Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1988, MiNr 3183.jpg
German stamp commemorating 1988 Olympic swimming
Venue Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool
Date22 September 1988 (heats & finals)
Competitors77 from 51 nations
Winning time48.63 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Matt Biondi Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Chris Jacobs Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Stéphan Caron Flag of France.svg  France
  1984
1992  

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea. [1] There were 77 competitors from 51 nations. [2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.

American Matt Biondi set a new Olympic record to claim his first ever individual gold and fourth medal in swimming at these Games (fifth in his career, with a relay gold in 1984). Maintaining a lead from start to finish, he pulled away from a star-studded field to hit the wall first in 48.63. [3] [4] Biondi also enjoyed his teammate Chris Jacobs taking home the silver in 49.08, as the Americans climbed on the top two steps of the podium for the sixth time in the event's Olympic history. Earlier in the prelims, Jacobs sliced off Rowdy Gaines' 1984 record by six-tenths of a second to establish a new Olympic standard of 49.20 in the eighth heat, until Biondi eventually lowered it to 49.04 in the final of ten heats. [5] Meanwhile, France's Stéphan Caron held off an intense sprint battle against Soviet duo Gennadiy Prigoda and Iurie Başcatov to take home the bronze in 49.62. [3]

Background

This was the 20th 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]

Three of the eight finalists from the 1984 Games returned: two-time bronze medalist Per Johansson of Sweden, fifth-place finisher Dano Halsall of Switzerland, and sixth-place finisher Stéphan Caron of France. Caron was also the runner-up in the 1986 world championships behind Matt Biondi of the United States.

Biondi had come to Seoul with the goal of matching Mark Spitz's seven gold medals in a single Games. That goal had already been frustrated by the time of the 100 metre freestyle (his best race), as his first three events had resulted in only one golds along with a silver and a bronze. Biondi still had an excellent chance of achieving as many gold medals (5) as anyone not named Spitz had before 1988, however, with the 100 free, 50 free, and two relays to go, though Kristin Otto was on her way towards 6 golds in Seoul as well. [2]

Guam, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 19th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

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

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

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Matt Biondi  (USA)48.42 Austin, United States 10 August 1988
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Rowdy Gaines  (USA)49.80 Los Angeles, United States 31 July 1984

The following records were established during the competition:

DateRoundSwimmerNationTimeRecord
22 SeptemberHeat 8 Chris Jacobs Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.20 OR
22 SeptemberHeat 10 Matt Biondi Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.04 OR
22 SeptemberFinal A Matt Biondi Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.63 OR

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

DateTimeRound
Thursday, 22 September 198810:00
20:00
Heats
Finals

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B. [6]

