100 metres Freestyle, Men
| Date | 28 July 1992 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Piscinas Bernat Picornell, Barcelona |
| Participants | 75 from 52 countries |
Swimming World said, “Its hard not to imagine Matt Biondi winning.” He was the defending champion, the world record holder with 48.42, had the eight fastest times in the event, and 12 of the top 13, and had won the event at the 1986 and 1991 World Championships and the 1985, 1987, and 1991 Pan Pacifics. Russian Aleksandr Popov was the 1991 European Champion and in 1991 had tied Biondi and France’s Stéphan Caron for the leading time in the world (49.18). But he was considered only a contender for a medal, not the gold. Someone forgot to tell him that.
Popov qualified first with 49.27. In the final he was only sixth at 50 metres, and then swam the back 50 in 24.99, the first time anyone had bettered 25 seconds for the back 50 of the 100 freestyle. This brought him home in a PR of 49.02 for the gold medal. Biondi led at the turn, but flagged badly in the final lap and placed only fifth.
The scoreboard initially showed Caron as second and Brazilian Gustavo Borges last in 1:02, which was an obvious mistake. It turned out his touchpad had malfunctioned so the officials reviewed the film and he was given 49.53, tying him with Biondi for fourth. But on further review, the officials realized they were looking at Biondi’s finish and Borges time was corrected to 49.43, giving him the silver medal.
| Pos | Swimmer | NOC | R1 | B Final | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandr Popov |  EUN | 49.29 (1 h10) | – | 49.02 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Gustavo Borges |  BRA | 49.49 (2 h10) | – | 49.43 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Stéphan Caron |  FRA | 49.82 (1 h9) | – | 49.50 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Jon Olsen |  USA | 49.63 (1 h8) | – | 49.51 (4) | |||
| 5 | Matt Biondi | USA | 49.75 (3 h10) | – | 49.53 (5) | |||
| 6 | Tom Werner |  SWE | 50.08 (2 h8) | – | 49.63 (6) | |||
| 7 | Christian Tröger |  GER | 50.05 (2 h9) | – | 49.84 (7) | |||
| 8 | Gennady Prigoda | EUN | 50.00 (4 h10) | – | 50.25 (8) | |||
| 9 | Ricardo Busquets |  PUR | 50.31 (1 h7) | 49.92 (1) | – | |||
| 10 | Raimundas Mažuolis |  LTU | 50.17 (3 h9) | 50.13 (2) | – | |||
| 11 | Christophe Kalfayan | FRA | 50.30 (5 h9) | 50.49 (3) | – | |||
| 12 | Nils Rudolph | GER | 50.29 (4 h9) | 50.62 (4) | – | |||
| 13 | John Steel |  NZL | 50.59 (=5 h10) | 50.69 (5) | – | |||
| 14 | Chris Fydler |  AUS | 50.26 (3 h8) | 50.78 (6) | – | |||
| 15 | Roberto Gleria |  ITA | 50.66 (7 h10) | 50.81 (7) | – | |||
| 16 | Andrew Baildon | AUS | 50.59 (=5 h10) | 50.93 (8) | – | |||
| 17 | Giorgio Lamberti | ITA | 50.65 (4 h8) | – | – | 1 | ||
| =18 | Stephen Clarke |  CAN | 50.73 (=5 h8) | – | – | |||
| =18 | Håkan Karlsson | SWE | 50.73 (=5 h8) | – | – | |||
| 20 | Béla Szabados |  HUN | 50.78 (7 h8) | – | – | |||
| 21 | Mike Fibbens |  GBR | 50.93 (6 h9) | – | – | |||
| 22 | Rodrigo González |  MEX | 51.04 (2 h7) | – | – | |||
| 23 | Stéfan Voléry |  SUI | 51.05 (1 h6) | – | – | |||
| 24 | Paul Howe | GBR | 51.12 (8 h10) | – | – | |||
| 25 | Emanuel Fortes | BRA | 51.17 (7 h9) | – | – | |||
| 26 | Franz Mortensen |  DEN | 51.29 (8 h9) | – | – | |||
| 27 | Uğur Taner |  TUR | 51.34 (8 h8) | – | – | |||
| 28 | Jarl Inge Melberg |  NOR | 51.39 (3 h7) | – | – | |||
| 29 | Seddon Keyter |  RSA | 51.42 (4 h7) | – | – | |||
| 30 | Mladen Kapor |  IOA | 51.44 (1 h1) | – | – | |||
| 31 | Yoav Bruck |  ISR | 51.46 (5 h7) | – | – | |||
| =32 | Indrek Sei |  EST | 51.47 (2 h6) | – | – | |||
| =32 | Yves Clausse |  LUX | 51.47 (6 h7) | – | – | |||
| 34 | Tsutomu Nakano |  JPN | 51.63 (7 h7) | – | – | |||
| 35 | Krzysztof Cwalina |  POL | 51.70 (3 h6) | – | – | |||
| 36 | Nick Sanders | NZL | 51.77 (4 h6) | – | – | |||
| 37 | Giovanni Linscheer |  SUR | 51.82 (5 h6) | – | – | |||
| 38 | Janne Blomqvist |  FIN | 51.86 (1 h5) | – | – | |||
| 39 | Michael Wright |  HKG | 51.88 (6 h6) | – | – | |||
| 40 | Xie Jun |  CHN | 51.94 (7 h6) | – | – | |||
| 41 | Darren Ward | CAN | 52.05 (8 h6) | – | – | |||
| 42 | Arthur Li | HKG | 52.22 (2 h5) | – | – | |||
