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| Event type

100 metres Breaststroke, Men

Date9 – 11 August 2008
StatusOlympic
LocationBeijing Guojia Youyong Zhongxin, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants64 from 52 countries

Between the two Olympic Games of 2004 and 2008 breaststroke swimming had turned into a personal duel between the man who had won both Olympic titles in Athens, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, and America’s Brendan Hansen, who had beaten Kitajima in all their recent major championship clashes.

But before the competition started Kitajima became embroiled in a swimsuit controversy. Japanese swimming federation rules allowed swimsuits made by Japanese manufacturers to be used by the national team but team members were adamant that not using the new Speedo costumes would ruin their chances in Beijing. Some, including Kitajima, threatened to break ranks and wear the American-made costumes in defiance of the rules. The Japanese federation was forced to back down and allow the swimmers to use the new high tech suits.

Kitajima signaled his intentions by breaking the world record in a warm-up meet in June and was a clear favourite for the Olympic title on arrival in Beijing. His main rival proved not to be Hansen, who was not in the same form as previous years, but instead it was European champion Alexander Dale Oen of Norway. The Norwegian broke the Olympic record in both his heat and semi-final but the Japanese champion responded by breaking his own world record in the final to retain the Olympic final.

Dale Oen went on to win the World title in 2011 but his life came to a tragic end in May 2012. Shortly after training at altitude in Arizona he was discovered unconscious in his apartment shower, having suffered a cardiac arrest. Efforts to revive him proved fruitless and he passed away in Flagstaff Medical Centre.

PosSwimmerNOCR1SFFinal
1Kosuke KitajimaJPN59.52 (1 h8)59.55 (1 h1)58.91 (1)Gold
2Alexander Dale OenNOR59.41 (1 h7)59.16 (1 h2)59.20 (2)Silver
3Hugues DuboscqFRA59.67 (1 h9)59.83 (2 h2)59.37 (3)Bronze
4Brendan HansenUSA1:00.36 (4 h9)59.94 (3 h2)59.57 (4)
5Brenton RickardAUS59.89 (2 h7)59.65 (2 h1)59.74 (5)
6Roman SludnovRUS1:00.20 (3 h9)1:00.10 (4 h2)59.87 (6)
7Ihor BorysykUKR1:00.31 (2 h8)1:00.55 (4 h1)1:00.20 (7)
8Mark GangloffUSA1:00.71 (5 h8)1:00.44 (3 h1)1:00.24 (8)
9Oleh LisohorUKR1:00.65 (5 h7)1:00.56 (5 h1)
10Cameron van der BurghRSA59.96 (3 h7)1:00.57 (5 h2)
11Mihail AleksandrovBUL1:00.69 (3 h8)1:00.61 (6 h1)
12Giedrius TitenisLTU1:00.11 (2 h9)1:00.66 (7 h1)
13Yuta SuenagaJPN1:00.67 (5 h9)1:00.67 (6 h2)
14Christian SprengerAUS1:00.36 (4 h7)1:00.76 (8 h1)
15Chris CookGBR1:00.70 (4 h8)1:00.81 (7 h2)
16Damir DugonjičSLO1:00.35 (1 h6)1:00.92 (8 h2)
17Vlad PolyakovKAZ1:00.80 (2 h6)
18Hunor MateAUT1:00.93 (1 h4)
19Richárd BodorHUN1:00.97 (6 h8)
=20Mike BrownCAN1:00.98 (1 h5)
=20Glenn SnydersNZL1:00.98 (7 h8)
22Felipe FrançaBRA1:01.04 (6 h7)
23Henrique BarbosaBRA1:01.11 (7 h7)
=24Matjaž MarkičSLO1:01.31 (3 h6)
=24Dániel GyurtaHUN1:01.31 (8 h7)
26Thijs van ValkengoedNED1:01.32 (6 h9)
27Kris GilchristGBR1:01.34 (7 h9)
28Mathieu BoisCAN1:01.45 (4 h6)
29Jiří JedličkaCZE1:01.56 (5 h6)
30Andrew BreeIRL1:01.76 (2 h5)
=31Valentin PredaROU1:01.77 (=3 h5)
=31Jonas AnderssonSWE1:01.77 (=3 h5)
33Daniel VélezPUR1:01.80 (1 h3)
34Dmitry KomornikovRUS1:01.82 (8 h8)
=35Yevgeny RyzhkovKAZ1:01.83 (5 h5)
=35Borja IradierESP1:01.83 (6 h6)
37Melki ÁlvarezESP1:01.89 (7 h6)
38Sandeep SejwalIND1:02.19 (2 h3)
39Demir AtasoyTUR1:02.25 (2 h4)
40Čaba SilađiSRB1:02.31 (3 h4)
41Genaro PronoPAR1:02.32 (3 h3)
=42Tom Be'eriISR1:02.42 (4 h4)
=42Vanja RoguljCRO1:02.42 (6 h5)
44Sofiane DaidALG1:02.45 (7 h5)
45Martti AljandEST1:02.46 (5 h4)
46Xue RuipengCHN1:02.48 (6 h4)
47Jakob SveinssonISL1:02.50 (7 h4)
48Malick FallSEN1:02.51 (4 h3)
49Viktar VabishchevichBLR1:03.29 (8 h5)
50Romanos AlyfantisGRE1:03.39 (8 h9)
51Alwin de PrinsLUX1:03.64 (5 h3)
52Sergio FerreyraARG1:03.65 (6 h3)
53Édgar CrespoPAN1:03.72 (1 h2)
54Sergiu PosticăMDA1:03.83 (2 h2)
55Andrei CrossBAR1:04.57 (7 h3)
56Ivan DemyanenkoUZB1:05.14 (8 h3)
57Wael KoubrousliLBN1:06.22 (3 h2)
58Nguyễn Hữu ViệtVIE1:06.36 (4 h2)
59Erik RajohnsonMAD1:08.42 (5 h2)
60Boldbaataryn Bütekh-ÜilsMGL1:10.80 (6 h2)
61Osama AlaragQAT1:10.83 (1 h1)
62Mohammed Al-HabsiOMA1:12.28 (2 h1)
63Petero OkotaiCOK1:20.20 (3 h1)
DQAlessandro TerrinITA[1:01.03] (DQ h6)
DNSMohammad Ali RezaeiIRI– (DNS h4)