RankHeatSwimmerNationTimeNotes
110 Matt Biondi Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.04QA, OR
28 Chris Jacobs Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.20QA
39 Stéphan Caron Flag of France.svg  France 49.37QA
49 Iurie Başcatov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 50.08QA
510 Gennadiy Prigoda Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 50.13QA
68 Per Johansson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.22QA
79 Andrew Baildon Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 50.34QA
88 Tommy Werner Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.45QA
910 Steffen Zesner Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 50.73QB, WD
107 Hilton Woods Flag of the Netherlands Antilles (1986-2010).svg  Netherlands Antilles 50.73QB
118 Franz Mortensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 50.74QB
128 Sven Lodziewski Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 50.77QB
139 Thomas Fahrner Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 50.78QB
1410 Sandy Goss Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 50.81QB
159 Tsvetan Golomeev Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 50.82QB
169 Tom Stachewicz Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 50.90QB
1710 Stéfan Voléry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 50.96QB
188 Roberto Gleria Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 50.97
199 Torsten Wiegel Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 51.02
209 Christophe Kalfayan Flag of France.svg  France 51.05
2110 Andy Jameson Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 51.18
228 Roland Lee Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 51.20
237 Dano Halsall Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 51.21
244 Manuel Guzmán Flag of Puerto Rico (1952-1995).svg  Puerto Rico 51.25
257 Peter Rohde Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 51.38
2610 Petr Kladiva Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 51.39
2710 Shen Jianqiang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 51.40
287 Rodrigo González Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 51.46
297 Hans Kroes Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 51.65
307 Patrick Dybiona Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 51.79
316 Magnús Ólafsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 52.01
325 Shigeo Ogata Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 52.08
336 Jorge Fernandes Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil 52.23
346 Jean-Marie Arnould Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 52.26
356 Yves Clausse Flag of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 52.27
367 Ross Anderson Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 52.33
376 Emanuel Nascimento Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg  Brazil 52.41
386 Feng Qiangbiao Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 52.45
395 Carlos Scanavino Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 52.52
406 Ang Peng Siong Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 52.53
415 Markus Opatril Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 52.66
428 Mihály Richárd Bodor Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 52.77
433 Oon Jin Gee Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 53.26
445 Murat Tahir Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 53.27
454 Moustafa Amer Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 53.57
465 Vaughan Smith Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 53.58
475 Richard Sam Bera Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 53.59
481 Garvin Ferguson Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 53.62
494 Michael Wright Flag of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg  Hong Kong 53.64
504 Li Khai Kam Flag of Hong Kong (1959-1997).svg  Hong Kong 53.70
514 René Concepcion Flag of the Philippines (1936-1985, 1986-1998).svg  Philippines 53.84
525 Hakan Eskioğlu Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 53.95
534 Jonathan Sakovich Flag of Guam.svg  Guam 54.24
543 Hans Foerster Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 54.29
553 Kwon Sang-won Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  South Korea 54.34
565 Ignacio Escamilla Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 54.56
573 Song Kwang-sun Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg  South Korea 54.63
583 Ronald Pickard Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 54.72
592 Mouhamed Diop Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal 54.93
603 Graham Thompson Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 55.20
611 Paul Yelle Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados 55.35
623 Pedro Lima Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 55.53
634 Chiang Chi-li Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei 55.87
642 Plutarco Castellanos Flag of Honduras (before 2022).svg  Honduras 56.11
653 Hasan Al-Shammari Flag of Kuwait.svg  Kuwait 56.44
662 Warren Sorby Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 56.66
671 Sergio Fafitine Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 57.10
682 Pablo Barahona Flag of Honduras (before 2022).svg  Honduras 57.97
692 Michele Piva Flag of San Marino (before 2011).svg  San Marino 57.99
701 Jason Chute Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 58.14
712 Filippo Piva Flag of San Marino (before 2011).svg  San Marino 58.39
721 Mohamed Bin Abid Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 58.81
732 Ahmad Faraj Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 59.10
742 Trevor Ncala Flag of Swaziland.svg  Swaziland 59.25
751 Emile Lahoud Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon 1:02.40
761 Yul Mark Du Pont Flag of Swaziland.svg  Swaziland 1:02.70
6 Stefan Opatril Flag of Austria.svg  Austria DSQ
7 Giorgio Lamberti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy DNS

Finals

[7]

Final B

RankLaneSwimmerNationTime
91 Tom Stachewicz Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 50.71
102 Sandy Goss Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 50.73
118 Stéfan Voléry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 50.74
123 Sven Lodziewski Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 51.00
135 Franz Mortensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 51.05
146 Thomas Fahrner Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 51.12
157 Tsvetan Golomeev Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria 51.16
164 Hilton Woods Flag of the Netherlands Antilles (1986-2010).svg  Netherlands Antilles 51.25

Final A

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Matt Biondi Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.63 OR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Chris Jacobs Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.08
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Stéphan Caron Flag of France.svg  France 49.62
42 Gennadiy Prigoda Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 49.75
56 Iurie Başcatov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 50.08
61 Andrew Baildon Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 50.23
77 Per Johansson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.35
88 Tommy Werner Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.54

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References

  1. "Swimming at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference . Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 "The Games at a Glance". New York Times . 23 September 1988. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  4. Robb, Sharon (23 September 1988). "Evans Sets Record, Wins 2nd Gold". Sun-Sentinel . Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  5. Husar, John (22 September 1988). "'Tight' Biondi Sets Record In Heats". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  6. "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Seoul 1988 . LA84 Foundation. p. 401. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  7. "Seoul 1988: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Seoul 1988 . LA84 Foundation. p. 402. Retrieved 19 August 2013.