Ian James Thorpe, is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along with fellow swimmer Emma McKeon. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in his hometown of Sydney.
The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece. The event took place on 15 and 16 August. There were 59 competitors from 53 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers.
The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 17 and 18. There were 69 competitors from 62 nations. Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.
The men's 4×200 metre freestyle relay took place on 17 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.
Grant George Hackett OAM is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He was well regarded for his versatility, and has held the long course world records in the 200 m, 800 m, and 1500 m freestyle events. He dominated the 1500 m event for a decade, being undefeated in the event in finals from 1996 until the 2007 World Aquatics Championships. In total, he has won 10 long-course world championship gold medals.
Klete Derik Keller is an American convicted felon and former competition swimmer who won medals at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Erik K. Vendt is an American former competition swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter individual medley. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Vendt won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, swimming in the preliminary heats of the relay event.
Nicholas Sprenger is an Australian middle-distance freestyle swimmer who won a silver medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Craig Julian Stevens is an Australian former freestyle swimmer specialising in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
Peter William Vanderkaay is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in middle-distance freestyle events and is a four-time Olympic medalist. He was a member of the United States Olympic team in 2004, 2008, and 2012, and won bronze medals in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 400-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
In late March 2004, at the Australian Championships in Sydney, Ian Thorpe lined up in the heats of the 400 m freestyle, but overbalanced whilst on the blocks and fell into the water, resulting in his disqualification.
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.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). When Phelps won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps already tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Mahrez Mebarek is an Algerian former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events. He is a multiple-time Algerian record holder in long-distance freestyle.
Heiko Hell is a German former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a nine-time German swimming champion in the 400, 800, and 1500 m freestyle (2000–2004), and also a three-time Olympic finalist. Hell is a member of Hamburg City Swimming Club, and is coached and trained by Dirk Lange.
Łukasz Drzewiński is a Polish former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle and butterfly events. Drzewinski won a silver medal in the 200 m butterfly at the 2002 European Junior Swimming Championships in Linz, Austria with a time of 2:00.21, edging out Ukraine's Serhiy Advena by 0.04 of a second. He is a member of the swimming team for AZS Warszawa, and is coached and trained by Roberta Białeckiego.
Giancarlo Zolezzi Seoane is a Chilean former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a multiple-time Chilean swimming champion and record holder in the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 m freestyle.
Charnvudth Saengsri is a Thai former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a two-time silver medalist in the 1500 m freestyle at the Southeast Asian Games.
Aytekin Mindan is a Turkish former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events. He held a Turkish record of 1:50.40 in the 200 m freestyle, until it was matched by Kemal Arda Gurdal in 2012. He studied at Istanbul Bilgi University.
Chen Te-tung is a Taiwanese former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events. Chen qualified for two swimming events, as a member of the Chinese Taipei team, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He posted FINA B-standard entry times of 1:53.29 and 4:02.24 from the National University Games in Taipei. On the first day of the Games, Chen placed fortieth in the 400 m freestyle. He pulled off a second-place effort in heat one by a 1.72-second margin behind Philippines' Miguel Mendoza with a time of 4:03.71. The following day, Chen delivered a forty-seventh-place finish in the 200 m freestyle. Swimming in heat three, he raced to a sixth seed by 0.24 of a second behind Cyprus' Alexandros Aresti in 1:54.14.
