favorite, having also won the 1991 World Championship and his 1988 world record still standing. Caron and 1991 European Champion Alexander Popov were also contenders.[2]

Albania, Lithuania, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and the Seychelles each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team and competitors from Yugoslavia competed as Independent Olympic Participants. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition used the A/B final format instituted in 1984. 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 Matt Biondi (USA)48.42Austin, United States10 August 1988
Olympic record Matt Biondi (USA)48.63Seoul, South Korea22 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Gustavo Borges set a new South American area record, and two national records were set: the Russian record by Alexander Popov and the Puerto Rican record by Ricardo Busquets.

Schedule

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 28 July 199210:30
18:30
Heats
Finals

Results

Heats

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

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
1103Alexander Popov Unified Team49.29QA
2105Gustavo Borges Brazil49.49QA
384Jon Olsen United States49.63QA
4104Matt Biondi United States49.75QA
594Stéphan Caron France49.82QA
686Tommy Werner Sweden50.00QA
102Gennadiy Prigoda Unified Team50.00QA
897Christian Tröger Germany50.05QA
993Raimundas Mažuolis Lithuania50.17QB
1083Chris Fydler Australia50.26QB
1195Nils Rudolph Germany50.29QB
1296Christophe Kalfayan France50.30QB
1373Ricardo Busquets Puerto Rico50.31QB
14101John Steel New Zealand50.59QB
107Andrew Baildon Australia50.59QB
1685Giorgio Lamberti Italy50.65QB, WD
17106Roberto Gleria Italy50.66QB
1882Håkan Karlsson Sweden50.73
88Stephen Clarke Canada50.73
2081Béla Szabados Hungary50.78
2192Mike Fibbens Great Britain50.93
2274Rodrigo González Mexico51.04
2361Stéfan Voléry Switzerland51.05
24108Paul Howe Great Britain51.12
2591Emanuel Nascimento Brazil51.17
2698Franz Mortensen Denmark51.29
2787Uğur Taner Turkey51.34
2875Jarl Inge Melberg Norway51.39
2976Seddon Keyter South Africa51.42
3012Mladen Kapor Independent Olympic Participants51.44
3171Yoav Bruck Israel51.46
3266Indrek Sei Estonia51.47
72Yves Clausse Luxembourg51.47
3478Tsutomu Nakano Japan51.63
3565Krzysztof Cwalina Poland51.70
3667Nicholas Sanders New Zealand51.77
3762Giovanni Linscheer Suriname51.82
3857Janne Blomqvist Finland51.86
3968Michael Wright Hong Kong51.88
4064Xie Jun China51.94
4163Darren Ward Canada52.05
4254Arthur Li Kai Yien Hong Kong52.22
4351Allan Murray Bahamas52.43
4452Stavros Michaelides Cyprus52.54
4548Shigeo Ogata Japan52.74
4655Ivor Le Roux Zimbabwe52.92
4746Enrico Linscheer Suriname52.94
4856Marc Verbeeck Belgium52.97
4953Sebastián Lasave Argentina53.07
5045Geribryan Mewett Bermuda53.14
5134Ian Steed Raynor Bermuda53.16
5244Mohamed El-Azoul Egypt53.31
5343Nikos Paleokrassas Greece53.47
5435Rhoderick McGown Zimbabwe53.65
5558Patrick Sagisi Guam53.90
5641Kenneth Yeo Singapore54.44
5733Plutarco Castellanos Honduras54.66
5837Gustavo Bucaro Guatemala54.74
5926Adrian Romero Guam54.77
6036Laurent Alfred Virgin Islands54.89
6131Helder Torres Guatemala55.38
6247Frank Leskaj Albania55.50
6324Émile Lahoud Lebanon55.51
6411Mouhamed Diop Senegal55.82
6523Hussein Al-Sadiq Saudi Arabia55.96
6622Ahmad Faraj United Arab Emirates56.05
6725Ivan Roberts Seychelles56.15
6817Bruno N'Diaye Senegal56.39
6932Jarrah Al-Asmawi Kuwait56.72
7021Mohamed Bin Abid United Arab Emirates56.82
7127Carl Probert Fiji57.25
7214Kenny Roberts Seychelles58.86
7315Foy Gordon Chung Fiji1:03.96
7413Ahmed Imthiyaz Maldives1:04.96
7516Mohamed Rasheed Maldives1:08.12
42Nayef Al-Hasawi KuwaitDNS
77Peter Williams South AfricaDNS

Finals

[4]

Final B

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
92Ricardo Busquets Puerto Rico49.92NR
104Raimundas Mažuolis Lithuania50.13
116Christophe Kalfayan France50.49
123Nils Rudolph Germany50.62
137John Steel New Zealand50.69
145Chris Fydler Australia50.78
158Roberto Gleria Italy50.81
161Andrew Baildon Australia50.93

Final A

Popov won, well ahead of everyone else. An equipment error resulted in the scoreboard initially displaying Caron as the second-place swimmer and Borges as last. Borges last was an obvious mistake to anyone watching; he had been fighting for second. His touchpad had malfunctioned. Officials reviewed film of "his" finish, assigning him a time of 49.53—equal to Biondi; they then realized that the film had been of Biondi. Looking at the correct finish, the officials gave Borges a time of 49.43, good for the silver medal.[2]

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
4Alexander Popov Unified Team49.02NR
5Gustavo Borges Brazil49.43SA
2Stéphan Caron France49.50
43Jon Olsen United States49.51
56Matt Biondi United States49.53
61Tommy Werner Sweden49.63
78Christian Tröger Germany49.84
87Gennadiy Prigoda Unified Team50.25

References

  1. "Swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  2. "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 358. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  4. "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 358. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
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