Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 17 and 18.[1] There were 69 competitors from 62 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Pieter van den Hoogenband (2008)
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DatesAugust 17, 2004 (heats &
semifinals)
August 18, 2004 (final)
Competitors69 from 62 nations
Winning time48.17
Medalists
Pieter van den Hoogenband
 Netherlands
Roland Mark Schoeman
 South Africa
Ian Thorpe
 Australia

Summary

Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband defended his Olympic title in the event (the fourth man to do so), outside the record time of 48.17. Roland Mark Schoeman, who solidified South Africa's triumph to break a world record in the 400 m freestyle relay, took home the silver in 48.23. It was South Africa's first medal in the event. Australia's Ian Thorpe edged out Schoeman's teammate Ryk Neethling to clinch a bronze medal by 0.07 of a second, in his personal best of 48.56.[3][4] Australia had not earned a medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle since 1968. Thorpe was the first man to win medals in the 100, 200, and 400 metre freestyle races in a single Olympics.[5]

Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Popov finished only in ninth place by just two hundredths of a second (0.02) outside the top 8 field from the semifinals (49.23).[6] By the following year, Popov announced his retirement from swimming, and became a full-time member of the International Olympic Committee. Other notable swimmers who missed the final cut featured France's Frédérick Bousquet, Lithuania's Rolandas Gimbutis, Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell, and U.S. duo Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker. This became the first 100m freestyle where not a single American qualified for the semifinals.

Background

This was the twenty-fourth 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]

Two of the eight finalists from the 2000 Games returned: gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands and silver medalist (and 1992 and 1996 gold medalist) Alexander Popov of Russia. Van den Hoogenband had placed second at the last two world championships, behind American Anthony Ervin (who had retired in 2003 at age 22) in 2001 and Popov in 2003. Ian Thorpe of Australia, primarily a middle-distance swimmer who had not competed in the 100 in 2000 when he won five gold medals, had shown ability in sprinting by placing third in the 2003 world championship.

Azerbaijan, Burundi, Guyana, Iraq, Latvia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia and Montenegro each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 23rd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Records

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

World record Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED)47.84Sydney, Australia19 September 2000
Olympic record Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED)47.84Sydney, Australia19 September 2000

Schedule

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 17 August 200410:00
19:30
Heats
Semifinals
Wednesday, 18 August 200420:20Final

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
174Pieter van den Hoogenband Netherlands48.70Q
254Rolandas Gimbutis Lithuania48.85Q
75Ryk Neethling South Africa48.85Q
461Duje Draganja Croatia49.07Q
572Frédérick Bousquet France49.08Q
685Ian Thorpe Australia49.17Q
791Romain Barnier France49.49Q
895Alexander Popov Russia49.51Q
983Andrey Kapralov Russia49.52Q
1077Peter Mankoč Slovenia49.54Q
1193Filippo Magnini Italy49.58Q
1288George Bovell Trinidad and Tobago49.61Q
1384Roland Mark Schoeman South Africa49.68Q
1462Luis Rojas Venezuela49.69Q
1571Torsten Spanneberg Germany49.71Q
1692Salim Iles Algeria49.72Q
1766Yuriy Yegoshin Ukraine49.73
73Ian Crocker United States49.73
1981Milorad Čavić Serbia and Montenegro49.74
2068Stefan Nystrand Sweden49.75
2194Jason Lezak United States49.87
2264Karel Novy Switzerland49.93
2365Matthew Kidd Great Britain49.97
2497José Meolans Argentina49.98
2582Lorenzo Vismara Italy50.03
2698Tiago Venâncio Portugal50.18
2758Yoshihiro Okumura Japan50.24
2863Attila Zubor Hungary50.26
2956Stanislau Neviarouski Belarus50.36
3087Eduardo Lorente Spain50.48
3186Ashley Callus Australia50.56
3255Aristeidis Grigoriadis Greece50.61
3367Jader Souza Brazil50.67
52Matti Rajakylä Finland50.67
3546Romāns Miloslavskis Latvia50.94
3696Stephan Kunzelmann Germany50.98
3753Danil Haustov Estonia51.02
3842Alexandros Aresti Cyprus51.10
3945Ryan Pini Papua New Guinea51.11
4033Carl Probert Fiji51.42
4143Paul Kutscher Uruguay51.45
4244Kaan Tayla Turkey51.52
4351Cameron Gibson New Zealand51.56
4441George Gleason Virgin Islands51.69
4534Lee Chung-hee South Korea51.74
31Ismael Ortiz Panama51.74
4723Octavian Guţu Moldova51.84
4835Damian Alleyne Barbados51.89
4936Max Schnettler Chile51.91
5047Allen Ong Malaysia52.04
5132Vyacheslav Titarenko Kazakhstan52.09
5248Raichin Antonov Bulgaria52.33
5325Camilo Becerra Colombia52.57
5438Wu Nien-pin Chinese Taipei52.58
5526Željko Panić Bosnia and Herzegovina52.75
5637Mark Chay Singapore52.83
5724Aleksandr Agafonov Uzbekistan52.92
5821Obaid Al Jasmi United Arab Emirates54.17
5927Onan Orlando Thom Guyana55.24
6057Huang Shaohua China55.46
6122Babak Farhoudi Iran56.42
6228Jean Laurent Ravera Monaco56.47
6312Mohammed Abbas Iraq56.81
6416Tamir Andryei Mongolia57.29
6517Leonel Matonse Mozambique57.79
6614Hesham Shehab Bahrain57.94
6713Sergey Dyachkov Azerbaijan58.26
6815Mumtaz Ahmed Pakistan59.19
6911Emery Nziyunvira Burundi1:09.40
76Brent Hayden CanadaDNS
78Rick Say CanadaDNS

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
121Roland Mark Schoeman South Africa48.39Q
224Pieter van den Hoogenband Netherlands48.55Q
327Filippo Magnini Italy48.91Q
422Andrey Kapralov Russia49.12Q
518Salim Iles Algeria49.13Q
615Duje Draganja Croatia49.14Q
725Ryk Neethling South Africa49.18Q
813Ian Thorpe Australia49.21Q
916Alexander Popov Russia49.23
1023Frédérick Bousquet France49.25
1117George Bovell Trinidad and Tobago49.53
1226Romain Barnier France49.63
1312Peter Mankoč Slovenia49.71
1414Rolandas Gimbutis Lithuania49.75
1511Luis Rojas Venezuela49.85
1628Torsten Spanneberg Germany49.88

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
5Pieter van den Hoogenband Netherlands48.17
4Roland Mark Schoeman South Africa48.23
8Ian Thorpe Australia48.56
41Ryk Neethling South Africa48.63
53Filippo Magnini Italy48.99
67Duje Draganja Croatia49.23
72Salim Iles Algeria49.30
6Andrey Kapralov Russia49.30

References

  1. "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. "Van den Hoogenband wins 100 meters". CNN. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  4. Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Hoogie Takes the 100 Free, Repeats Sydney Win, Schoeman takes Silver, Thorpe the Bronze". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  5. "Ian Thorpe – Career at a glance". ABC News. 21 November 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
  6. Whitten, Phillip (18 August 2004). "Day 4, Semifinals: Schoeman, Hoogie Qualify 1-2 for the 100 Free Final; Popov Is Out". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.