Jump to content

Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Men's 100-metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Alexander Popov
VenuePiscines Bernat Picornell
Date28 July 1992 (heats & finals)
Competitors75 from 52 nations
Winning time49.02
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alexander Popov
 Unified Team
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gustavo Borges
 Brazil
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Stéphan Caron
 France
← 1988
1996 →

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.[1] There were 75 competitors from 52 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. The event was won by Alexander Popov of the Unified Team. Gustavo Borges's silver was Brazil's first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle since 1960. Stéphan Caron of France repeated as bronze medalist, the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. It was the first time since 1968 that the United States had competed and not won the event and the first time since 1956 that the Americans had competed and not taken any medal, as Jon Olsen finished fourth and defending champion Matt Biondi came in fifth.

Background

[edit]

This was the 21st 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]

Five of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist Matt Biondi of the United States, bronze medalist Stéphan Caron of France, fourth-place finisher Gennadiy Prigoda of the Soviet Union (now competing for the Unified Team), sixth-place finisher Andrew Baildon of Australia, and eighth-place finisher Tommy Werner of Sweden.

Biondi was the favorite, having also won the 1991 World Championship and his 1988 world record still standing. Caron and 1991 European Champion Alexander Popov were also contenders.[2]

Albania, Lithuania, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and the Seychelles each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team and competitors from Yugoslavia competed as Independent Olympic Participants. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

[edit]

This freestyle swimming competition used the A/B final format instituted in 1984. The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the A final, competing for medals through 8th place. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the semifinals competed in the B final for 9th through 16th place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.

Records

[edit]

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

World record  Matt Biondi (USA) 48.42 Austin, United States 10 August 1988
Olympic record  Matt Biondi (USA) 48.63 Seoul, South Korea 22 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition. Gustavo Borges set a new South American area record, and two national records were set: the Russian record by Alexander Popov and the Puerto Rican record by Ricardo Busquets.

Schedule

[edit]

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Tuesday, 28 July 1992 10:30
18:30
Heats
Finals

Results

[edit]

Heats

[edit]

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).[3]

