Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 9, 2008 (heats)
August 10, 2008 (final)
Competitors37 from 27 nations
Winning time3:41.86
Medalists
Park Tae-Hwan  South Korea
Zhang Lin  China
Larsen Jensen  United States
Swimming at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Qualification
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
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 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4×100 mmenwomen
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen

Reigning world champion Park Tae-Hwan made an Olympic milestone to become South Korea's first ever gold medalist in swimming. He powered past the field to an unexpected triumph in an Asian record of 3:41.86.[2][3][4] Coming from sixth place in the final lap, China's Zhang Lin delighted the home crowd with a silver-medal effort in 3:42.44. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen set a new American record of 3:42.78 to take the bronze.[5]

American Peter Vanderkaay delivered a strong swim with a fourth-place effort in 3:43.11, just 0.35 of a second ahead of Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli, who established a new African record of 3:43.45. Leading the field in the first 100 metres, Australia's Grant Hackett, the silver medalist in the event from Athens, could not keep the pace over the final laps, and settled only for sixth place with a time of 3:43.84. Russian duo Yuri Prilukov (3:43.97) and Nikita Lobintsev (3:48.29) rounded out the final.[2][3]

Records

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

World record Ian Thorpe (AUS)3:40.08Manchester, United Kingdom30 July 2002[6]
Olympic record Ian Thorpe (AUS)3:40.59Sydney, Australia16 September 2000-

Results

Heats
RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144Larsen Jensen United States3:43.10Q, AM
235Zhang Lin China3:43.32Q, AS
334Park Tae-Hwan South Korea3:43.35Q
446Nikita Lobintsev Russia3:43.45Q, NR
554Grant Hackett Australia3:44.03Q
655Peter Vanderkaay United States3:44.22Q
745Oussama Mellouli Tunisia3:44.54Q
853Yuri Prilukov Russia3:44.82Q
952Ryan Cochrane Canada3:44.85NR
1032Takeshi Matsuda Japan3:44.99NR
1133Federico Colbertaldo Italy3:45.28
1248Mads Glæsner Denmark3:45.38NR
1343Massimiliano Rosolino Italy3:45.57
1431Nicolas Rostoucher France3:47.15
1557David Carry Great Britain3:47.17NR
1651Sergey Fesenko Ukraine3:47.75NR
1758Dragoș Coman Romania3:47.79
1837Paul Biedermann Germany3:48.03
1956Przemysław Stańczyk Poland3:48.11
2025David Brandl Austria3:48.63
2138Dean Milwain Great Britain3:48.77
2247Paweł Korzeniowski Poland3:48.78
2324Sébastien Rouault France3:48.84
2423Spyridon Gianniotis Greece3:49.34
2536Craig Stevens Australia3:50.22
2615Gard Kvale Norway3:50.47NR
2727Dominik Meichtry Switzerland3:50.55
2842Sun Yang China3:50.90
2941Christian Kubusch Germany3:52.73
3026Jean Basson South Africa3:52.90
3114Daniele Tirabassi Venezuela3:53.26
3228Balázs Gercsák Hungary3:54.14
3313Květoslav Svoboda Czech Republic3:56.54
3422Jon Raahauge Rud Denmark3:57.41
3516Juan Martín Pereyra Argentina3:59.35
3612Oleg Rabota Kazakhstan4:02.16
21Luka Turk SloveniaDNS

Final
RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
3Park Tae-Hwan South Korea3:41.86AS
5Zhang Lin China3:42.44NR
4Larsen Jensen United States3:42.78AM
47Peter Vanderkaay United States3:43.11
51Oussama Mellouli Tunisia3:43.45AF
62Grant Hackett Australia3:43.84
78Yuri Prilukov Russia3:43.97
86Nikita Lobintsev Russia3:48.29

References
  1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Tae Hwan Park Captures Gold Medal in Men's 400 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  3. "Park secures 400m freestyle gold". BBC Sport. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  4. "S. Korean Park wins men's 400m freestyle Olympic gold". Xinhua. China Daily. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  5. "Park Tae-hwan wins swim event". News24. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  6. "Double joy for Thorpe". BBC Sport. 30 July 2002. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
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