| | Event type
100 metres Freestyle, Men
| Date | 22 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Participants | 60 from 54 countries |
Aleksandr Popov had won every major championship at both 50 and 100 metres title since winning the Olympic title four years earlier in Barcelona so it was obvious that he would start as a hot favourite.
The only real threat to Popov was Gary Hall, Jr., an American with whom Popov had a spikey relationship. As expected the two men led the qualifying times and were placed next to each other for the final. At 50 metres Hall enjoyed a small lead over Popov but this was lost when the Russian made the better turn. Hall responded and pulled level but a finishing burst from Popov was decisive and he became the first man to retain the Olympic 100 metres freestyle title since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924. Gustavo Borges of Brazil added a bronze medal to the silver medal he won in the same event in 1992.
| Pos | Swimmer | NOC | R1 | B Final | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleksandr Popov |  RUS | 48.74 (1 h8) | – | 48.74 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Gary Hall, Jr. |  USA | 48.90 (1 h6) | – | 48.81 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Gustavo Borges |  BRA | 49.17 (2 h8) | – | 49.02 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband |  NED | 49.73 (4 h6) | – | 49.13 (4) | |||
| 5 | Xuxa Scherer | BRA | 49.79 (3 h8) | – | 49.57 (5) | |||
| 6 | Pavlo Khnykin |  UKR | 49.69 (3 h6) | – | 49.65 (6) | |||
| 7 | Ricardo Busquets |  PUR | 49.61 (1 h5) | – | 49.68 (7) | |||
| 8 | Francisco Sánchez |  VEN | 49.59 (2 h6) | – | 49.84 (8) | |||
| 9 | Jon Olsen | USA | 50.17 (2 h7) | 49.80 (1) | – | |||
| 10 | Christian Tröger |  GER | 50.06 (5 h6) | 49.90 (2) | – | |||
| 11 | Björn Zikarsky | GER | 50.38 (4 h7) | 49.91 (3) | – | |||
| 12 | Sion Brinn |  JAM | 50.38 (1 h4) | 50.09 (4) | – | |||
| 13 | Chris Fydler |  AUS | 50.27 (3 h7) | 50.31 (5) | – | |||
| 14 | Rostyslav Svanidze | UKR | 50.31 (5 h8) | 50.43 (6) | – | |||
| 15 | Stephen Clarke |  CAN | 50.14 (1 h7) | 50.45 (7) | – | |||
| 16 | Bartosz Kizierowski |  POL | 50.18 (2 h5) | 50.51 (8) | – | |||
| 17 | Lars Frölander |  SWE | 49.91 (4 h8) | – | – | 1 | ||
| 18 | Raimundas Mažuolis |  LTU | 50.27 (1 h2) | – | – | 2 | ||
| 19 | Aleh Rukhlevich |  BLR | 50.42 (3 h5) | – | – | |||
| 20 | Attila Zubor |  HUN | 50.43 (6 h6) | – | – | |||
| 21 | Aleksey Yegorov |  KAZ | 50.49 (4 h5) | – | – | |||
| 22 | Yoav Bruck |  ISR | 50.61 (5 h7) | – | – | |||
| 23 | Nicolas Gruson |  FRA | 50.71 (5 h5) | – | – | |||
| 24 | Vladimir Predkin | RUS | 50.75 (6 h8) | – | – | |||
| 25 | Salim Iles |  ALG | 50.87 (7 h8) | – | – | |||
| 26 | Brendon Dedekind |  RSA | 50.95 (6 h5) | – | – | |||
| 27 | Earl McCarthy |  IRL | 50.99 (7 h5) | – | – | |||
| 28 | Nick Shackell |  GBR | 51.03 (8 h8) | – | – | |||
| 29 | Sergey Ashikhmin |  KGZ | 51.07 (1 h3) | – | – | |||
| 30 | Nicolae Ivan |  ROU | 51.14 (6 h7) | – | – | |||
| 31 | Trent Bray |  NZL | 51.18 (7 h6) | – | – | |||
| 32 | Indrek Sei |  EST | 51.19 (2 h4) | – | – | |||
| 33 | Juan Benavides |  ESP | 51.20 (3 h4) | – | – | |||
| 34 | Richard Bera |  INA | 51.25 (8 h6) | – | – | |||
| 35 | Béla Szabados | HUN | 51.26 (7 h7) | – | – | |||
| 36 | Janko Gojković |  BIH | 51.28 (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 37 | Shunsuke Ito |  JPN | 51.29 (8 h5) | – | – | |||
| 38 | Felipe Delgado |  ECU | 51.38 (4 h4) | – | – | |||
