| Men's 1500 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | ||||||||||||
| Date | September 22, 2000 (heats) September 23, 2000 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 41 from 32 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 14:48.33 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
| | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | women | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. [1]
Australia's Grant Hackett denied his teammate and sentimental favourite Kieren Perkins a third straight title in the event. Having suffered badly over the first six days of the Games, Hackett maintained a strong lead from start to finish, and touched the wall first to claim a gold in 14:48.33. [2] [3] Perkins fought off a challenge against his newest rival in the middle of the program's longest race, but ended up only with a silver in 14:53.59, handing the entire medal haul for the host nation with a 1–2 finish. U.S. swimmer Chris Thompson came up with a spectacular swim to take the bronze in an American record of 14:56.81, holding off a fast-closing Alexei Filipets of Russia (14:56.88) by seven hundredths of a second (0.07). For the first time in Olympic history, all three medalists finished the race under a 15-minute barrier. [4]
South Africa's dark horse Ryk Neethling powered home with a fifth-place effort in a new national record of 15:00.48, while American Erik Vendt, who previously set a continental mark from the trials, faded shortly to sixth in a time of 15:08.61. [5] Ukraine's Igor Chervynskiy (15:08.80) and Germany's Heiko Hell (15:19.87) rounded out the finale. [4]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 14:41.66 | Victoria, Canada | 24 August 1994 | [6] | |
| Olympic record | 14:43.48 | Barcelona, Spain | 31 July 1992 | [6] |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Grant Hackett | 14:48.33 | |||
| 4 | Kieren Perkins | 14:53.59 | |||
| 7 | Chris Thompson | 14:56.81 | AM | ||
| 4 | 2 | Alexei Filipets | 14:56.88 | NR | |
| 5 | 6 | Ryk Neethling | 15:00.48 | AF | |
| 6 | 5 | Erik Vendt | 15:08.61 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Igor Chervynskiy | 15:08.80 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Heiko Hell | 15:19.87 |