Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

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Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Venue Sydney International Aquatic Centre
DateSeptember 16, 2000 (heats & final)
Competitors46 from 40 nations
Winning time3:40.59 WR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Ian Thorpe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Silver medal icon.svg Massimiliano Rosolino Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Bronze medal icon.svg Klete Keller Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1996
2004  

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. [1]

At only 17 years of age, Australia's overwhelming favorite Ian Thorpe, dubbed by his fans as the "Thorpedo", made his Olympic debut by claiming the first gold medal for the host nation at these Games, winning by 2.81 seconds. Cheered by a massive home crowd and rocketed to the chants of "Thorpie" by his swimming fans, Thorpe maintained a strong lead from start to finish before hitting the wall first in a new world record of 3:40.59. [2] [3]

Massimiliano Rosolino earned a silver medal for Italy in a European record of 3:43.40, finishing almost three seconds behind Thorpe. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Klete Keller (another 17-year-old) stormed home from last place in the 200 m lap to wrest a bronze in 3:47.00, an American record, edging out Rosolino's teammate Emiliano Brembilla (3:47.01) by a hundredth of a second (0.01). [4]

Romania's Dragoș Coman finished fifth with a national record of 3:47.38, and was followed in the sixth spot by another U.S. swimmer Chad Carvin in 3:47.58. Aussie Grant Hackett (3:48.22) and South Africa's Ryk Neethling (3:48.52) rounded out the finale within three-tenths of a second (0.30) apart. [4]

Acknowledging a massive roar of the home crowd, Thorpe also cracked Yevgeny Sadovyi's 1992 Olympic record by 0.35 seconds to lead the final of six heats, and pick up a top-seeded time of 3:44.65 in the morning prelims. [5] [6]

Records

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

World recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Ian Thorpe  (AUS)3:41.33 Sydney, Australia 13 May 2000 [7]
Olympic recordOlympic flag.svg  Yevgeny Sadovyi  (EUN)3:45.00 Barcelona, Spain 29 July 1992 [7]

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

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
16 SeptemberHeat 6 Ian Thorpe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:44.65 OR
16 SeptemberFinal Ian Thorpe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:40.59 WR

Results

Heats

[7]

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
164 Ian Thorpe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:44.65Q, OR
243 Massimiliano Rosolino Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:45.65Q, NR
344 Ryk Neethling Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 3:48.08Q
463 Emiliano Brembilla Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:48.41Q
555 Chad Carvin Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:48.42Q
665 Klete Keller Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:48.62Q
753 Dragoș Coman Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 3:48.77Q, NR
854 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:48.91Q
952 Heiko Hell Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 3:50.80
1045 Paul Palmer Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:51.06
1141 Masato Hirano Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3:51.42 AS
1268 Nicolas Rostoucher Flag of France.svg  France 3:51.80 NR
1356 James Salter Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:52.01
1467 Alexei Filipets Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:52.21
1566 Rick Say Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 3:52.72
1647 Igor Snitko Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 3:52.97
1742 Luiz Lima Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 3:53.87
1846 Jacob Carstensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 3:54.14
1957 Vlastimil Burda Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 3:54.40
2058 Spyridon Gianniotis Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 3:54.96
2162 Mark Johnston Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 3:54.99
2248 Dmitry Koptur Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 3:55.26
2351 Ricardo Monasterio Flag of Venezuela (1954-2006).png  Venezuela 3:55.35
2436 Torwai Sethsothorn Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 3:56.68
2533 Jin Hao Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:57.22
2638 Damian Alleyne Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados 3:58.12
2724 Woo Chul Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 3:58.31
2835 Jorge Carral Armella Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 3:58.34
2934 Jonathan Duncan Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 3:58.52
3022 Mark Kwok Kin Ming Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 3:58.94 NR
3132 Zoltán Szilágyi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 3:59.40
3225 Agustín Fiorilli Flag of Argentina (1861-2010).svg  Argentina 3:59.44
3361 Igor Chervynskiy Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 3:59.84
3423 Petar Stoychev Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 3:59.94
3537 Jure Bučar Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 4:00.19
3621 Miguel Mendoza Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 4:00.66 NR
3712 Sng Ju Wei Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 4:01.34 NR
3828 Victor Rogut Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 4:01.42
3927 Aytekin Mindan Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 4:01.46
4015 Giancarlo Zolezzi Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 4:01.51
4114 Li Yun-lun Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei 4:03.10
4231 Hannes Kalteis Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 4:03.66
4326 Dieung Manggang Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 4:03.77
4416 Hani Elteir Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 4:04.23
4513 Ivan Ivanov Flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 4:09.33
4617 Marcelino López Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua 4:18.89

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Ian Thorpe Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:40.59 WR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Massimiliano Rosolino Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:43.40 EU
Bronze medal icon.svg7 Klete Keller Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:47.00 AM
46 Emiliano Brembilla Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:47.01
51 Dragoș Coman Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 3:47.38 NR
62 Chad Carvin Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:47.58
78 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:48.22
83 Ryk Neethling Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 3:48.52

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References

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  3. "The Stuff of Heroes". Time Magazine. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 Whitten, Phillip (16 September 2000). "Olympic Day 1 Finals (Complete)". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  5. Whitten, Phillip (16 September 2000). "Olympic Day 1 Prelims (Complete)". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  6. Morrissey, Rick (16 September 2000). "Spitz's Remarks Not Golden". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 28 May 2013.
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