The inaugural men's 50-metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 24 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.[1]
| Men's 50 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool | ||||||||||||
| Date | 24 September 1988 (heats & finals) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 71 from 44 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 22.14 WR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
U.S. swimmer Matt Biondi demolished a new world record to become the event's first ever Olympic champion. He threw down a scorching time in 22.14 to add a fourth gold and sixth medal to his Olympic hardware, and to slice 0.04 seconds off the record set by South Africa's Peter Williams.[2][3] Starting the race with a fastest reaction, Biondi's rival and teammate Tom Jager faded down the stretch to pick up the silver in 22.36. Meanwhile, Soviet Union's Gennadiy Prigoda edged out Swiss swimmer Dano Halsall by 12-hundredths of a second to take home the bronze in 22.71.[2]
Records edit
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Peter Williams (RSA) |
22.18 | Indianapolis, United States | 10 April 1988 |
| Olympic record | Inaugural event | — | — | — |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September | Heat 8 | Matt Biondi |  United States |
22.39 | OR |
| 24 September | Final A | Matt Biondi | United States |
22.14 | WR |
Competition format edit
The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to final A, where they competed for the top 8 places. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the heats swam in final B, for ninth through the sixteenth place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.
Results edit
Heats edit
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.[4]
Swimoff edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Feng Qiangbiao |  China |
23.28 | q, WD |
| 2 | 5 | Christophe Kalfayan |  France |
23.37 | q |
Finals edit
Final B edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 7 | Goran Titus |  Sweden |
23.28 | |
| 10 | 5 | Per Johansson | Sweden |
23.37 | |
| 11 | 4 | Ang Peng Siong |  Singapore |
23.39 | |
| 12 | 6 | Shen Jianqiang | China |
23.40 | |
| 13 | 8 | Christophe Kalfayan | France |
23.45 | |
| 14 | 3 | Stephan Güsgen |  West Germany |
23.55 | |
| 15 | 2 | Mark Andrews |  Canada |
23.64 | |
| 16 | 1 | Hilton Woods |  Netherlands Antilles |
23.65 |
Final A edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Matt Biondi | United States |
22.14 | WR |
 |
6 | Tom Jager | United States |
22.36 | |
 |
5 | Gennadiy Prigoda |  Soviet Union |
22.71 | |
| 4 | 3 | Dano Halsall |  Switzerland |
22.83 | |
| 5 | 8 | Stéfan Voléry | Switzerland |
22.84 | |
| 6 | 2 | Volodymyr Tkachenko | Soviet Union |
22.88 | |
| 7 | 7 | Frank Henter | West Germany |
23.03 | |
| 8 | 1 | Andrew Baildon |  Australia |
23.15 |
References edit
- ^ "Swimming at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 50 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
- ^ a b Dodds, Tracy (24 September 1988). "The Seoul Games / Day 9 : Biondi, the Underdog, Ends Up Top Dog Again". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- ^ Husar, John (25 September 1988). "Biondi, Evans Stay on Gold Standard". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- ^ "Seoul 2000: Swimming – Men's 50m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 400. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- ^ "Seoul 2000: Swimming – Men's 50m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 401. Retrieved 19 August 2013.