Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre breaststroke

The men's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 9–11 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Men's 100 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 9, 2008 (heats)
August 10, 2008 (semifinals)
August 11, 2008 (final)
Competitors65 from 54 nations
Winning time58.91 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kosuke Kitajima  Japan
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Alexander Dale Oen  Norway
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hugues Duboscq  France
← 2004
2012 →

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima set a new world record of 58.91 to defend his Olympic title in the event. Alexander Dale Oen powered home with a silver in 59.20, earning a first Olympic medal for Norway in swimming. Coming from seventh place in the final turn, France's Hugues Duboscq managed to repeat a bronze from Athens four years earlier, in a time of 59.37.[2][3] U.S. swimmer and defending silver medalist Brendan Hansen pulled off a fourth-place effort in 59.57, two-tenths of a second (0.20) behind Duboscq.[4]

Australia's Brenton Rickard finished fifth with a time of 59.74, and was followed in sixth spot by Russia's Roman Sloudnov, bronze medalist in Sydney (2000), in a national record of 59.87. Ukraine's Igor Borysik (1:00.20) and American Mark Gangloff (1:00.24) rounded out the finale.[2]

Earlier, Dale Oen set a new Olympic record of 59.41 in the prelims, and eventually lowered it to 59.16 in the semifinals by the next morning's session.[5][6] He continued to claim the title at the 2011 FINA World Championships, but his life came to a tragic end on April 30, 2012. Shortly after training at altitude in Arizona, Dale Oen was found unconscious in his apartment shower, and died suddenly from a cardiac arrest at Flagstaff Medical Centre.[7]

Controversy

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Iran's Mohammad Alirezaei was due to race against Israel's Tom Be'eri in the fourth heat of the 100 metre breaststroke, but pulled out, apparently under the orders from officials of the Iranian delegation. Efraim Zinger, Olympic Committee of Israel General Secretary, criticized the withdrawal saying "Politics takes precedence over sport with the Iranians and the Olympic spirit is as far from them as east is far from west". Giselle Davies, director of communications for the IOC, said that Alirezaei withdrew because of sickness and submitted his case in writing to his Federation.[8][9] At the 2004 Games in Athens, Iran's Arash Miresmaeili, a two-time world judo champion, refused to compete against Israel's Ehud Vaks in the opening round of the 66 kg competition, later admitting that he made his decision to show solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

Records

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

World record   Brendan Hansen (USA) 59.13 Irvine, United States 1 August 2006 [10]
Olympic record   Brendan Hansen (USA) 1:00.01 Athens, Greece 14 August 2004 -

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 9 Heat 7 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.41 OR
August 10 Semifinal 2 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.16 OR
August 11 Final Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 58.91 WR

