Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Plaque commemorating Ian Thorpe's Olympic performances, including a gold medal in this event
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DatesAugust 15, 2004 (heats &
semifinals)
August 16, 2004 (final)
Competitors59 from 53 nations
Winning time1:44.71 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ian Thorpe
 Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Pieter van den Hoogenband
 Netherlands
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Michael Phelps
 United States
← 2000
2008 →

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece. The event took place on 15 and 16 August. There were 59 competitors from 53 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers (a limit in place since 1984).[1]

In the lead-up to the final, the event was billed as The Race of the Century or the "greatest swimming race of all-time", due to its significance and high-class field. It featured four of the fastest swimmers in Olympic history: Ian Thorpe (Australia, world record holder in the event at the time), Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands, defending Olympic champion), Grant Hackett (Australia, former world record holder in the event), and Michael Phelps (United States, later became the most decorated all-time Olympian, with a total of 28 medals). The eight finalists combined for 34 Olympic and 58 World Championship titles over their careers.[1]

Thorpe edged out Pieter van den Hoogenband in the final 50 metres to claim his second gold at the Games and fifth career medal, following his triumph in the 400 m freestyle two days earlier.[2] With only 50 metres to go, he powered past his arch-rival to touch the wall first in an Olympic record of 1:44.71, matching the third fastest swim over the distance. Van den Hoogenband, who led the field through the first three laps under a world record pace, won silver in 1:45.23.[3] Meanwhile, Phelps finished the race with a bronze in an American record of 1:45.32, ending his hopes of equalling Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold medals.[3][4][5] (Phelps would pass that record in 2008.)

Thorpe and van den Hoogenband were the second and third men to win multiple medals in the 200 metre freestyle. Phelps would become the fourth in 2008.

Background[edit]

This was the 12th appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games.[1]

Four of the 8 finalists from the 2000 Games returned: gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, silver medalist Ian Thorpe of Australia, seventh-place finisher Rick Say of Canada, and eighth-place finisher Grant Hackett of Australia. Thorpe and van den Hoogenband had finished first and second, respectively, at both the 2001 and 2003 World Championships. American Klete Keller had taken third in 2001, with Hackett earning bronze in 2003. Added to this already strong field was Michael Phelps—an individual medley specialist who had set an American record in the 200 metre freestyle as the lead leg at the 2003 World Championships (not swimming the individual event there) and beaten Keller by six-tenths of a second at the U.S. trials.[1]

The Cayman Islands, Chile, Georgia, Latvia, Macedonia, Morocco, and Serbia and Montenegro each made their debut in the event. Australia made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Competition format[edit]

The competition followed the format established in 2000, with three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. The top 16 swimmers from the heats advanced to the semifinals. The top 8 semifinalists advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records[edit]

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

World record  Ian Thorpe (AUS) 1:44.06 Fukuoka, Japan 25 July 2001
Olympic record  Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) 1:45.35 Sydney, Australia 18 September 2000

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Swimmer Nation Time Record
16 August Final Ian Thorpe  Australia 1:44.71 OR

Schedule[edit]

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 15 August 2004 10:19
19:44
Heats
Semifinals
Monday, 16 August 2004 19:45 Final

Results[edit]

Heats[edit]

