Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Alexander Popov 006.jpg
Alexander Popov
VenueGeorgia Tech Aquatic Center
Date22 July 1996 (heats & finals)
Competitors61 from 45 nations
Winning time48.74
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alexander Popov
 Russia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gary Hall, Jr.
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gustavo Borges
 Brazil
← 1992
2000 →
Swimming at the
1996 Summer Olympics
Swimming pictogram.svg
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
  • v
  • t

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 22 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.[1] There were 60 competitors from 54 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. The event was won by Alexander Popov of Russia, the third man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the 100 metre freestyle (after Duke Kahanamoku in 1912 and 1920 and Johnny Weissmuller in 1924 and 1928). Gary Hall, Jr. returned the United States to the podium in the event after a one-Games absence. Gustavo Borges, the silver medalist in 1992, earned bronze. Popov and Borges were the 9th and 10th men to earn multiple medals in the event.

Background[]

This was the 22nd 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]

Four of the eight finalists from the 1992 Games returned: gold medalist Alexander Popov of the Unified Team (now competing for Russia), silver medalist Gustavo Borges of Brazil, fourth-place finisher Jon Olsen of the United States, and seventh-place finisher Christian Tröger of Germany.

In 1992, Popov defeated defending gold medalist Matt Biondi and proceeded to win every major 50 metre and 100 metre freestyle championship since Barcelona, including the 1994 world championships. Popov was the odds-on favorite. His biggest challenger was American Gary Hall, Jr., runner-up in the world championships.[2]

Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 21st 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) 48.42 Austin, United States 10 August 1988
Olympic record  Matt Biondi (USA) 48.63 Seoul, South Korea 22 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule[]

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Monday, 22 July 1996 Heats
Finals

Results[]

Heats[]

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

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 8 4 Alexander Popov  Russia 48.74 QA, NR
2 6 4 Gary Hall, Jr.  United States 48.90 QA
3 8 3 Gustavo Borges  Brazil 49.17 QA
4 6 3 Francisco Sánchez  Venezuela 49.59 QA
5 5 8 Ricardo Busquets  Puerto Rico 49.61 QA, NR
6 6 5 Pavlo Khnykin  Ukraine 49.69 QA
7 6 2 Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands 49.73 QA
8 8 5 Fernando Scherer  Brazil 49.79 QA
9 8 6 Lars Frölander  Sweden 49.91 QB, WD
10 6 7 Christian Tröger  Germany 50.06 QB
11 7 1 Stephen Clarke  Canada 50.14 QB
12 7 4 Jon Olsen  United States 50.17 QB
13 5 1 Bartosz Kizierowski  Poland 50.18 QB, NR
14 7 5 Chris Fydler  Australia 50.27 QB
2 1 Raimundas Mažuolis  Lithuania 50.27 QB, WD
16 8 2 Rostyslav Svanidze  Ukraine 50.31 QB
17 4 4 Sion Brinn  Jamaica 50.38 QB, NR
7 6 Björn Zikarsky  Germany 50.38 QB
19 5 5 Aleh Rukhlevich  Belarus 50.42
20 6 6 Attila Zubor  Hungary 50.43
21 5 4 Aleksey Yegorov  Kazakhstan 50.49
22 7 8 Yoav Bruck  Israel 50.61
23 5 3 Nicolas Gruson  France 50.71
24 8 1 Vladimir Predkin  Russia 50.75
25 8 8 Salim Iles  Algeria 50.87
26 5 2 Brendon Dedekind  South Africa 50.95
27 5 6 Earl McCarthy  Ireland 50.99
28 8 7 Nicholas Shackell  Great Britain 51.03
29 3 1 Sergey Ashihmin  Kyrgyzstan 51.07 NR
30 7 2 Nicolae Ivan  Romania 51.14
31 6 1 Trent Bray  New Zealand 51.18
32 4 1 Indrek Sei  Estonia 51.19 NR
33 4 7 Juan Benavides  Spain 51.20
34 6 8 Richard Sam Bera  Indonesia 51.25
35 7 7 Béla Szabados  Hungary 51.26
36 2 3 Janko Gojković  Bosnia and Herzegovina 51.28 NR
37 5 7 Shunsuke Ito  Japan 51.29
38 4 5 Felipe Delgado  Ecuador 51.38
39 4 3 Zhao Lifeng  China 51.70
40 4 6 Marijan Kanjer  Croatia 51.76
41 3 6 Giovanni Linscheer  Suriname 51.82
42 3 8 Arthur Li Kai Yien  Hong Kong 51.84
43 3 4 José Isaza  Panama 51.86
44 4 8 Kalle Varonen  Finland 52.00
45 7 3 José Meolans  Argentina 52.02
46 2 2 Georgios Giziotis  Greece 52.04
47 4 2 Tamer Hamed  Egypt 52.16
48 3 3 Oleg Tsvetkovskiy  Uzbekistan 52.39
49 2 7 Koh Yun-ho  South Korea 52.56
50 3 2 Stavros Michaelides  Cyprus 52.65
51 1 4 Darrick Bollinger  Guam 52.68
52 1 5 Kenny Roberts  Seychelles 52.89
53 2 4 Nikola Kalabić  FR Yugoslavia 52.98
54 2 6 Diego Perdomo  Colombia 53.01
55 3 5 Maxim Cazmirciuc  Moldova 53.18
56 3 7 Huang Chih-yung  Chinese Taipei 53.47
57 2 8 Sng Ju Wei  Singapore 53.50
58 2 5 Juan Luis Bocanegra  Guatemala 54.05
59 1 6 Diego Mularoni  San Marino 57.11
60 1 3 Khuwaiter Al-Dhaheri  United Arab Emirates 57.70
— 1 2  Yemen DNS

Finals[]

[4]

Final B[]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
9 3 Jon Olsen  United States 49.80
10 4 Christian Tröger  Germany 49.90
11 8 Björn Zikarsky  Germany 49.91
12 1 Sion Brinn  Jamaica 50.09 NR
13 2 Chris Fydler  Australia 50.31
14 7 Rostyslav Svanidze  Ukraine 50.43
15 5 Stephen Clarke  Canada 50.45
16 6 Bartosz Kizierowski  Poland 50.51

Final A[]

Hall led going into the turn, but Popov led coming out of it. Hall caught Popov again in the second length, but Popov pulled away at the finish.[2]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Alexander Popov  Russia 48.74 =NR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Gary Hall, Jr.  United States 48.81
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3 Gustavo Borges  Brazil 49.02
4 1 Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands 49.13 NR
5 8 Fernando Scherer  Brazil 49.57
6 7 Pavlo Khnykin  Ukraine 49.65
7 2 Ricardo Busquets  Puerto Rico 49.68
8 6 Francisco Sánchez  Venezuela 49.84

References[]

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 37. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 37. Retrieved 9 September 2017.

External links[]

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