Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 17 and 18.[1] There were 69 competitors from 62 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Pieter van den Hoogenband (2008)
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DatesAugust 17, 2004 (heats &
semifinals)
August 18, 2004 (final)
Competitors69 from 62 nations
Winning time48.17
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Pieter van den Hoogenband
 Netherlands
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Roland Mark Schoeman
 South Africa
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ian Thorpe
 Australia
← 2000
2008 →

Summary

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Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband defended his Olympic title in the event (the fourth man to do so), outside the record time of 48.17. Roland Mark Schoeman, who solidified South Africa's triumph to break a world record in the 400 m freestyle relay, took home the silver in 48.23. It was South Africa's first medal in the event. Australia's Ian Thorpe edged out Schoeman's teammate Ryk Neethling to clinch a bronze medal by 0.07 of a second, in his personal best of 48.56.[3][4] Australia had not earned a medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle since 1984. Thorpe was the first man to win medals in the 100, 200, and 400 metre freestyle races in a single Olympics.[5]

Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Popov finished only in ninth place by just two hundredths of a second (0.02) outside the top 8 field from the semifinals (49.23).[6] By the following year, Popov announced his retirement from swimming, and became a full-time member of the International Olympic Committee. Other notable swimmers who missed the final cut featured France's Frédérick Bousquet, Lithuania's Rolandas Gimbutis, Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell, and U.S. duo Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker. This became the first 100m freestyle where not a single American qualified for the semifinals.

Background

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This was the twenty-fourth 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]

Two of the eight finalists from the 2000 Games returned: gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands and silver medalist (and 1992 and 1996 gold medalist) Alexander Popov of Russia. Van den Hoogenband had placed second at the last two world championships, behind American Anthony Ervin (who had retired in 2003 at age 22) in 2001 and Popov in 2003. Ian Thorpe of Australia, primarily a middle-distance swimmer who had not competed in the 100 in 2000 when he won five gold medals, had shown ability in sprinting by placing third in the 2003 world championship.

Azerbaijan, Burundi, Guyana, Iraq, Latvia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia and Montenegro each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 23rd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

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This freestyle swimming competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Records

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

World record   Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) 47.84 Sydney, Australia 19 September 2000
Olympic record   Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) 47.84 Sydney, Australia 19 September 2000

Schedule

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All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 17 August 2004 10:00
19:30
Heats
Semifinals
Wednesday, 18 August 2004 20:20 Final

