Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Pieter van den Hoogenband (2008-08-25).jpg
Pieter van den Hoogenband (2008)
Venue Sydney International Aquatic Centre
DatesSeptember 19, 2000 (heats &
semifinals)
September 20, 2000 (final)
Competitors73 from 66 nations
Winning time48.30
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Pieter van den Hoogenband
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Silver medal icon.svg Alexander Popov
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia
Bronze medal icon.svg Gary Hall, Jr.
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1996
2004  

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. [1] There were 73 competitors from 66 nations. [2] Nations have been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.

Summary

Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband stormed home on the final length to claim his second Olympic gold medal at these Games. He posted a time of 48.30 to hold off Russia's defending Olympic champion Alexander Popov by almost two-fifths of a second (0.40). [3] It was the Netherlands' first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle. Failing to attain a third straight triumph in the same event, Popov settled for the silver in 48.69. Popov became only the second man to win three medals in the 100 metre freestyle, the first since Duke Kahanamoku in 1912–1924. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. took bronze with a 48.73 time. [4] [5] Hall was the 11th man to win two medals in the event.

After breaking a split world record in the 4×100 m freestyle relay on the opening night, Australia's overwhelming favorite Michael Klim missed out the podium in a close race against Hall by a hundredth of a second, finishing with a time of 48.74. [6] Klim was followed in fifth by Hall's teammate Neil Walker (49.09), and in sixth by Sweden's three-time Olympian Lars Frölander (49.22). Russia's Denis Pimankov (49.36) and another Aussie Chris Fydler (49.44) rounded out the finale. [5]

Earlier in the semifinals, Van den Hoogenband cleared a 48-second barrier to set a new world record of 47.84, slashing 0.34 seconds off the mark set by Klim from the relay. [7]

One of the most popular highlights in the event took place in the first heat. Dubbed as Eric the Eel, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani received a dubious honor of being the slowest Olympic swimmer in history. Two other swimmers, Niger's Karim Bare and Tajikistan's Farkhod Oripov, plunged into the pool and were cast out of the race under a no false-start rule, leaving Moussambani as the last man standing. Cheered by a large crowd, he finished a one-man heat in 1:52.72, nearly seven seconds slower than a winning time by Van den Hoogenband over double the distance a day before. [8] [9]

Background

This was the 23rd 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]

Seven of the eight finalists from the 1996 Games returned: two-time gold medalist Alexander Popov of Russia, silver medalist Gary Hall, Jr. of the United States, bronze medalist (and 1992 silver medalist) Gustavo Borges of Brazil, fourth-place finisher Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, fifth-place finisher Fernando Scherer of Brazil, sixth-place finisher Pavlo Khnykin of Ukraine, and eighth-place finisher Francisco Sánchez of Venezuela.

Popov had recovered from a near-fatal stabbing in 1996 to win the 1997 European championship and repeat as world champion in 1998. His 1994 world record had stood until the start of the Games; in the freestyle relays, however, hometown hopeful Michael Klim (the 1998 world championship runner-up) had broken that record with his first leg split. Van den Hoogenband won the 200 metre freestyle earlier in Sydney. [2]

The Republic of the Congo, the Czech Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Mauritius, Mongolia, Niger, Nigeria, Slovenia, and Tajikistan each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition returned to the three-round format used from 1948 to 1980, abandoning the A/B final format used between 1984 and 1996. The 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

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

World recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Michael Klim  (AUS)48.18 Sydney, Australia 16 September 2000 [10]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Michael Klim  (AUS)48.18 Sydney, Australia 16 September 2000 [10]

Pieter van den Hoogenband set a new world record of 47.84 seconds in the second semifinal.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

DateTimeRound
Tuesday, 19 September 200010:00
19:00
Heats
Semifinals
Wednesday, 20 September 200019:53Final