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 8 4 Ian Thorpe  Australia 1:47.22 Q
2 8 5 Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands 1:47.32 Q
3 8 3 Emiliano Brembilla  Italy 1:47.95 Q
4 7 5 Klete Keller  United States 1:47.97 Q
5 6 4 Michael Phelps  United States 1:48.43 Q
6 8 6 Simon Burnett  Great Britain 1:48.68 Q
7 7 4 Grant Hackett  Australia 1:48.90 Q
8 7 6 Jens Schreiber  Germany 1:49.00 Q, WD
9 8 2 Květoslav Svoboda  Czech Republic 1:49.25 Q
10 6 5 Rick Say  Canada 1:49.32 Q
11 8 1 Dominik Meichtry  Switzerland 1:49.45 Q
12 7 7 George Bovell  Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.48 Q
13 7 2 Yoshihiro Okumura  Japan 1:49.54 Q
14 7 3 Brent Hayden  Canada 1:49.56 Q
15 7 8 Andreas Zisimos  Greece 1:49.60 Q
16 6 3 Andrey Kapralov  Russia 1:49.91 Q
17 6 7 Olaf Wildeboer  Spain 1:50.01 Q
18 5 3 Jacob Carstensen  Denmark 1:50.15
19 6 6 Stefan Herbst  Germany 1:50.23
20 6 1 Rodrigo Castro  Brazil 1:50.27
21 5 8 Saulius Binevičius  Lithuania 1:50.50
22 8 7 Peter Mankoč  Slovenia 1:50.72
23 5 4 Romāns Miloslavskis  Latvia 1:50.83
24 7 1 Maksim Kuznetsov  Russia 1:50.93
25 8 8 Nicolas Rostoucher  France 1:50.96
26 5 5 Dominik Koll  Austria 1:51.36
27 4 2 Dmytro Vereitinov  Ukraine 1:51.38
28 4 3 Joshua Ilika Brenner  Mexico 1:51.66
29 5 1 Luís Monteiro  Portugal 1:51.78
30 5 1 Łukasz Drzewiński  Poland 1:51.90
31 2 6 Mihail Alexandrov  Bulgaria 1:52.12
32 5 7 Tamás Szűcs  Hungary 1:52.26
33 5 6 Han Kyu-chul  South Korea 1:52.28
34 4 8 Damian Alleyne  Barbados 1:52.89
35 3 2 Aleksandar Malenko  Macedonia 1:53.00
4 7 Mahrez Mebarek  Algeria 1:53.00
37 4 5 Yahor Salabutau  Belarus 1:53.03
38 3 5 Albert Subirats  Venezuela 1:53.11
39 4 6 Giancarlo Zolezzi  Chile 1:53.18
40 3 7 Juan Martín Pereyra  Argentina 1:53.19
3 8 Shaune Fraser  Cayman Islands 1:53.19
42 4 1 Miguel Molina  Philippines 1:53.81
43 6 8 Zhang Lin  China 1:53.84
44 3 3 Alexandros Aresti  Cyprus 1:53.90
45 2 3 Martín Kutscher  Uruguay 1:53.91
46 6 2 Andrea Beccari  Italy 1:54.00
47 3 4 Chen Te-tung  Chinese Taipei 1:54.14
48 1 5 Igor Erhartić  Serbia and Montenegro 1:54.21
49 2 5 Ştefan Pinciuc  Moldova 1:54.56
50 2 1 Anouar Ben Naceur  Tunisia 1:54.69
51 2 2 Mark Chay  Singapore 1:54.70
52 4 4 Aytekin Mindan  Turkey 1:55.65
53 2 4 Adil Bellaz  Morocco 1:55.79
54 3 6 Mario Delač  Croatia 1:55.82
55 2 7 Vitaliy Khan  Kazakhstan 1:56.11
56 3 1 Diego Mularoni  San Marino 1:56.18
57 2 8 Petr Vasiliev  Uzbekistan 1:56.93
58 1 3 Zurab Khomasuridze  Georgia 1:58.02
59 1 4 Ruslan Ismailov  Kyrgyzstan 2:01.53

Semifinals[edit]

Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1 1 4 Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands 1:46.00 Q
2 2 4 Ian Thorpe  Australia 1:46.65 Q
3 2 3 Michael Phelps  United States 1:47.08 Q
4 1 5 Klete Keller  United States 1:47.28 Q
5 2 6 Grant Hackett  Australia 1:47.61 Q
6 1 3 Simon Burnett  Great Britain 1:47.72 Q
7 2 5 Emiliano Brembilla  Italy 1:47.93 Q
8 2 2 Rick Say  Canada 1:48.16 Q
9 1 6 Květoslav Svoboda  Czech Republic 1:49.27
10 1 7 Yoshihiro Okumura  Japan 1:49.49
11 2 7 George Bovell  Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.59
12 1 1 Andreas Zisimos  Greece 1:49.76
13 2 1 Brent Hayden  Canada 1:50.00
14 1 2 Dominik Meichtry  Switzerland 1:50.02
15 1 8 Olaf Wildeboer  Spain 1:50.61
16 2 8 Andrey Kapralov  Russia 1:51.35

Final[edit]

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 Ian Thorpe  Australia 1:44.71 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 Pieter van den Hoogenband  Netherlands 1:45.23
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3 Michael Phelps  United States 1:45.32 AM
4 6 Klete Keller  United States 1:46.13
5 2 Grant Hackett  Australia 1:46.56
6 8 Rick Say  Canada 1:47.55
7 7 Simon Burnett  Great Britain 1:48.02
8 1 Emiliano Brembilla  Italy 1:48.40

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Australia hails Athens hero Thorpe". CNN. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Thomas, Stephen (16 August 2004). "The Thorpedo Triumphs over Hoogie in the "Race of the Century", Phelps Takes the Bronze". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Thorpe torpedoes his world rivals". CNN. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ Gordos, Phil (17 August 2004). "Thorpe steals Phelps' thunder". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2013.

External links[edit]