Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon 10 kilometre

The men's marathon swim over a distance of 10 kilometres at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place on 10 August in the Serpentine at Hyde Park.[1]

Men's Marathon Swim
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
The race was held in the Serpentine lake
VenueThe Serpentine, Hyde Park
DatesAugust 10, 2012
Competitors25 from 23 nations
Winning time1:49:55.1
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Thomas Lurz  Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Richard Weinberger  Canada
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Outclassing a vast field of rivals, Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli built a historic milestone as the first ever swimmer to capture Olympic titles in both pool and open water. Around the 7 km mark, Mellouli quickly opened up a three-body-length lead over a small pack of swimmers, and maintained a fast pace to claim his second gold and third career medal in 1:49:55.1.[2][3] Chasing for two more Olympic medals in a grueling race, Germany's Thomas Lurz finished behind the leader by 3.4 seconds with a silver in 1:49:58.5, while Canada's Richard Weinberger, who pulled off a powerful lead on the first lap, grabbed the bronze in 1:50:00.3.[4][5][6]

Greece's Spyridon Gianniotis, the reigning world champion, mounted a spirited challenge against Mellouli, Lurz and Weinberger in pursuit, but dropped back in the last 200 metres to fourth in 1:50:05.3.[7][8] Enjoying a massive support from the home crowd at Hyde Park, Great Britain's Daniel Fogg struggled to maintain his form after the fourth lap, but pushed himself further from behind with a spectacular swim to claim a fifth spot in 1:50:37.3.[9][10] Fogg was followed in sixth and seventh respectively by Russian duo Sergey Bolshakov (1:50:40.1) and Vladimir Dyatchin (1:50:42.8), while Lurz's teammate Andreas Waschburger, who led both the third and fourth lap ahead of Mellouli and Weinberger, faded down the stretch to pick up the eighth spot in 1:50:44.4.[6] Bulgaria's four-time Olympian Petar Stoychev finished ninth in 1:50:46.2 to hold off an American open water swimmer Alex Meyer (1:50:48.2) by exactly two seconds.[11][12]

As the remaining swimmers completed the race, Guam's 16-year-old teen Benjamin Schulte fought off audaciously throughout the open-water course to round out the field with a twenty-fifth place time in 2:03:35.1.[6][13]

Qualification

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The men's 10 km open water marathon at the 2012 Olympics featured a field of 25 swimmers:

  • 10: the top-10 finishers in the 10 km race at the 2011 FINA World Championships.[14]
  • 9: the top-9 finishers at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier (8–9 June 2012 in Setúbal, Portugal).[15][16]
  • 5: one representative from each FINA continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania). (These were selected based on the finishes at the qualifying race in Setúbal.)
  • 1: from the host nation (Great Britain) if not qualified by other means. If Great Britain already had a qualifier in the race, this spot was allocated back into the general pool from the 2012 qualifying race.

Results

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Time
behind
Notes
  Oussama Mellouli   Tunisia 1:49:55.1
  Thomas Lurz   Germany 1:49:58.5 +3.4
  Richard Weinberger   Canada 1:50:00.3 +5.2
4 Spyridon Gianniotis   Greece 1:50:05.3 +10.2
5 Daniel Fogg   Great Britain 1:50:37.3 +42.2
6 Sergey Bolshakov   Russia 1:50:40.1 +45.0
7 Vladimir Dyatchin   Russia 1:50:42.8 +47.7
8 Andreas Waschburger   Germany 1:50:44.4 +49.3 Warning
9 Petar Stoychev   Bulgaria 1:50:46.2 +51.1
10 Alex Meyer   United States 1:50:48.2 +53.1
11 Julien Sauvage   France 1:50:51.3 +56.2
12 Hercules Troyden Prinsloo   South Africa 1:50:52.9 +57.8 Warning
12 Erwin Maldonado   Venezuela 1:50:52.9 +57.8
14 Igor Chervynskiy   Ukraine 1:50:56.9 +1:01.8
15 Yasunari Hirai   Japan 1:51:20.1 +1:25.0 Warning
16 Brian Ryckeman   Belgium 1:51:27.1 +1:32.0
17 Valerio Cleri   Italy 1:51:29.5 +1:34.4
18 Csaba Gercsák   Hungary 1:51:30.9 +1:35.8
19 Arseniy Lavrentyev   Portugal 1:51:37.2 +1:42.1
20 Ky Hurst   Australia 1:51:41.3 +1:46.2
21 Ivan Enderica Ochoa   Ecuador 1:52:28.6 +2:33.5
22 Yuriy Kudinov   Kazakhstan 1:52:59.0 +3:03.9
23 Francisco Hervás   Spain 1:53:27.8 +3:32.7
24 Mazen Metwaly   Egypt 1:54:33.2 +4:38.1 Warning
25 Benjamin Schulte   Guam 2:03:35.1 +13:40.0

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  2. ^ Helliker, Kevin (10 August 2012). "U.S.-Trained Tunisian Takes Gold in Open-Water Swim". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  3. ^ Linden, Julian (10 August 2012). "Mellouli wins open water gold medal". Reuters. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Canadian Richard Weinberger wins Olympic bronze in men's marathon swim". National Post. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  5. ^ Blatchford, Christie (10 August 2012). "Victoria's Richard Weinberger takes Olympic bronze in marathon swimming for Canada". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "2012 London Olympics: Tunisia's Ous Mellouli Becomes First Pool/Open Water Double Gold Medalist with 10K Victory". Swimming World Magazine. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Mellouli wins Olympic open water gold medal". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  8. ^ White, Duncan (10 August 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Daniel Fogg fears open water swimming funding cut after Team GB medal failure". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  9. ^ Ingle, Sean (10 August 2012). "London 2012: Fifth for Daniel Fogg not enough in Olympic 10km swim". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Fogg has to settle for fifth: No joy for Brit in the Serpentine". The Daily Mirror. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  11. ^ Berg, Aimee (10 August 2012). "Meyer Tenth in Open Water; Still Has Pool Goals". Team USA. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  12. ^ Saraceno, Jon (10 August 2012). "Swimmer Alex Meyer tackles 10K with fallen friend on his mind". USA Today. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  13. ^ "Guam's Benjamin Schulte, 16, wins battle with 'brown water' in 10km swim". News Corp Australia. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  14. ^ "FINA World Championships, Open Water: Greece's Spyros Gianniotis Wins Men's 10K". Swimming World Magazine. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  15. ^ "FINA Press Release 2010–79: FINA Bureau Meeting in Dubai (UAE)". London 2012. FINA. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  16. ^ "Ous Mellouli Dominates Men's Open Water 10K Qualifier". Swimming World Magazine. 10 June 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
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