Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 20 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.[1] There were 43 competitors from 36 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers (a limit in place since 1984).[2] The event was won by Danyon Loader of New Zealand, the nation's first medal in the men's 200 metre freestyle. Brazil also received its first medal in the event, with Gustavo Borges taking silver. Bronze went to Australia's Daniel Kowalski.

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Silver medalist Gustavo Borges (right) (2003)
VenueGeorgia Tech Aquatic Center
Date20 July 1996 (heats & finals)
Competitors43 from 36 nations
Winning time1:47.63
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Danyon Loader  New Zealand
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gustavo Borges  Brazil
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Daniel Kowalski  Australia
← 1992
2000 →

Background

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This was the 10th appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games.[2]

Three of the 8 finalists from the 1992 Games returned: two-time silver medalist Anders Holmertz of Sweden, bronze medalist Antti Kasvio of Finland, and fifth-place finisher Vladimir Pyshnenko of the Unified Team (now competing for Russia). At the 1994 World Aquatics Championships, Kasvio (gold), Holmertz (silver), and Danyon Loader of New Zealand (bronze) had been on the podium. They were among about 10 swimmers considered to have a chance at the gold medal in a relatively open field.[2]

Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. Australia made its 10th appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Competition format

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The competition used a two-round (heats, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 8 heats of up to 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. The 1984 event had also introduced a consolation or "B" final; the swimmers placing 9th through 16th in the heats competed in this "B" final for placing. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records

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

World record   Giorgio Lamberti (ITA) 1:46.69 Bonn, West Germany 15 August 1989
Olympic record   Yevgeny Sadovyi (EUN) 1:46.70 Barcelona, Spain 27 July 1992

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 20 July 1996  20:50 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 5 3 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:48.41 QA
2 4 4 Danyon Loader   New Zealand 1:48.48 QA
3 5 4 Josh Davis   United States 1:48.63 QA
4 6 5 Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands 1:48.68 QA
5 5 2 Massimiliano Rosolino   Italy 1:48.80 QA
6 6 3 Daniel Kowalski   Australia 1:48.92 QA
7 4 1 Gustavo Borges   Brazil 1:49.00 QA
8 4 2 Paul Palmer   Great Britain 1:49.05 QSO
4 5 Jani Sievinen   Finland 1:49.05 QSO
10 6 4 Michael Klim   Australia 1:49.17 QB
11 4 7 Aimo Heilmann   Germany 1:49.57 QB
12 4 6 Vladimir Pyshnenko   Russia 1:49.79 QB
13 5 6 Pier Maria Siciliano   Italy 1:49.88 QB
14 6 6 Antti Kasvio   Finland 1:50.55 QB, WD
15 5 5 John Piersma   United States 1:50.59 QB
16 6 1 Jacob Carstensen   Denmark 1:50.79 QB
17 4 8 Nicolae Butacu   Romania 1:50.83 QB
18 6 7 Andrew Clayton   Great Britain 1:51.06 QB
19 3 3 Miroslav Vučetić   Croatia 1:51.26 NR
20 4 3 Attila Czene   Hungary 1:51.59
6 2 Trent Bray   New Zealand 1:51.59
22 6 8 Aleksey Yegorov   Kazakhstan 1:51.66
23 5 8 Shunsuke Ito   Japan 1:51.97
24 5 1 Christophe Bordeau   France 1:52.17
25 5 7 Miklós Kollár   Hungary 1:52.19
26 3 1 Koh Yun-ho   South Korea 1:52.80 NR
27 1 4 Carlos Santander   Venezuela 1:53.13 NR
28 3 7 Vyacheslav Kabanov   Uzbekistan 1:53.36
29 3 5 Earl McCarthy   Ireland 1:53.67
30 3 4 Dimitrios Manganas   Greece 1:53.84
31 3 6 Salim Iles   Algeria 1:54.10 NR
32 2 6 José Isaza   Panama 1:54.58
33 3 8 Torlarp Sethsothorn   Thailand 1:54.73
34 2 3 Jure Bučar   Slovenia 1:54.75
35 2 1 Raymond Papa   Philippines 1:54.77
36 2 4 Bartosz Sikora   Poland 1:55.33
37 2 5 Sng Ju Wei   Singapore 1:55.51
38 2 2 Dmitry Lapin   Kyrgyzstan 1:55.52
39 1 3 Carl Probert   Fiji 1:56.33
40 2 8 Felipe Delgado   Ecuador 1:55.52
41 3 2 Andrei Zaharov   Moldova 1:57.47
42 2 7 Denys Zavhorodnyy   Ukraine 1:58.67
43 1 5 Thamer Al-Shamroukh   Kuwait 2:13.75

Swimoff

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Palmer and Sievinen, who had tied for 8th place in the heats to require the swimoff, tied again in the swimoff. This would have resulted in a second swimoff between the pair, but Sievinen elected to withdraw from the race, allowing the former to advance to the final A by default. Because Sievinen scratched out from the competition, the vacant spot in Final B was distributed to the next best-ranked swimmer, not yet qualified, in the heats.

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 5 Paul Palmer   Great Britain 1:48.89 QSO, QA
4 Jani Sievinen   Finland 1:48.89 QSO, WD

Finals

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There were two finals, one for the top 8 swimmers and one for the next 8 (9th through 16th).[4]

Final B

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
9 5 Aimo Heilmann   Germany 1:48.81
10 4 Michael Klim   Australia 1:49.50
11 3 Vladimir Pyshnenko   Russia 1:49.55
12 2 John Piersma   United States 1:49.90
13 6 Pier Maria Siciliano   Italy 1:50.07
14 7 Jacob Carstensen   Denmark 1:50.54
15 8 Andrew Clayton   Great Britain 1:50.59
16 1 Nicolae Butacu   Romania 1:51.46

Final A

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  5 Danyon Loader   New Zealand 1:47.63 NR
  1 Gustavo Borges   Brazil 1:48.08 SA
  7 Daniel Kowalski   Australia 1:48.25
4 6 Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands 1:48.36 NR
5 4 Anders Holmertz   Sweden 1:48.42
6 2 Massimiliano Rosolino   Italy 1:48.50
7 3 Josh Davis   United States 1:48.54
8 8 Paul Palmer   Great Britain 1:49.39

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 38. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Atlanta 1996: Swimming – Men's 200m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Atlanta 1996. LA84 Foundation. p. 38. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
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