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 7 4 Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands 48.70 Q
2 5 4 Rolandas Gimbutis   Lithuania 48.85 Q
7 5 Ryk Neethling   South Africa 48.85 Q
4 6 1 Duje Draganja   Croatia 49.07 Q
5 7 2 Frédérick Bousquet   France 49.08 Q
6 8 5 Ian Thorpe   Australia 49.17 Q
7 9 1 Romain Barnier   France 49.49 Q
8 9 5 Alexander Popov   Russia 49.51 Q
9 8 3 Andrey Kapralov   Russia 49.52 Q
10 7 7 Peter Mankoč   Slovenia 49.54 Q
11 9 3 Filippo Magnini   Italy 49.58 Q
12 8 8 George Bovell   Trinidad and Tobago 49.61 Q
13 8 4 Roland Mark Schoeman   South Africa 49.68 Q
14 6 2 Luis Rojas   Venezuela 49.69 Q
15 7 1 Torsten Spanneberg   Germany 49.71 Q
16 9 2 Salim Iles   Algeria 49.72 Q
17 6 6 Yuriy Yegoshin   Ukraine 49.73
7 3 Ian Crocker   United States 49.73
19 8 1 Milorad Čavić   Serbia and Montenegro 49.74
20 6 8 Stefan Nystrand   Sweden 49.75
21 9 4 Jason Lezak   United States 49.87
22 6 4 Karel Novy   Switzerland 49.93
23 6 5 Matthew Kidd   Great Britain 49.97
24 9 7 José Meolans   Argentina 49.98
25 8 2 Lorenzo Vismara   Italy 50.03
26 9 8 Tiago Venâncio   Portugal 50.18
27 5 8 Yoshihiro Okumura   Japan 50.24
28 6 3 Attila Zubor   Hungary 50.26
29 5 6 Stanislau Neviarouski   Belarus 50.36
30 8 7 Eduardo Lorente   Spain 50.48
31 8 6 Ashley Callus   Australia 50.56
32 5 5 Aristeidis Grigoriadis   Greece 50.61
33 6 7 Jader Souza   Brazil 50.67
5 2 Matti Rajakylä   Finland 50.67
35 4 6 Romāns Miloslavskis   Latvia 50.94
36 9 6 Stephan Kunzelmann   Germany 50.98
37 5 3 Danil Haustov   Estonia 51.02
38 4 2 Alexandros Aresti   Cyprus 51.10
39 4 5 Ryan Pini   Papua New Guinea 51.11
40 3 3 Carl Probert   Fiji 51.42
41 4 3 Paul Kutscher   Uruguay 51.45
42 4 4 Kaan Tayla   Turkey 51.52
43 5 1 Cameron Gibson   New Zealand 51.56
44 4 1 George Gleason   Virgin Islands 51.69
45 3 4 Lee Chung-hee   South Korea 51.74
3 1 Ismael Ortiz   Panama 51.74
47 2 3 Octavian Guţu   Moldova 51.84
48 3 5 Damian Alleyne   Barbados 51.89
49 3 6 Max Schnettler   Chile 51.91
50 4 7 Allen Ong   Malaysia 52.04
51 3 2 Vyacheslav Titarenko   Kazakhstan 52.09
52 4 8 Raichin Antonov   Bulgaria 52.33
53 2 5 Camilo Becerra   Colombia 52.57
54 3 8 Wu Nien-pin   Chinese Taipei 52.58
55 2 6 Željko Panić   Bosnia and Herzegovina 52.75
56 3 7 Mark Chay   Singapore 52.83
57 2 4 Aleksandr Agafonov   Uzbekistan 52.92
58 2 1 Obaid Al Jasmi   United Arab Emirates 54.17
59 2 7 Onan Orlando Thom   Guyana 55.24
60 5 7 Huang Shaohua   China 55.46
61 2 2 Babak Farhoudi   Iran 56.42
62 2 8 Jean Laurent Ravera   Monaco 56.47
63 1 2 Mohammed Abbas   Iraq 56.81
64 1 6 Tamir Andryei   Mongolia 57.29
65 1 7 Leonel Matonse   Mozambique 57.79
66 1 4 Hesham Shehab   Bahrain 57.94
67 1 3 Sergey Dyachkov   Azerbaijan 58.26
68 1 5 Mumtaz Ahmed   Pakistan 59.19
69 1 1 Emery Nziyunvira   Burundi 1:09.40
7 6 Brent Hayden   Canada DNS
7 8 Rick Say   Canada DNS

Semifinals

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Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 2 1 Roland Mark Schoeman   South Africa 48.39 Q
2 2 4 Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands 48.55 Q
3 2 7 Filippo Magnini   Italy 48.91 Q
4 2 2 Andrey Kapralov   Russia 49.12 Q
5 1 8 Salim Iles   Algeria 49.13 Q
6 1 5 Duje Draganja   Croatia 49.14 Q
7 2 5 Ryk Neethling   South Africa 49.18 Q
8 1 3 Ian Thorpe   Australia 49.21 Q
9 1 6 Alexander Popov   Russia 49.23
10 2 3 Frédérick Bousquet   France 49.25
11 1 7 George Bovell   Trinidad and Tobago 49.53
12 2 6 Romain Barnier   France 49.63
13 1 2 Peter Mankoč   Slovenia 49.71
14 1 4 Rolandas Gimbutis   Lithuania 49.75
15 1 1 Luis Rojas   Venezuela 49.85
16 2 8 Torsten Spanneberg   Germany 49.88

Final

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  5 Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands 48.17
  4 Roland Mark Schoeman   South Africa 48.23
  8 Ian Thorpe   Australia 48.56
4 1 Ryk Neethling   South Africa 48.63
5 3 Filippo Magnini   Italy 48.99
6 7 Duje Draganja   Croatia 49.23
7 2 Salim Iles   Algeria 49.30
6 Andrey Kapralov   Russia 49.30

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. ^ a b "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Van den Hoogenband wins 100 meters". CNN. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  4. ^ Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Hoogie Takes the 100 Free, Repeats Sydney Win, Schoeman takes Silver, Thorpe the Bronze". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Ian Thorpe – Career at a glance". ABC News. 21 November 2006. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
  6. ^ Whitten, Phillip (18 August 2004). "Day 4, Semifinals: Schoeman, Hoogie Qualify 1-2 for the 100 Free Final; Popov Is Out". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
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