Men's 1500 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | ||||||||||||
Date | August 15, 2008 (heats) August 17, 2008 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 37 from 29 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 14:40.84 AF | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
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 |
Marathon | ||
10 km | men | women |
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]
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]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | Grant Hackett (AUS) | 14:34.56 | Fukuoka, Japan | 29 July 2001 | [8] |
Olympic record | Grant Hackett (AUS) | 14:43.40 | Athens, Greece | 21 August 2004 | - |
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 15 | Heat 3 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 14:40.84 | OR |
August 15 | Heat 5 | Grant Hackett | Australia | 14:38.92 | OR |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia | 14:40.84 | AF | |
4 | Grant Hackett | Australia | 14:41.53 | ||
5 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 14:42.69 | ||
4 | 3 | Yuri Prilukov | Russia | 14:43.21 | |
5 | 8 | Larsen Jensen | United States | 14:48.16 | |
6 | 2 | David Davies | Great Britain | 14:52.11 | |
7 | 6 | Zhang Lin | China | 14:55.20 | |
8 | 1 | Sun Yang | China | 15:05.12 |
The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 14.
The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 20 and 21.
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.
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.
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.
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