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

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.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
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 →

Background

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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

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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

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

World record   Alexandr Popov (RUS) 48.21 Monte Carlo, Monaco 18 June 1994
Olympic record   Matt Biondi (USA) 48.63 Seoul, South Korea 22 September 1988

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Monday, 22 July 1996 Heats
Finals

Results

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Heats

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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
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 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 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 Ali Al-Gazali   Yemen DNS

Finals

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[4]

Final B

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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

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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
  4 Alexander Popov   Russia 48.74
  5 Gary Hall, Jr.   United States 48.81
  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

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  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.
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