Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

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Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue London Aquatics Centre
DateJuly 28, 2012 (heats & final)
Competitors28 from 23 nations
Winning time3:40.14 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Silver medal icon.svg Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
Bronze medal icon.svg Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  2008
2016  

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]

Sun Yang made a historic milestone to become China's first ever male gold medalist in swimming, as he continued to build another Asian supremacy for the event, together with an Olympic record. He held off South Korea's defending champion Park Tae-hwan on the final stretch to effortlessly secure the gold medal in a sterling time of 3:40.14, cutting off Ian Thorpe's 2000 Olympic record by nearly half a second. [2] [3]

Meanwhile, Park ended a dramatic day with a silver medal in his pocket at 3:42.06. Earlier in the prelims, he was disqualified for an immediate false start from heat three, but reinstated in the final after the Korean Swimming Federation filed an appeal. [4] [5] U.S. swimmer Peter Vanderkaay added a second individual bronze and fourth career medal to his Olympic hardware in 3:44.69. [6] [7]

China's Hao Yun (3:46.02), Vanderkaay's teammate Conor Dwyer (3:46.39), Hungary's Gergő Kis (3:47.03), Great Britain's David Carry (3:48.62), and Australia's Ryan Napoleon (3:49.25) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the championship field. [6]

Notable swimmers missed the final roster including Canada's Ryan Cochrane, who was bumped out of the lineup to ninth (3:47.26) after Park's disqualification had been overturned; and Biedermann, who struggled to keep his form with a thirteenth-place effort in the prelims (3:48.50). [8] [9]

Records

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

World recordFlag of Germany.svg  Paul Biedermann  (GER)3:40.07 Rome, Italy 26 July 2009 [10]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Ian Thorpe  (AUS)3:40.59 Sydney, Australia 16 September 2000 [11]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
July 28Final Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:40.14 OR

Results

Heats

[12]

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:45.07Q
245 Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:45.80Q
347 Conor Dwyer Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:46.24Q
434 Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 3:46.68Q
532 Gergő Kis Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 3:46.77Q
643 Hao Yun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:46.88Q
735 Ryan Napoleon Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:47.01Q
836 David Carry Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:47.25Q
925 Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 3:47.26
1046 Pál Joensen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 3:47.36
1123 Robert Renwick Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:47.44
1226 Mads Glæsner Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 3:48.27
1324 Paul Biedermann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 3:48.50
1433 David McKeon Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:48.57
1522 Matthew Stanley Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 3:49.44
1648 Cristian Quintero Valero Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 3:50.44
1731 Sergiy Frolov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 3:50.63
1842 Samuel Pizzetti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:50.93
1941 Dominik Meichtry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 3:51.34
2027 Egor Degtyarev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:52.33
2114 Mateusz Sawrymowicz Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:53.33
2238 Matias Koski Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 3:54.96
2328 Đorđe Marković Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 3:55.35
2421 Juan Martin Pereyra Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 3:56.76
2537 Heerden Herman Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 3:57.28
2615 Mateo de Angulo Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 3:57.76
2716 Ahmed Gebrel Flag of Palestine.svg  Palestine 4:08.51
2813 Allan Gutierrez Castro Flag of Honduras (before 2022).svg  Honduras 4:09.10

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:40.14 OR , AS
Silver medal icon.svg6 Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 3:42.06
Bronze medal icon.svg5 Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:44.69
47 Hao Yun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:46.02
53 Conor Dwyer Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:46.39
62 Gergő Kis Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 3:47.03
78 David Carry Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:48.62
81 Ryan Napoleon Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:49.25

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