| 43 | Allan Murray |  BAH | 52.43 (3 h5) | – | – | |||
| 44 | Stavros Michailidis |  CYP | 52.54 (4 h5) | – | – | |||
| 45 | Shigeo Ogata | JPN | 52.74 (1 h4) | – | – | |||
| 46 | Ivor Le Roux |  ZIM | 52.92 (5 h5) | – | – | |||
| 47 | Enrico Linscheer | SUR | 52.94 (2 h4) | – | – | |||
| 48 | Marc Verbeeck |  BEL | 52.97 (6 h5) | – | – | |||
| 49 | Sebastián Lasave |  ARG | 53.07 (7 h5) | – | – | |||
| 50 | Geri Mewett |  BER | 53.14 (3 h4) | – | – | |||
| 51 | Ian Raynor | BER | 53.16 (1 h3) | – | – | |||
| 52 | Mohamed El-Azoul |  EGY | 53.31 (4 h4) | – | – | |||
| 53 | Nikos Paleokrassas |  GRE | 53.47 (5 h4) | – | – | |||
| 54 | Rory McGown | ZIM | 53.65 (2 h3) | – | – | |||
| 55 | Patrick Sagisi |  GUM | 53.90 (8 h5) | – | – | |||
| 56 | Kenneth Yeo |  SGP | 54.44 (6 h4) | – | – | |||
| 57 | Plutarco Castellanos |  HON | 54.66 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 58 | Gustavo Búcaro |  GUA | 54.74 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 59 | Adrian Romero | GUM | 54.77 (1 h2) | – | – | |||
| 60 | Laurent Alfred |  ISV | 54.89 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 61 | Helder Torres | GUA | 55.38 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 62 | Frank Leskaj |  ALB | 55.50 (7 h4) | – | – | |||
| 63 | Émile Lahoud |  LBN | 55.51 (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 64 | Mouhamed Diop |  SEN | 55.82 (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 65 | Hussein Al-Sadiq |  KSA | 55.96 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 66 | Ahmad Faraj |  UAE | 56.05 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 67 | Ivan Roberts |  SEY | 56.15 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 68 | Bruno N'Diaye | SEN | 56.39 (3 h1) | – | – | |||
| 69 | Jarrah Al-Asmawi |  KUW | 56.72 (7 h3) | – | – | |||
| 70 | Mohamed Bin Abid | UAE | 56.82 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 71 | Carl Probert |  FIJ | 57.25 (7 h2) | – | – | |||
| 72 | Kenny Roberts | SEY | 58.86 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| 73 | Foy Gordon Chung | FIJ | 1:03.96 (5 h1) | – | – | |||
| 74 | Ahmed Imthiyaz |  MDV | 1:04.96 (6 h1) | – | – | |||
| 75 | Mohamed Rasheed | MDV | 1:08.12 (7 h1) | – | – | |||
| Nayef Al-Hasawi | KUW | – (DNS h4) | – | – | ||||
| Peter Williams | RSA | – (DNS h7) | – | – |
Round One (28 July 1992 — 10:30)
Fastest eight advanced to the final. Swimmers placing 9th-16th advanced to the B Final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Mladen Kapor | IOA | 51.44 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Mouhamed Diop | SEN | 55.82 | |||
| 3 | 7 | Bruno N'Diaye | SEN | 56.39 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Kenny Roberts | SEY | 58.86 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Foy Gordon Chung | FIJ | 1:03.96 | |||
| 6 | 3 | Ahmed Imthiyaz | MDV | 1:04.96 | |||
| 7 | 6 | Mohamed Rasheed | MDV | 1:08.12 |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Adrian Romero | GUM | 54.77 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Émile Lahoud | LBN | 55.51 | |||
| 3 | 3 | Hussein Al-Sadiq | KSA | 55.96 | |||
| 4 | 2 | Ahmad Faraj | UAE | 56.05 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Ivan Roberts | SEY | 56.15 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Mohamed Bin Abid | UAE | 56.82 | |||
| 7 | 7 | Carl Probert | FIJ | 57.25 |
Heat Three
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Ian Raynor | BER | 53.16 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Rory McGown | ZIM | 53.65 | |||
| 3 | 3 | Plutarco Castellanos | HON | 54.66 | |||
| 4 | 7 | Gustavo Búcaro | GUA | 54.74 | |||
| 5 | 6 | Laurent Alfred | ISV | 54.89 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Helder Torres | GUA | 55.38 | |||
| 7 | 2 | Jarrah Al-Asmawi | KUW | 56.72 |
Heat Four
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Shigeo Ogata | JPN | 52.74 | |||
| 2 | 6 | Enrico Linscheer | SUR | 52.94 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Geri Mewett | BER | 53.14 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Mohamed El-Azoul | EGY | 53.31 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Nikos Paleokrassas | GRE | 53.47 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Kenneth Yeo | SGP | 54.44 | |||