Round One (9 August 2008)

Fastest 16 swimmers advanced to semi-finals

Heat One (20:23)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Osama AlaragQAT1:10.830.88
25Mohammed Al-HabsiOMA1:12.280.86
33Petero OkotaiCOK1:20.200.77

Heat Two (20:26)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
13Édgar CrespoPAN1:03.720.73
24Sergiu PosticăMDA1:03.830.83
36Wael KoubrousliLBN1:06.220.76
45Nguyễn Hữu ViệtVIE1:06.360.80
52Erik RajohnsonMAD1:08.420.82
67Boldbaataryn Bütekh-ÜilsMGL1:10.800.76

Heat Three (20:29)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
11Daniel VélezPUR1:01.800.77
22Sandeep SejwalIND1:02.190.86
33Genaro PronoPAR1:02.320.80
46Malick FallSEN1:02.510.78
55Alwin de PrinsLUX1:03.640.78
64Sergio FerreyraARG1:03.650.68
78Andrei CrossBAR1:04.570.76
87Ivan DemyanenkoUZB1:05.140.71

Heat Four (20:32)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Hunor MateAUT1:00.930.72
25Demir AtasoyTUR1:02.250.67
32Čaba SilađiSRB1:02.310.78
47Tom Be'eriISR1:02.420.83
56Martti AljandEST1:02.460.67
68Xue RuipengCHN1:02.480.76
73Jakob SveinssonISL1:02.500.86
DNS1Mohammad Ali RezaeiIRI

Heat Five (20:35)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
15Mike BrownCAN1:00.980.76
22Andrew BreeIRL1:01.760.78
=31Valentin PredaROU1:01.770.78
=33Jonas AnderssonSWE1:01.770.67
54Yevgeny RyzhkovKAZ1:01.830.72
66Vanja RoguljCRO1:02.420.71
77Sofiane DaidALG1:02.450.76
88Viktar VabishchevichBLR1:03.290.70

Heat Six (20:38)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
13Damir DugonjičSLO1:00.350.88Q
25Vlad PolyakovKAZ1:00.800.73
37Matjaž MarkičSLO1:01.310.77
41Mathieu BoisCAN1:01.450.71
56Jiří JedličkaCZE1:01.560.72
64Borja IradierESP1:01.830.80
72Melki ÁlvarezESP1:01.890.78
DQ8Alessandro TerrinITA[1:01.03]1

Heat Seven (20:41)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Alexander Dale OenNOR59.410.70QOR
25Brenton RickardAUS59.890.84Q
37Cameron van der BurghRSA59.960.65Q
43Christian SprengerAUS1:00.360.76Q
56Oleh LisohorUKR1:00.650.81Q
61Felipe FrançaBRA1:01.040.74
72Henrique BarbosaBRA1:01.110.76
88Dániel GyurtaHUN1:01.310.79

Heat Eight (20:44)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Kosuke KitajimaJPN59.520.69Q
22Ihor BorysykUKR1:00.310.85Q
37Mihail AleksandrovBUL1:00.690.73Q
45Chris CookGBR1:00.700.75Q
53Mark GangloffUSA1:00.710.80Q
68Richárd BodorHUN1:00.970.77
76Glenn SnydersNZL1:00.980.79
81Dmitry KomornikovRUS1:01.820.77

Heat Nine (20:47)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
15Hugues DuboscqFRA59.670.72Q
27Giedrius TitenisLTU1:00.110.81Q
33Roman SludnovRUS1:00.200.85Q
44Brendan HansenUSA1:00.360.70Q
52Yuta SuenagaJPN1:00.670.72Q
68Thijs van ValkengoedNED1:01.320.83
71Kris GilchristGBR1:01.340.85
86Romanos AlyfantisGRE1:03.390.77

Semi-Finals (10 August 2008)

Fastest eight swimmers advanced to final

Heat One (11:09)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Kosuke KitajimaJPN59.550.67Q
25Brenton RickardAUS59.650.82Q
38Mark GangloffUSA1:00.440.69Q
46Ihor BorysykUKR1:00.550.80Q
57Oleh LisohorUKR1:00.560.79
61Mihail AleksandrovBUL1:00.610.75
73Giedrius TitenisLTU1:00.660.92
82Christian SprengerAUS1:00.760.72

Heat Two (11:14)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Alexander Dale OenNOR59.160.72QOR
25Hugues DuboscqFRA59.830.76Q
37Brendan HansenUSA59.940.69Q
46Roman SludnovRUS1:00.100.74Q
53Cameron van der BurghRSA1:00.570.76
61Yuta SuenagaJPN1:00.670.73
78Chris CookGBR1:00.810.71
82Damir DugonjičSLO1:00.920.79

Final (11 August 2008 — 10:31)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
15Kosuke KitajimaJPN58.910.69WR
24Alexander Dale OenNOR59.200.72
36Hugues DuboscqFRA59.370.72
42Brendan HansenUSA59.570.71
53Brenton RickardAUS59.740.96
67Roman SludnovRUS59.870.78
78Ihor BorysykUKR1:00.200.84
81Mark GangloffUSA1:00.240.69