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 10 3 Alexander Popov  Unified Team 49.29 QA
2 10 5 Gustavo Borges  Brazil 49.49 QA
3 8 4 Jon Olsen  United States 49.63 QA
4 10 4 Matt Biondi  United States 49.75 QA
5 9 4 Stéphan Caron  France 49.82 QA
6 8 6 Tommy Werner  Sweden 50.00 QA
10 2 Gennadiy Prigoda  Unified Team QA
8 9 7 Christian Tröger  Germany 50.05 QA
9 9 3 Raimundas Mažuolis  Lithuania 50.17 QB
10 8 3 Chris Fydler  Australia 50.26 QB
11 9 5 Nils Rudolph  Germany 50.29 QB
12 9 6 Christophe Kalfayan  France 50.30 QB
13 7 3 Ricardo Busquets  Puerto Rico 50.31 QB
14 10 1 John Steel  New Zealand 50.59 QB
10 7 Andrew Baildon  Australia QB
16 8 5 Giorgio Lamberti  Italy 50.65 QB, WD
17 10 6 Roberto Gleria  Italy 50.66 QB
18 8 2 Håkan Karlsson  Sweden 50.73
8 8 Stephen Clarke  Canada
20 8 1 Béla Szabados  Hungary 50.78
21 9 2 Mike Fibbens  Great Britain 50.93
22 7 4 Rodrigo González  Mexico 51.04
23 6 1 Stéfan Voléry  Switzerland 51.05
24 10 8 Paul Howe  Great Britain 51.12
25 9 1 Emanuel Nascimento  Brazil 51.17
26 9 8 Franz Mortensen  Denmark 51.29
27 8 7 Uğur Taner  Turkey 51.34
28 7 5 Jarl Inge Melberg  Norway 51.39
29 7 6 Seddon Keyter  South Africa 51.42
30 1 2 Mladen Kapor  Independent Olympic Participants 51.44
31 7 1 Yoav Bruck  Israel 51.46
32 6 6 Indrek Sei  Estonia 51.47
7 2 Yves Clausse  Luxembourg
34 7 8 Tsutomu Nakano  Japan 51.63
35 6 5 Krzysztof Cwalina  Poland 51.70
36 6 7 Nicholas Sanders  New Zealand 51.77
37 6 2 Giovanni Linscheer  Suriname 51.82
38 5 7 Janne Blomqvist  Finland 51.86
39 6 8 Michael Wright  Hong Kong 51.88
40 6 4 Xie Jun  China 51.94
41 6 3 Darren Ward  Canada 52.05
42 5 4 Arthur Li Kai Yien  Hong Kong 52.22
43 5 1 Allan Murray  Bahamas 52.43
44 5 2 Stavros Michaelides  Cyprus 52.54
45 4 8 Shigeo Ogata  Japan 52.74
46 5 5 Ivor Le Roux  Zimbabwe 52.92
47 4 6 Enrico Linscheer  Suriname 52.94
48 5 6 Marc Verbeeck  Belgium 52.97
49 5 3 Sebastián Lasave  Argentina 53.07
50 4 5 Geribryan Mewett  Bermuda 53.14
51 3 4 Ian Steed Raynor  Bermuda 53.16
52 4 4 Mohamed El-Azoul  Egypt 53.31
53 4 3 Nikos Paleokrassas  Greece 53.47
54 3 5 Rhoderick McGown  Zimbabwe 53.65
55 5 8 Patrick Sagisi  Guam 53.90
56 4 1 Kenneth Yeo  Singapore 54.44
57 3 3 Plutarco Castellanos  Honduras 54.66
58 3 7 Gustavo Bucaro  Guatemala 54.74
59 2 6 Adrian Romero  Guam 54.77
60 3 6 Laurent Alfred  Virgin Islands 54.89
61 3 1 Helder Torres  Guatemala 55.38
62 4 7 Frank Leskaj  Albania 55.50
63 2 4 Émile Lahoud  Lebanon 55.51
64 1 1 Mouhamed Diop  Senegal 55.82
65 2 3 Hussein Al-Sadiq  Saudi Arabia 55.96
66 2 2 Ahmad Faraj  United Arab Emirates 56.05
67 2 5 Ivan Roberts  Seychelles 56.15
68 1 7 Bruno N'Diaye  Senegal 56.39
69 3 2 Jarrah Al-Asmawi  Kuwait 56.72
70 2 1 Mohamed Bin Abid  United Arab Emirates 56.82
71 2 7 Carl Probert  Fiji 57.25
72 1 4 Kenny Roberts  Seychelles 58.86
73 1 5 Foy Gordon Chung  Fiji 1:03.96
74 1 3 Ahmed Imthiyaz  Maldives 1:04.96
75 1 6 Mohamed Rasheed  Maldives 1:08.12
4 2 Nayef Al-Hasawi  Kuwait DNS
7 7 Peter Williams  South Africa DNS

Finals

[edit]

[4]

Final B

[edit]
Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
9 2 Ricardo Busquets  Puerto Rico 49.92 NR
10 4 Raimundas Mažuolis  Lithuania 50.13
11 6 Christophe Kalfayan  France 50.49
12 3 Nils Rudolph  Germany 50.62
13 7 John Steel  New Zealand 50.69
14 5 Chris Fydler  Australia 50.78
15 8 Roberto Gleria  Italy 50.81
16 1 Andrew Baildon  Australia 50.93

Final A

[edit]

Popov won, well ahead of everyone else. An equipment error resulted in the scoreboard initially displaying Caron as the second-place swimmer and Borges as last. Borges last was an obvious mistake to anyone watching; he had been fighting for second. His touchpad had malfunctioned. Officials reviewed film of "his" finish, assigning him a time of 49.53—equal to Biondi; they then realized that the film had been of Biondi. Looking at the correct finish, the officials gave Borges a time of 49.43, good for the silver medal.[2]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Alexander Popov  Unified Team 49.02 NR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Gustavo Borges  Brazil 49.43 SA
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2 Stéphan Caron  France 49.50
4 3 Jon Olsen  United States 49.51
5 6 Matt Biondi  United States 49.53
6 1 Tommy Werner  Sweden 49.63
7 8 Christian Tröger  Germany 49.84
8 7 Gennadiy Prigoda  Unified Team 50.25

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 358. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Barcelona 1992: Swimming – Men's 100m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Barcelona 1992. LA84 Foundation. p. 358. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
[edit]