| 39 | Zhao Lifeng |  CHN | 51.70 (5 h4) | – | – | |||
| 40 | Marijan Kanjer |  CRO | 51.76 (6 h4) | – | – | |||
| 41 | Giovanni Linscheer |  SUR | 51.82 (2 h3) | – | – | |||
| 42 | Arthur Li |  HKG | 51.84 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 43 | José Isaza |  PAN | 51.86 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 44 | Kalle Varonen |  FIN | 52.00 (7 h4) | – | – | |||
| 45 | José Meolans |  ARG | 52.02 (8 h7) | – | – | |||
| 46 | Georgios Giziotis |  GRE | 52.04 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 47 | Tamer Zinhom |  EGY | 52.16 (8 h4) | – | – | |||
| 48 | Oleg Tsvetkovsky |  UZB | 52.39 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 49 | Go Un-Ho |  KOR | 52.56 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 50 | Stavros Michailidis |  CYP | 52.65 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 51 | Darrick Bollinger |  GUM | 52.68 (1 h1) | – | – | |||
| 52 | Kenny Roberts |  SEY | 52.89 (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 53 | Nikola Kalabić |  SCG | 52.98 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 54 | Diego Perdomo |  COL | 53.01 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 55 | Maxim Cazmirciuc |  MDA | 53.18 (7 h3) | – | – | |||
| 56 | Huang Chih-Yung |  TPE | 53.47 (8 h3) | – | – | |||
| 57 | Sng Ju Wei |  SGP | 53.50 (7 h2) | – | – | |||
| 58 | Juan Luis Bocanegra |  GUA | 54.05 (8 h2) | – | – | |||
| 59 | Diego Mularoni |  SMR | 57.11 (3 h1) | – | – | |||
| 60 | Khuwaiter Al-Dhaheri |  UAE | 57.70 (4 h1) | – | – | |||
| Ali Al-Gazali |  YEM | – (DNS h1) | – | – |
Round One (22 July 1996)
Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Darrick Bollinger | GUM | 52.68 | 0.79 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Kenny Roberts | SEY | 52.89 | 0.72 | |||
| 3 | 6 | Diego Mularoni | SMR | 57.11 | 0.83 | |||
| 4 | 3 | Khuwaiter Al-Dhaheri | UAE | 57.70 | 0.74 | |||
| 2 | Ali Al-Gazali | YEM | – | – |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Raimundas Mažuolis | LTU | 50.27 | 0.72 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Janko Gojković | BIH | 51.28 | 0.79 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Georgios Giziotis | GRE | 52.04 | 0.75 | |||
| 4 | 7 | Go Un-Ho | KOR | 52.56 | 0.73 | |||
| 5 | 4 | Nikola Kalabić | SCG | 52.98 | 0.80 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Diego Perdomo | COL | 53.01 | 0.78 | |||
| 7 | 8 | Sng Ju Wei | SGP | 53.50 | 0.84 | |||
| 8 | 5 | Juan Luis Bocanegra | GUA | 54.05 | 0.85 |
Heat Three
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sergey Ashikhmin | KGZ | 51.07 | 0.85 | |||
| 2 | 6 | Giovanni Linscheer | SUR | 51.82 | 0.85 | |||
| 3 | 8 | Arthur Li | HKG | 51.84 | 0.75 | |||
| 4 | 4 | José Isaza | PAN | 51.86 | 0.77 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Oleg Tsvetkovsky | UZB | 52.39 | 0.77 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Stavros Michailidis | CYP | 52.65 | 0.70 | |||
| 7 | 5 | Maxim Cazmirciuc | MDA | 53.18 | 0.78 | |||
| 8 | 7 | Huang Chih-Yung | TPE | 53.47 | 0.72 |
Heat Four
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Sion Brinn | JAM | 50.38 | 0.76 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Indrek Sei | EST | 51.19 | 0.82 | |||
| 3 | 7 | Juan Benavides | ESP | 51.20 | 0.79 | |||
| 4 | 5 | Felipe Delgado | ECU | 51.38 | 0.72 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Zhao Lifeng | CHN | 51.70 | 0.79 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Marijan Kanjer | CRO | 51.76 | 0.78 | |||
