Swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1924 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was the sixth appearance of the event, which had not been featured at the 1900 Games. The competition was held on Saturday July 19, 1924 and on Sunday July 20, 1924. There were 30 competitors from 15 nations.[2] Nations were limited to three swimmers each, down from four in 1920. The United States swept the medals for the second consecutive Games, winning its fourth consecutive gold medal. Johnny Weissmuller beat two-time defending champion Duke Kahanamoku in the final. Kahanamoku was the first man to win three medals in the event. His brother Samuel Kahanamoku earned the bronze medal.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the VIII Olympiad
Finish of the final. Weissmuller is in lane 4, D. Kahanamoku in lane 5.
VenuePiscine des Tourelles
DateJuly 19–20
Competitors30 from 15 nations
Winning time59.0 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Johnny Weissmuller
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Duke Kahanamoku
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Samuel Kahanamoku
 United States
← 1920
1928 →

Background edit

This was the sixth 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]

One of the five finalists from 1920 returned: two-time gold medalist Duke Kahanamoku of the United States. American Johnny Weissmuller, the world record holder in the event, was a heavy favorite in the event. His teammates, Duke and Samuel Kahanamoku, were also strong contenders.[2]

Argentina, Spain, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its sixth appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.

Competition format edit

The competition used a three-round (quarterfinals, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule was the one used since 1912; for each round before the final, the top two in each heat plus the fastest third-place swimmer would advance. There were 6 quarterfinals of between 4 and 6 swimmers, allowing 13 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. The 2 semifinals had 6 or 7 swimmers; 5 advanced to the final.

Each race involved two lengths of the 50-metre pool.

Records edit

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1924 Summer Olympics.

World record   Johnny Weissmuller (USA) 57.4 Miami, United States 17 February 1924
Olympic record   Duke Kahanamoku (USA) 1:00.4 Antwerp, Belgium 24 August 1920

In the second semifinal Johnny Weissmuller set a new Olympic record with 1:00.8 minutes. In the final he bettered his record with a time of 59.0 seconds.

Schedule edit

Date Time Round
Saturday, 19 July 1924 10:00
15:00
Heats
Semifinals
Sunday, 20 July 1924 15:00 Final

Results edit

Heats edit

The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Orvar Trolle   Sweden 1:04.2 Q
2 Duke Kahanamoku   United States 1:04.2 Q
3 Kazuo Onoda   Japan 1:05.4
4 Charles Baillee   Great Britain 1:08.2
5 Vlado Smokvina   Yugoslavia 1:11.6

Heat 2 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Samuel Kahanamoku   United States 1:03.2 Q
2 Ernest Henry   Australia 1:03.8 Q
3 Torahiko Miyahata   Japan 1:04.2 q
4 Henri Padou   France 1:05.0
5 Albert Dickin   Great Britain 1:06.0
6 Stanislav Bičák   Czechoslovakia 1:10.2

Heat 3 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Clayton Bourne   Canada 1:06.2 Q
2 Alberto Zorrilla   Argentina 1:08.2 Q
3 Viktor Legát   Czechoslovakia 1:13.2
4 Charles Kopp   Switzerland 1:15.0

Heat 4 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Katsuo Takaishi   Japan 1:04.0 Q
2 Ivan Stedman   Australia 1:06.0 Q
3 Georg Werner   Sweden 1:07.0
4 Émile Zeibig   France 1:08.0
5 Gé Dekker   Netherlands 1:11.8

Heat 5 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Weissmuller   United States 1:03.8 Q
2 Alfred Harold Pycock   Great Britain 1:05.2 Q
3 Édouard Vanzeveren   France 1:06.8
4 Moss Christie   Australia 1:07.2
5 José Manuel Pinillo   Spain 1:14.2

Heat 6 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Arne Borg   Sweden 1:05.4 Q
2 István Bárány   Hungary 1:08.4 Q
3 Július Baláž   Czechoslovakia 1:11.8
4 Dionysios Vasilopoulos   Greece 1:12.0
5 Pieter Jacobszoon   Netherlands 1:12.2

Semifinals edit

The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Duke Kahanamoku   United States 1:01.6 Q
2 Samuel Kahanamoku   United States 1:02.2 Q
3 Katsuo Takaishi   Japan 1:02.4 q
4 Orvar Trolle   Sweden 1:02.6
5 Clayton Bourne   Canada 1:06.0
6 István Bárány   Hungary 1:08.0
Torahiko Miyahata   Japan DNS

Semifinal 2 edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 Johnny Weissmuller   United States 1:00.8 Q, OR
2 Arne Borg   Sweden 1:02.6 Q
3 Ernest Henry   Australia 1:03.0
4 Alfred Harold Pycock   Great Britain 1:05.0
5 Ivan Stedman   Australia 1:06.0
6 Alberto Zorrilla   Argentina 1:07.6

Final edit

 
Weissmuller and Kahanamoku shaking hands after the final
Rank Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  Johnny Weissmuller   United States 59.0 OR
  Duke Kahanamoku   United States 1:01.4
  Samuel Kahanamoku   United States 1:01.8
4 Arne Borg   Sweden 1:02.0
5 Katsuo Takaishi   Japan 1:03.0

Results summary edit

Rank Swimmer Nation Heats Semifinals Final Notes
  Johnny Weissmuller   United States 1:03.8 1:00.8 59.0 OR
  Duke Kahanamoku   United States 1:04.2 1:01.6 1:01.4
  Samuel Kahanamoku   United States 1:03.2 1:02.2 1:01.8
4 Arne Borg   Sweden 1:05.4 1:02.6 1:02.0
5 Katsuo Takaishi   Japan 1:04.0 1:02.4 1:03.0
6 Orvar Trolle   Sweden 1:04.2 1:02.6 Did not advance
7 Ernest Henry   Australia 1:03.8 1:03.0 Did not advance
8 Alfred Harold Pycock   Great Britain 1:05.2 1:05.0 Did not advance
9 Clayton Bourne   Canada 1:06.2 1:06.0 Did not advance
Ivan Stedman   Australia 1:06.0 1:06.0 Did not advance
11 Alberto Zorrilla   Argentina 1:08.2 1:07.6 Did not advance
12 István Bárány   Hungary 1:08.4 1:08.0 Did not advance
13 Torahiko Miyahata   Japan 1:04.2 DNS Did not advance
14 Henri Padou   France 1:05.0 did not advance
15 Kazuo Onoda   Japan 1:05.4 did not advance
16 Albert Dickin   Great Britain 1:06.0 did not advance
17 Édouard Vanzeveren   France 1:06.8 did not advance
18 Georg Werner   Sweden 1:07.0 did not advance
19 Moss Christie   Australia 1:07.2 did not advance
20 Émile Zeibig   France 1:08.0 did not advance
21 Charles Baillee   Great Britain 1:08.2 did not advance
22 Stanislav Bičák   Czechoslovakia 1:10.2 did not advance
23 Vlado Smokvina   Yugoslavia 1:11.6 did not advance
24 Július Baláž   Czechoslovakia 1:11.8 did not advance
25 Gé Dekker   Netherlands 1:11.8 did not advance
26 Dionysios Vasilopoulos   Greece 1:12.0 did not advance
27 Pieter Jacobszoon   Netherlands 1:12.2 did not advance
28 Viktor Legát   Czechoslovakia 1:13.2 did not advance
29 José Manuel Pinillo   Spain 1:14.2 did not advance
30 Charles Kopp   Switzerland 1:15.0 did not advance

References edit

  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.

External links edit