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 7 4 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.41 Q, OR
2 8 4 Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 59.52 Q
3 9 5 Hugues Duboscq   France 59.67 Q
4 7 5 Brenton Rickard   Australia 59.89 Q, OC
5 7 7 Cameron van der Burgh   South Africa 59.96 Q, AF
6 9 7 Giedrius Titenis   Lithuania 1:00.11 Q
7 9 3 Roman Sloudnov   Russia 1:00.20 Q
8 8 2 Igor Borysik   Ukraine 1:00.31 Q
9 6 3 Damir Dugonjič   Slovenia 1:00.35 Q
10 7 3 Christian Sprenger   Australia 1:00.36 Q
11 9 4 Brendan Hansen   United States 1:00.65 Q
12 7 6 Oleg Lisogor   Ukraine 1:00.65 Q
13 9 2 Yuta Suenaga   Japan 1:00.67 Q
14 8 7 Mihail Alexandrov   Bulgaria 1:00.69 Q
15 8 5 Chris Cook   Great Britain 1:00.70 Q
16 8 3 Mark Gangloff   United States 1:00.71 Q
17 6 5 Vladislav Polyakov   Kazakhstan 1:00.80
18 4 4 Hunor Mate   Austria 1:00.93 NR
19 8 8 Richárd Bodor   Hungary 1:00.97
20 5 5 Mike Brown   Canada 1:00.98
8 6 Glenn Snyders   New Zealand
22 7 1 Felipe França Silva   Brazil 1:01.04
23 7 2 Henrique Barbosa   Brazil 1:01.11
24 6 7 Matjaž Markič   Slovenia 1:01.31
7 8 Dániel Gyurta   Hungary
26 9 8 Thijs van Valkengoed   Netherlands 1:01.32
27 9 1 Kristopher Gilchrist   Great Britain 1:01.34
28 6 1 Mathieu Bois   Canada 1:01.45
29 6 6 Jiří Jedlička   Czech Republic 1:01.56
30 5 2 Andrew Bree   Ireland 1:01.76
31 5 1 Valentin Preda   Romania 1:01.77
5 3 Jonas Andersson   Sweden
33 3 1 Daniel Velez   Puerto Rico 1:01.80 NR
34 8 1 Dmitry Komornikov   Russia 1:01.82
35 5 4 Yevgeniy Ryzhkov   Kazakhstan 1:01.83
6 4 Borja Iradier   Spain
37 6 2 Melquíades Álvarez   Spain 1:01.89
38 3 2 Sandeep Sejwal   India 1:02.19
39 4 5 Demir Atasoy   Turkey 1:02.25
40 4 2 Čaba Silađi   Serbia 1:02.31
41 3 3 Genaro Prono   Paraguay 1:02.32
42 4 7 Tom Be'eri   Israel 1:02.42 NR
5 6 Vanja Rogulj   Croatia
44 5 7 Sofiane Daid   Algeria 1:02.45
45 4 6 Martti Aljand   Estonia 1:02.46 NR
46 4 8 Xue Ruipeng   China 1:02.48
47 4 3 Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson   Iceland 1:02.50
48 3 6 Malick Fall   Senegal 1:02.51
49 5 8 Viktar Vabishchevich   Belarus 1:03.29
50 9 6 Romanos Alyfantis   Greece 1:03.39
51 3 5 Alwin de Prins   Luxembourg 1:03.64
52 3 4 Sergio Andres Ferreyra   Argentina 1:03.65
53 2 3 Édgar Crespo   Panama 1:03.72
54 2 4 Sergiu Postica   Moldova 1:03.83
55 3 8 Andrei Cross   Barbados 1:04.57
56 3 7 Ivan Demyanenko   Uzbekistan 1:05.14
57 2 6 Wael Koubrousli   Lebanon 1:06.22
58 2 5 Nguyen Huu Viet   Vietnam 1:06.36
59 2 2 Erik Rajohnson   Madagascar 1:08.42
60 2 7 Boldbaataryn Bütekh-Uils   Mongolia 1:10.80
61 1 4 Osama Mohammed Ye Alarag   Qatar 1:10.83
62 1 5 Mohammed Al-Habsi   Oman 1:12.28
63 1 3 Petero Okotai   Cook Islands 1:20.20
6 8 Alessandro Terrin   Italy DSQ
4 1 Mohammad Alirezaei   Iran DNS

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 59.55 Q
2 5 Brenton Rickard   Australia 59.65 Q, OC
3 8 Mark Gangloff   United States 1:00.44 Q
4 6 Igor Borysik   Ukraine 1:00.55 Q
5 7 Oleg Lisogor   Ukraine 1:00.56
6 1 Mihail Alexandrov   Bulgaria 1:00.61 NR
7 3 Giedrius Titenis   Lithuania 1:00.66
8 2 Christian Sprenger   Australia 1:00.76

Semifinal 2

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.16 Q, OR
2 5 Hugues Duboscq   France 59.83 Q
3 7 Brendan Hansen   United States 59.94 Q
4 6 Roman Sloudnov   Russia 1:00.10 Q
5 3 Cameron van der Burgh   South Africa 1:00.57
6 1 Yuta Suenaga   Japan 1:00.67
7 8 Chris Cook   Great Britain 1:00.81
8 2 Damir Dugonjič   Slovenia 1:00.92

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  5 Kosuke Kitajima   Japan 58.91 WR
  4 Alexander Dale Oen   Norway 59.20
  6 Hugues Duboscq   France 59.37
4 2 Brendan Hansen   United States 59.57
5 3 Brenton Rickard   Australia 59.74
6 7 Roman Sloudnov   Russia 59.87 NR
7 8 Igor Borysik   Ukraine 1:00.20
8 1 Mark Gangloff   United States 1:00.24

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Kosuke Kitajima Wins Gold in World-Record Time in 100 Breast; Posts First 58 Time in History". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Kitajima wins 100m breaststroke in WR time". ABC News. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. ^ Clarey, Christopher (11 August 2008). "Kitajima leaves Hansen and rivalry behind". ABC News. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. ^ Lohn, John (9 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Alexander Dale Oen Sets Olympic Record to Lead 100 Breast Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. ^ Baldwin, Alan (9 August 2008). "Oen breaks Olympic record in 100m breaststroke". Reuters. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Alexander Dale Oen dies at 26". ESPN. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Iranian swimmer quits Olympic race against Israeli". CNN. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  9. ^ Magney, Jacqueline (11 August 2008). "Iranian who quit swim heat may be expelled". The Age. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  10. ^ Harris, Beth (1 August 2006). "Hansen upstages Phelps with world record". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
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