Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Men's 100m Freestyle heat 8.JPG
Start of the men's 100 metre freestyle heat 8
Venue London Aquatics Centre
DatesJuly 31, 2012 (heats &
semifinals)
August 1, 2012 (final)
Competitors56 from 49 nations
Winning time47.52
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Nathan Adrian
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg James Magnussen
Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Bronze medal icon.svg Brent Hayden
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
  2008
2016  

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1] There were 56 competitors from 49 nations. [2] The event was won by Nathan Adrian of the United States.

Summary

In one of the closest finishes in Olympic history, Nathan Adrian touched out Australia's favorite James Magnussen at the wall by a fingertip to win the event at the Olympics for the Americans for the first time since Matt Biondi topped the podium in 1988. Coming from third at the halfway turn, Adrian powered home on the final stretch, finishing in 47.52 to edge out Magnussen, also known as "The Missile", by a hundredth of a second (0.01). [3] [4] Meanwhile, Magnussen won a second straight silver for the Aussies in 47.53, adding more than four tenths of a second from his best time of 47.10 at the 2012 Australian Championships. [5] [6] Canada's Brent Hayden picked up the bronze in 47.80, winning his first Olympic medal and handing the Canadians their first ever medal in the event's history. [7] [8]

After claiming two golds and a silver in the past four days, France's Yannick Agnel could not produce his similar effort with a fourth-place time in 47.84. [9] [10] Meanwhile, Netherlands' Sebastiaan Verschuren pulled off a fifth-place finish in 47.88. Heading into the halfway turn with an early lead, Brazil's world record holder César Cielo dropped to sixth in 47.92. [11] Cuba's Hanser García (48.04) and Russia's Nikita Lobintsev (48.44) rounded out a historic finale. [8]

Background

This was the twenty-sixth appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres. [2]

Two of the eight finalists from the 2008 Games returned: bronze medalist César Cielo of Brazil and eighth-place finisher Stefan Nystrand of Sweden. The favorite coming into the event was James Magnussen of Australia, the 2011 world champion and textile-suit world best holder. Cielo had been the 2009 world champion; his world record (set in a skinsuit) still stands as of 2020. Canadian Brent Hayden was the runner-up in the 2011 world championships. French relay anchor Yannick Agnel was also a contender. [2]

Grenada, Mali, Paraguay, Tanzania, and Turkmenistan each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 25th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to two swimmers if both met the Olympic Qualifying Time (or "OQT"). An NOC with no swimmers meeting the OQT but at least one swimmer meeting the Olympic Selection Time (or "OST") was not guaranteed a place, but was eligible for selection to fill the overall 900 swimmer quota for the Games. For 2012, the OQT was 48.82 seconds while the OST was 50.53 seconds. The qualifying window was 1 March 2011 to 3 July 2012; only approved meets (generally international competitions and national Olympic trials) during that period could be used to meet the standards. There were also universality places available; if no male swimmer from a nation qualified in any event, the NOC could enter one male swimmer in an event.

Eight nations (Australia, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, France, Italy, Russia, South Africa, and the United States) had two swimmers meet the OQT. Five more (Canada, Cuba, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland) had one swimmer qualify through the OQT. 18 NOCs received a place through OST selection. 21 nations used universality places in the men's 100 metre freestyle.

The two swimmers per NOC limit had been in place since the 1984 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Records

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

World recordFlag of Brazil.svg  César Cielo  (BRA)46.91 Rome, Italy 30 July 2009 [12] [13]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Eamon Sullivan  (AUS)47.05 Beijing, China 13 August 2008 [14]

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. It was the first Olympics where non-textile suits were banned.

Schedule

The competition returned to a two-day schedule, with heats and semifinals on the same day.

