Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

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Men's 1500 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 15, 2008 (heats)
August 17, 2008 (final)
Competitors37 from 29 nations
Winning time14:40.84 AF
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Oussama Mellouli Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia
Silver medal icon.svg Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Bronze medal icon.svg Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
  2004
2012  

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. [1]

The winning margin was 0.69 seconds which as of 2023 remains the only time this event was won by less than one second at the Olympics.

Competing at his third Games, Oussama Mellouli made an Olympic milestone to become Tunisia's first ever gold medalist in 48 years. He denied Australia's Grant Hackett a third straight title in the event, touching the wall first in an African record of 14:40.84. Hanging with the leaders through the first two-thirds of the race, Mellouli moved into the lead at the 1,100-metre mark, and held off Hackett's sprinted finish on the final lap. This was also a retribution for Mellouli, who served an 18-month doping ban from FINA for using the banned stimulant Adderall. [2] [3] [4]

Trying to become the first male swimmer to win three gold medals in the same event, Hackett collected a silver in 14:41.53. [5] Meanwhile, Canada's Ryan Cochrane powered home with a bronze in 14:42.69, finishing ahead of Russia's Yuri Prilukov (14:43.21). U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen, silver medalist in Athens four years earlier, placed fifth with a time 14:48.16, and was followed in the sixth spot by Great Britain's David Davies in 14:52.11. [3] [6] Chinese duo Zhang Lin (14:55.20) and Sun Yang (15:05.12) rounded out the finale. [4]

Earlier in the prelims, Cochrane established a new Olympic record of 14:40.84 in heat three, until Hackett cleared the 14:40 barrier, and lowered the record to 14:38.92 in the final heat of five. [7]

Records

Grant Hackett was the world record holder and aiming to be the first male to complete a hat-trick in swimming events. Olympian Grant Hackett takes the Pledge (34690236782) (cropped).jpg
Grant Hackett was the world record holder and aiming to be the first male to complete a hat-trick in swimming events.

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

World recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Grant Hackett  (AUS)14:34.56 Fukuoka, Japan 29 July 2001 [8]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Grant Hackett  (AUS)14:43.40 Athens, Greece 21 August 2004-

The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 15Heat 3 Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 14:40.84 OR
August 15Heat 5 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 14:38.92 OR

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
155 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 14:38.92Q, OR
235 Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 14:40.84Q, AM
334 Yuri Prilukov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 14:41.13Q, EU
456 Zhang Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 14:45.84Q, AS
533 David Davies Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 14:46.11Q
646 Oussama Mellouli Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 14:47.76Q
742 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 14:48.39Q
853 Larsen Jensen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 14:49.53Q
944 Mateusz Sawrymowicz Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 14:50.30
1045 Federico Colbertaldo Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 14:51.44
1154 Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States 14:52.11
1251 Spyridon Gianniotis Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 14:53.32 NR
1323 Nicolas Rostoucher Flag of France.svg  France 15:00.58
1425 Mads Glæsner Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 15:03.33
1543 Craig Stevens Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 15:04.82
1636 Park Tae-Hwan Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 15:05.55
1747 Samuel Pizzetti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 15:07.02
1837 Takeshi Matsuda Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 15:09.17
1958 Gergő Kis Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 15:09.67
2022 Tom Vangeneugden Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 15:11.04 NR
2115 Florian Janistyn Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 15:12.46 NR
2257 Troyden Prinsloo Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 15:12.64
2331 Sergey Fesenko Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 15:13.03
2424 Maciej Hreniak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 15:16.16
2538 Richard Charlesworth Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 15:17.27
2648 Marcos Rivera Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 15:18.98
2732 Sébastien Rouault Flag of France.svg  France 15:21.14
2821 Dragoș Coman Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 15:24.05
2927 Fernando Costa Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 15:26.21
3013 Petar Stoychev Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 15:28.84
3152 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 15:35.47
3216 Ryan Arabejo Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 15:42.77
3328 Ricardo Monasterio Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 15:45.98
3414 Juan Martín Pereyra Flag of Argentina (1861-2010).svg  Argentina 15:49.57
3512 Ediz Yildirimer Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 16:28.79
26 Christian Kubusch Flag of Germany.svg  Germany DNS
41 Luka Turk Civil Ensign of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia DNS

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg7 Oussama Mellouli Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 14:40.84 AF
Silver medal icon.svg4 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 14:41.53
Bronze medal icon.svg5 Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 14:42.69
43 Yuri Prilukov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 14:43.21
58 Larsen Jensen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 14:48.16
62 David Davies Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 14:52.11
76 Zhang Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 14:55.20
81 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 15:05.12

References

  1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. "Mellouli shatters Hackett's hat-trick bid". South China Morning Post. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Mellouli claims 1500m swim gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Ous Mellouli Claims Olympic Gold for Tunisia in Men's 1500 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. Colman, Mike (17 August 2008). "Grant Hackett gives his all for silver medal in 1500m". The Australian . Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. Goffa, Debbie (17 August 2008). "Larsen Jensen places 5th in 1500m freestyle". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  7. Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Grant Hackett Leads 1500 Free Qualifying With Olympic Standard". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  8. "Hackett shatters world record". BBC News. 29 July 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2008.