Results

Heats

[10]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
194 Pieter van den Hoogenband Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 48.64Q
2105 Michael Klim Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 49.09Q
3106 Lars Frölander Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 49.16Q, NR
4104 Alexander Popov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 49.29Q
595 Gary Hall, Jr. Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.32Q
682 Denis Pimankov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 49.45Q
85 Chris Fydler Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 49.45Q
897 Salim Iles Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 49.70Q, NR
984 Neil Walker Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.73Q
10102 Lorenzo Vismara Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 49.74Q
101 Roland Mark Schoeman Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 49.74Q
12108 José Meolans Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 49.75Q, NR
1393 Gustavo Borges Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 49.76Q
87 Christian Tröger Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 49.76Q
1596 Attila Zubor Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 49.79Q
1678 Duje Draganja Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 49.83Q, NR
17107 Bartosz Kizierowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 49.84
1886 Johan Kenkhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 49.93
1981 Stefan Nystrand Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 50.19
92 Karel Novy Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 50.19
2163 Peter Mankoč Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 50.28
2283 Romain Barnier Flag of France.svg  France 50.32
2372 Rolandas Gimbutis Flag of Lithuania (1988-2004).svg  Lithuania 50.46
2461 Kim Min-suk Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 50.49
2574 Torsten Spanneberg Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 50.56
2698 Yannick Lupien Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 50.62
2788 Pavlo Khnykin Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 50.63
2873 Javier Botello Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 50.87
2975 Craig Hutchison Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 50.90
3091 Aleh Rukhlevich Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 50.96
71 Marcos Hernández Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 50.96
3277 Thierry Wouters Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 51.07
3376 Jere Hård Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 51.11
3465 Spyridon Bitsakis Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 51.28
68 Sergey Ashihmin Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg  Kyrgyzstan 51.28
3642 Carl Probert Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 51.34 NR
3767 Richard Sam Bera Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 51.52
3866 Yoav Bruck Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 51.62
3951 Nikola Kalabić Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg  FR Yugoslavia 51.82
4045 Christopher Murray Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 51.93
52 Allen Ong Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 51.93
4257 George Gleason Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 52.00
4347 Indrek Sei Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 52.09
4446 Tamer Hamed Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 52.14
4553 Květoslav Svoboda Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 52.18
4634 Paul Kutscher Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 52.22
4748 Fernando Jácome Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 52.24
44 Mark Chay Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 52.24
4962 Željko Panić Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 52.40
5064 Francisco Sánchez Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 52.43
5132 Howard Hinds Flag of the Netherlands Antilles (1986-2010).svg  Netherlands Antilles 52.52
5243 Glen Walshaw Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 52.53
5356 Igor Sitnikov Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 52.57
5433 Aleksandr Agafonov Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan 52.58
5554 Wu Nien-pin Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei 52.72
5655 Felipe Delgado Flag of Ecuador (1900-2009).svg  Ecuador 52.78
5758 Chrysanthos Papachrysanthou Flag of Cyprus (1960-2006).svg  Cyprus 52.82
5835 Ríkardur Ríkardsson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 52.85
5936 George Bovell Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago 52.90
6031 Gentle Offoin Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria 52.91 NR
6137 Kenny Roberts Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles 53.40
6241 Rodrigo Olivares Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 53.50
6323 Gregory Arkhurst Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 53.55
6438 Alejandro Castellanos Flag of Honduras (before 2022).svg  Honduras 54.06
6524 Hamid Reza Mobarez Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 54.12
6625 Christophe Lim Wen Ying Flag of Mauritius.svg  Mauritius 54.33
6726 Ganaagiin Galbadrakh Flag of Mongolia.svg  Mongolia 58.79
6822 Ragi Edde Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon 59.26
6927 Marien Michel Ngouabi Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Republic of the Congo 1:00.39
7021 Dawood Youssef Mohamed Jassim Flag of Bahrain (1972-2002).svg  Bahrain 1:02.45
7115 Eric Moussambani Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg  Equatorial Guinea 1:52.72NR
13 Karim Bare Flag of Niger.svg  Niger DSQ
14 Farkhod Oripov Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan DSQ
103 Fernando Scherer Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil DNS

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
124 Pieter van den Hoogenband Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 47.84Q, WR
214 Michael Klim Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 48.80Q
315 Alexander Popov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 48.84Q
425 Lars Frölander Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 48.93Q, NR
522 Neil Walker Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.04Q
623 Gary Hall, Jr. Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.13Q
713 Denis Pimankov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 49.43Q
826 Chris Fydler Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 49.55Q
928 Attila Zubor Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 49.58
1017 José Meolans Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 49.66 NR
1112 Lorenzo Vismara Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 49.67
18 Duje Draganja Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 49.67 NR
1316 Salim Iles Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 49.70 =NR
1411 Christian Tröger Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 49.80
1527 Roland Mark Schoeman Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 49.84
1621 Gustavo Borges Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 49.93

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Pieter van den Hoogenband Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 48.30
Silver medal icon.svg3 Alexander Popov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 48.69
Bronze medal icon.svg7 Gary Hall, Jr. Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.73
45 Michael Klim Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 48.74
52 Neil Walker Flag of the United States.svg  United States 49.09
66 Lars Frölander Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 49.22
71 Denis Pimankov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 49.36
88 Chris Fydler Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 49.44

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