| 7 | 8 | Kalle Varonen | FIN | 52.00 | 0.77 | |||
| 8 | 2 | Tamer Zinhom | EGY | 52.16 | 0.83 |
Heat Five
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Ricardo Busquets | PUR | 49.61 | 0.65 | |||
| 2 | 1 | Bartosz Kizierowski | POL | 50.18 | 0.75 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Aleh Rukhlevich | BLR | 50.42 | 0.79 | |||
| 4 | 4 | Aleksey Yegorov | KAZ | 50.49 | 0.84 | |||
| 5 | 3 | Nicolas Gruson | FRA | 50.71 | 0.73 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Brendon Dedekind | RSA | 50.95 | 0.72 | |||
| 7 | 6 | Earl McCarthy | IRL | 50.99 | 0.80 | |||
| 8 | 7 | Shunsuke Ito | JPN | 51.29 | 0.79 |
Heat Six
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Gary Hall, Jr. | USA | 48.90 | 0.81 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Francisco Sánchez | VEN | 49.59 | 0.77 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Pavlo Khnykin | UKR | 49.69 | 0.75 | |||
| 4 | 2 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | NED | 49.73 | 0.90 | |||
| 5 | 7 | Christian Tröger | GER | 50.06 | 0.82 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Attila Zubor | HUN | 50.43 | 0.77 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Trent Bray | NZL | 51.18 | 0.87 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Richard Bera | INA | 51.25 | 0.68 |
Heat Seven
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Stephen Clarke | CAN | 50.14 | 0.80 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Jon Olsen | USA | 50.17 | 0.75 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Chris Fydler | AUS | 50.27 | 0.81 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Björn Zikarsky | GER | 50.38 | 0.87 | |||
| 5 | 8 | Yoav Bruck | ISR | 50.61 | 0.77 | |||
| 6 | 2 | Nicolae Ivan | ROU | 51.14 | 0.93 | |||
| 7 | 7 | Béla Szabados | HUN | 51.26 | 0.73 | |||
| 8 | 3 | José Meolans | ARG | 52.02 | 0.79 |
Heat Eight
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Aleksandr Popov | RUS | 48.74 | 0.87 | |||
| 2 | 3 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 49.17 | 0.85 | |||
| 3 | 5 | Xuxa Scherer | BRA | 49.79 | 0.81 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Lars Frölander | SWE | 49.91 | 0.72 | |||
| 5 | 2 | Rostyslav Svanidze | UKR | 50.31 | 0.86 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Vladimir Predkin | RUS | 50.75 | 0.83 | |||
| 7 | 8 | Salim Iles | ALG | 50.87 | 0.79 | |||
| 8 | 7 | Nick Shackell | GBR | 51.03 | 0.73 |
B Final (22 July 1996)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Jon Olsen | USA | 49.80 | 0.72 | |||
| 2 | 4 | Christian Tröger | GER | 49.90 | 0.78 | |||
| 3 | 8 | Björn Zikarsky | GER | 49.91 | 0.87 | |||
| 4 | 1 | Sion Brinn | JAM | 50.09 | 0.74 | |||
| 5 | 2 | Chris Fydler | AUS | 50.31 | 0.81 | |||
| 6 | 7 | Rostyslav Svanidze | UKR | 50.43 | 0.83 | |||
| 7 | 5 | Stephen Clarke | CAN | 50.45 | 0.78 | |||
| 8 | 6 | Bartosz Kizierowski | POL | 50.51 | 0.77 |
Final (22 July 1996)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | Time | Reaction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Aleksandr Popov | RUS | 48.74 | 0.88 | |||
| 2 | 5 | Gary Hall, Jr. | USA | 48.81 | 0.74 | |||
| 3 | 3 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 49.02 | 0.82 | |||
| 4 | 1 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | NED | 49.13 | 0.81 | |||
| 5 | 8 | Xuxa Scherer | BRA | 49.57 | 0.79 | |||
| 6 | 7 | Pavlo Khnykin | UKR | 49.65 | 0.76 | |||
| 7 | 2 | Ricardo Busquets | PUR | 49.68 | 0.62 | |||
| 8 | 6 | Francisco Sánchez | VEN | 49.84 | 0.78 |