| 7 | 7 | Frank Leskaj | ALB | 55.50 | |||
| 2 | Nayef Al-Hasawi | KUW | – |
Heat Five
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Janne Blomqvist | FIN | 51.86 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Arthur Li | HKG | 52.22 | |||
| 3 | 1 | Allan Murray | BAH | 52.43 | |||
| 4 | 2 | Stavros Michailidis | CYP | 52.54 | |||
| 5 | 5 | Ivor Le Roux | ZIM | 52.92 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Marc Verbeeck | BEL | 52.97 | |||
| 7 | 3 | Sebastián Lasave | ARG | 53.07 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Patrick Sagisi | GUM | 53.90 |
Heat Six
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Stéfan Voléry | SUI | 51.05 | |||
| 2 | 6 | Indrek Sei | EST | 51.47 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Krzysztof Cwalina | POL | 51.70 | |||
| 4 | 7 | Nick Sanders | NZL | 51.77 | |||
| 5 | 2 | Giovanni Linscheer | SUR | 51.82 | |||
| 6 | 8 | Michael Wright | HKG | 51.88 | |||
| 7 | 4 | Xie Jun | CHN | 51.94 | |||
| 8 | 3 | Darren Ward | CAN | 52.05 |
Heat Seven
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Ricardo Busquets | PUR | 50.31 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Rodrigo González | MEX | 51.04 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Jarl Inge Melberg | NOR | 51.39 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Seddon Keyter | RSA | 51.42 | |||
| 5 | 1 | Yoav Bruck | ISR | 51.46 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Yves Clausse | LUX | 51.47 | |||
| 7 | 8 | Tsutomu Nakano | JPN | 51.63 | |||
| 7 | Peter Williams | RSA | – |
Heat Eight
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Jon Olsen | USA | 49.63 | |||
| 2 | 6 | Tom Werner | SWE | 50.08 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Chris Fydler | AUS | 50.26 | |||
| 4 | 5 | Giorgio Lamberti | ITA | 50.65 | |||
| =5 | 2 | Håkan Karlsson | SWE | 50.73 | |||
| =5 | 8 | Stephen Clarke | CAN | 50.73 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Béla Szabados | HUN | 50.78 | |||
| 8 | 7 | Uğur Taner | TUR | 51.34 |
Heat Nine
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Stéphan Caron | FRA | 49.82 | |||
| 2 | 7 | Christian Tröger | GER | 50.05 | |||
| 3 | 3 | Raimundas Mažuolis | LTU | 50.17 | |||
| 4 | 5 | Nils Rudolph | GER | 50.29 | |||
| 5 | 6 | Christophe Kalfayan | FRA | 50.30 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Mike Fibbens | GBR | 50.93 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Emanuel Fortes | BRA | 51.17 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Franz Mortensen | DEN | 51.29 |
Heat Ten
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Aleksandr Popov | EUN | 49.29 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 49.49 | |||
| 3 | 4 | Matt Biondi | USA | 49.75 | |||
| 4 | 2 | Gennady Prigoda | EUN | 50.00 | |||
| =5 | 1 | John Steel | NZL | 50.59 | |||
| =5 | 7 | Andrew Baildon | AUS | 50.59 | |||
| 7 | 6 | Roberto Gleria | ITA | 50.66 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Paul Howe | GBR | 51.12 |
B Final (28 July 1992 — 18:30)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Ricardo Busquets | PUR | 49.92 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Raimundas Mažuolis | LTU | 50.13 | |||
| 3 | 6 | Christophe Kalfayan | FRA | 50.49 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Nils Rudolph | GER | 50.62 | |||
| 5 | 7 | John Steel | NZL | 50.69 | |||
| 6 | 5 | Chris Fydler | AUS | 50.78 | |||
| 7 | 8 | Roberto Gleria | ITA | 50.81 | |||
| 8 | 1 | Andrew Baildon | AUS | 50.93 |
Final (28 July 1992 — 18:30)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Aleksandr Popov | EUN | 49.02 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 49.43 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Stéphan Caron | FRA | 49.50 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Jon Olsen | USA | 49.51 | |||
| 5 | 6 | Matt Biondi | USA | 49.53 | |||
| 6 | 8 | Tom Werner | SWE | 49.63 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Christian Tröger | GER | 49.84 | |||
| 8 | 7 | Gennady Prigoda | EUN | 50.25 |