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Tuesday, 31 July 201210:00
19:30
Heats
Semifinals
Wednesday, 1 August 201220:20Final

Results

Heats

[15]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
165 Nathan Adrian Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.19Q
261 Gideon Louw Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 48.29Q
382 Sebastiaan Verschuren Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 48.37Q
484 James Magnussen Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 48.38Q
585 Brent Hayden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 48.51Q
667 Brett Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 48.54Q
78 Pieter Timmers Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 48.54Q, NR
863 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 48.60Q
987 Cullen Jones Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.61Q
1077 Konrad Czerniak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 48.63Q
1164 César Cielo Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 48.67Q
1274 James Roberts Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 48.93Q
1275 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 48.93Q
1483 Fabien Gilot Flag of France.svg  France 48.95Q
1572 Hanser García Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 48.97Q
1681 Shaune Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 48.99Q
1754 Norbert Trandafir Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 49.02
1876 Marco di Carli Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 49.03
1962 Filippo Magnini Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 49.18
2068 Adam Brown Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 49.20
2173 Graeme Moore Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 49.29
2286 Luca Dotto Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 49.43
2352 Martin Verner Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 49.49
2471 Nicolas Oliveira Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 49.51
2588 Stefan Nystrand Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 49.55
2656 David Dunford Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 49.60
2745 Kemal Arda Gürdal Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 49.71
2857 Mindaugas Sadauskas Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 49.78
2958 Dominik Meichtry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 49.95
3047 Uvis Kalniņš Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 49.96
3151 Kristian Golomeev Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 50.08
3246 Benjamin Hockin Flag of Paraguay (1990-2013).svg  Paraguay 50.12
3343 Nabil Kebbab Flag of Algeria.svg  Algeria 50.37
3444 Yauhen Tsurkin Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 50.53
3541 Gabriel Melconian Alvez Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay 50.68
3648 Branden Whitehurst Flag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  Virgin Islands 51.04
3734 Sidni Hoxha Flag of Albania.svg  Albania 51.11 NR
3832 Kevin Avila Soto Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala 51.44
3935 Andrew Chetcuti Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 51.67 NR
4033 Jemal le Grand Flag of Aruba.svg  Aruba 51.86
4137 Andrew Rutherfurd Flag of Bolivia.svg  Bolivia 52.57
4236 Mohammed Bidarian Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 52.93
4324 Esau Simpson Flag of Grenada.svg  Grenada 53.26
4438 Christopher Duenas Flag of Guam.svg  Guam 53.37
4531 Mikael Koloyan Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia 53.82
4622 Sergeý Krowýakow Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan 54.43 NR
4723 Paul Elaisa Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 54.87
4825 Niall Roberts Flag of Guyana.svg  Guyana 55.66
4921 Tamir Andryei Flag of Mongolia.svg  Mongolia 56.37
5026 Shane Mangroo Flag of Seychelles.svg  Seychelles 56.46
5127 Omar Núñez Flag of Nicaragua.svg  Nicaragua 57.11
5214 Mamadou Soumare Flag of Mali.svg  Mali 57.32
5315 Ahmed Husam Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives 57.53
5428 Israr Hussain Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 57.86
5516 Ammaar Ghadiyali Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania 1:01.07
5613 Beni Bertrand Binobagira Flag of Burundi.svg  Burundi 1:04.57
42 George Bovell Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago DNS
53 Lü Zhiwu Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China DNS
55 Dominik Kozma Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DNS
66 Danila Izotov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia DNS

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
115 James Magnussen Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 47.63Q
224 Nathan Adrian Flag of the United States.svg  United States 47.97Q
328 Hanser García Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 48.04Q, NR
425 Sebastiaan Verschuren Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 48.13Q
512 César Cielo Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 48.17Q
623 Brent Hayden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 48.21Q
721 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 48.23Q
816 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 48.38Q
927 Konrad Czerniak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 48.44
14 Gideon Louw Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 48.44
1111 Fabien Gilot Flag of France.svg  France 48.49
1217 James Roberts Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 48.57
26 Pieter Timmers Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 48.57
1422 Cullen Jones Flag of the United States.svg  United States 48.60
1513 Brett Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 48.92
1618 Shaune Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 49.07

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg5 Nathan Adrian Flag of the United States.svg  United States 47.52
Silver medal icon.svg4 James Magnussen Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 47.53
Bronze medal icon.svg7 Brent Hayden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 47.80
41 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 47.84
56 Sebastiaan Verschuren Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 47.88
62 César Cielo Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 47.92
73 Hanser García Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 48.04=NR
88 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 48.44

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