Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle

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Men's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Podium50.jpg
The medal ceremony of the 50m final.
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DatesAugust 14, 2008 (heats)
August 15, 2008 (semifinals)
August 16, 2008 (final)
Competitors97 from 90 nations
Winning time21.30 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) César Cielo  Brazil
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Amaury Leveaux  France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Alain Bernard  France
← 2004
2012 →

The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 14–16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

César Cielo made an Olympic milestone to become Brazil's first ever gold medalist in swimming. He rocketed to an unexpected triumph in a new Olympic record of 21.30, then the second-fastest in history, powering past the field by 0.15 of a second, a sizable chunk in Olympic swimming's shortest race.[2][3] The French tandem of Amaury Leveaux and Alain Bernard took home the silver and bronze with respective times of 21.45 and 21.49.[4]

Australia's Ashley Callus finished fourth in 21.62, while his teammate and world record holder Eamon Sullivan was a fraction behind the leading pack in sixth at 21.65.[5] For the first time in Olympic history, no American swimmer had reached the podium in the event, as the reigning world champion Ben Wildman-Tobriner, swimming on the outside in lane eight, pulled off a fifth-place effort in 21.64.[6] Competing at their third Olympics, South Africa's Roland Mark Schoeman (21.67) and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (21.72) rounded out the finale in seventh and eighth place, respectively.[4]

Earlier in the prelims, Cielo posted a time of 21.47 to erase Alexander Popov's 1992 Olympic record by 0.44 of a second. One heat later, Leveaux established the same record by winning the twelfth heat in 21.46.[7] The following morning, in the semifinals, Cielo lowered again an Olympic record to 21.34 that had been set by Leveaux in the preliminaries under 0.12 seconds.[8]

Records[]

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

World record  Eamon Sullivan (AUS) 21.28 Sydney, Australia 28 March 2008 [9]
Olympic record  Alexander Popov (EUN) 21.91 Barcelona, Spain 30 July 1992 -

The following Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
14 August Heat 11 César Cielo  Brazil 21.47 OR
14 August Heat 12 Amaury Leveaux  France 21.46 OR
15 August Semifinal 2 César Cielo  Brazil 21.34 OR
16 August Final César Cielo  Brazil 21.30 OR

Qualification[]

The A standard for the event was 22.35 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) could qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The B standard was 23.13 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time could qualify. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event could also use their universality place.[10]

Competition format[]

The 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.

Results[]

Heats[]

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes
1 12 4 Amaury Leveaux  France 21.46 Q, OR
2 11 5 César Cielo  Brazil 21.47 Q, OR, =AM
3 12 3 Stefan Nystrand  Sweden 21.75 Q
12 5 Ben Wildman-Tobriner  United States Q
5 13 3 Roland Mark Schoeman  South Africa 21.76 Q
6 11 1 George Bovell  Trinidad and Tobago 21.77 Q
7 13 5 Alain Bernard  France 21.78 Q
8 13 4 Eamon Sullivan  Australia 21.79 Q
9 11 4 Garrett Weber-Gale  United States 21.95 Q
10 12 7 Rafed El-Masri  Germany 21.96 Q
11 11 7 Nicholas Santos  Brazil 22.00 Q
12 11 3 Duje Draganja  Croatia 22.05 Q
13 13 2 Ashley Callus  Australia 22.11 Q
14 12 6 Krisztián Takács  Hungary 22.14 Q
15 11 6 Bartosz Kizierowski  Poland 22.15 Q
16 12 2 Gideon Louw  South Africa 22.17 Q
17 12 1 Andrey Grechin  Russia 22.20
18 10 4 Jernej Godec  Slovenia 22.21
19 8 4 Flori Lang  Switzerland 22.27
20 9 1 David Dunford  Kenya 22.29
21 13 1 Yevgeny Lagunov  Russia 22.30
22 11 2 Javier Noriega  Spain 22.33
23 13 6 Mark Foster  Great Britain 22.35
13 8 Salim Iles  Algeria
25 9 6 Miko Mälberg  Estonia 22.37 NR
26 10 5 Apostolos Tsagkarakis  Greece 22.39
27 10 6 Richard Hortness  Canada 22.42
28 10 7 Yoris Grandjean  Belgium 22.45
29 10 1 Matti Rajakylä  Finland 22.48
30 9 3 Cai Li  China 22.50
9 7 Alessandro Calvi  Italy
32 10 3 Robert Lijesen  Netherlands 22.51
33 10 2 Jakob Andkjær  Denmark 22.52
34 8 8 Jacinto de Jesus Ayala Benjamin  Dominican Republic 22.57
35 10 8 José Meolans  Argentina 22.58
36 9 2 Andrei Radzionau  Belarus 22.65 NR
37 11 8 Kaan Tayla  Turkey 22.66
38 13 7 Steffen Deibler  Germany 22.67
39 9 8 Daniel Coakley  Philippines 22.69
40 9 5 Virdhawal Khade  India 22.73
41 7 4 Oliver Elliot  Chile 22.75 NR
42 8 3 Yuriy Yegoshin  Ukraine 22.77
43 7 2 Norbert Trandafir  Romania 22.80
44 7 8 Árni Már Árnason  Iceland 22.81 NR
45 7 5 Jevon Atkinson  Jamaica 22.83 NR
8 1 Mohammad Madwa  Kuwait
47 8 6 Jonathan Javier Camacho Riera  Venezuela 22.87
48 7 6 Stanislav Kuzmin  Kazakhstan 22.91
49 9 4 Camilo Becerra  Colombia 22.93
50 8 5 Francisco Picasso  Uruguay 23.01
51 7 3 Martyn Forde  Barbados 23.08
52 8 2 Elvis Burrows  Bahamas 23.19
53 7 1 Joshua Laban  Virgin Islands 23.28
54 12 8 Mohamed El Nady  Egypt 23.92
55 6 4 Yellow Yeiyah  Nigeria 24.00
56 7 7 Vitaly Vasilyev  Kyrgyzstan 24.02
57 6 5 Rodion Davelaar  Netherlands Antilles 24.21
58 8 7 Rolandas Gimbutis  Lithuania 24.36
59 6 6 Anas Hamadeh  Jordan 24.40
60 6 2 Luke Hall  Swaziland 24.41
61 5 7 Alain Brigion Tobe  Cameroon 24.53
62 1 4 Alois Dansou  Benin 24.54
63 5 5 Sidni Hoxha  Albania 24.56
64 1 5 Omar Jasim  Bahrain 24.65
65 5 4 Zane Jordan  Zambia 24.82
66 6 1 Daniel Lee  Sri Lanka 24.92
67 6 7 Chakyl Camal  Mozambique 24.93 NR
68 5 3 Andrey Molchanov  Turkmenistan 25.02
69 6 8 Niall Roberts  Guyana 25.13
70 5 6 Kerson Hadley  Federated States of Micronesia 25.34
71 4 4 Stewart Glenister  American Samoa 25.45
72 5 1 John Kamyuka  Botswana 25.54
73 4 3 Hamse Abdouh  Palestine 25.60
74 5 2 Adil Baig  Pakistan 25.66
75 1 3 Omar Nunez  Nicaragua 26.00
76 5 8 Kouassi Brou  Ivory Coast 26.08
77 4 5 Kyaw Zin  Myanmar 26.17
78 4 6 Tural Abbasov  Azerbaijan 26.31
79 4 1 Hemthon Ponloeu  Cambodia 27.39
80 3 5 Charlton Nyirenda  Malawi 27.46
81 4 7 Prasiddha Jung Shah  Nepal 27.59
82 4 8 Gilbert Kaburu  Uganda 27.72
83 3 3 Jackson Niyomugabo  Rwanda 27.74
84 3 7 Khalid Rushaka  Tanzania 28.50
85 3 6 Dwayne Didon  Seychelles 28.95
86 3 8 Mohamed Coulibaly  Mali 29.09
87 3 1 Alisher Chingizov  Tajikistan 29.10
88 3 2 Ibrahim Shameel  Maldives 29.28
89 3 4 Mamadou Cisse  Guinea 29.29
90 2 3 Thepphithak Chindavong  Laos 29.31
91 6 3 Mohamed Attoumane  Comoros 29.63
92 2 6 Rene Jacob Yougbara  Burkina Faso 30.08
93 4 2 Ahmed Adam  Sudan 30.12
94 2 4 Abdulsalam Al Gadabi  Yemen 30.63 NR
95 2 5 Mohamed Alhousseini Alhassan  Niger 30.90
96 2 2 Kareem Valentine  Antigua and Barbuda 31.23
97 2 7 Stany Kempompo Ngangola  Democratic Republic of the Congo 35.19

Semifinals[]

The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes
1 1 4 César Cielo Filho  Brazil 21.34 Q, OR, AM
2 2 6 Alain Bernard  France 21.54 Q
3 2 1 Ashley Callus  Australia 21.68 Q
4 1 5 Stefan Nystrand  Sweden 21.71 Q
5 2 3 Roland Mark Schoeman  South Africa 21.74 Q
6 1 6 Eamon Sullivan  Australia 21.75 Q
7 2 4 Amaury Leveaux  France 21.76 Q
2 5 Ben Wildman-Tobriner  United States Q
9 1 1 Krisztián Takács  Hungary 21.84
10 1 7 Duje Draganja  Croatia 21.85
11 1 3 George Bovell  Trinidad and Tobago 21.86
12 1 8 Gideon Louw  South Africa 21.97
13 2 2 Garrett Weber-Gale  United States 22.08
14 1 2 Rafed El-Masri  Germany 22.09
15 2 8 Bartosz Kizierowski  Poland 22.12
16 2 7 Nicholas Santos  Brazil 22.15

Final[]

Rank Lane Name Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 César Cielo Filho  Brazil 21.30 OR, AM
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1 Amaury Leveaux  France 21.45
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Alain Bernard  France 21.49
4 3 Ashley Callus  Australia 21.62
5 8 Ben Wildman-Tobriner  United States 21.64
6 7 Eamon Sullivan  Australia 21.65
7 2 Roland Mark Schoeman  South Africa 21.67 AF
8 6 Stefan Nystrand  Sweden 21.72

References[]

  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ "'Big Cesar' races to first Brazilian swim gold". ESPN. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Cielo hands Brazil's first swimming gold". South China Morning Post. 16 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Cesar Cielo Claims 50 Free Gold in Olympic Record Time". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Cielo Filho takes 50m gold". ABC News. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  6. ^ Crumpacker, John (16 August 2008). "Wildman-Tobriner is 5th in the 50". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  7. ^ Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Olympic Standard Falls Twice in Men's 50 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  8. ^ Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Cesar Cielo Drops Olympic Record in 50 Free Semis". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Sullivan snaps 50m record again". ABC News. 28 February 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  10. ^ "Olympic Qualifying Procedures for Swimming" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-03-20.

External links[]

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