# Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 23 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Jeff Rouse (USA) | 53.86 | Barcelona, Spain | 31 July 1992 |
| Olympic record | Jeff Rouse (USA) | 53.86 | Barcelona, Spain | 31 July 1992 |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | 4 | Jeff Rouse | United States | 54.20 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 1 | Neisser Bent | Cuba | 54.83 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 6 | 5 | Rodolfo Falcón | Cuba | 55.29 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 2 | Martín López-Zubero | Spain | 55.36 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 4 | Tripp Schwenk | United States | 55.71 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | 1 | Ralf Braun | Germany | 55.73 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 6 | Franck Schott | France | 55.77 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | 3 | Emanuele Merisi | Italy | 55.82 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 5 | Vladimir Selkov | Russia | 55.87 | q, WD |
| 10 | 6 | 8 | Robert Braknis | Canada | 56.14 | q |
| 11 | 7 | 6 | Mariusz Siembida | Poland | 56.16 | q |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | Darius Grigalionis | Lithuania | 56.20 | q, NR |
| 13 | 6 | 2 | Hajime Itoi | Japan | 56.22 | q |
| 14 | 6 | 7 | Stev Theloke | Germany | 56.26 | q |
| 15 | 5 | 4 | Neil Willey | Great Britain | 56.27 | q |
| 16 | 6 | 3 | Steven Dewick | Australia | 56.35 | q |
| 16 | 7 | 2 | Keitaro Konnai | Japan | 56.35 | q |
| 18 | 6 | 1 | Chris Renaud | Canada | 56.52 | |
| 19 | 4 | 6 | Volodymyr Nikolaychuk | Ukraine | 56.71 | |
| 19 | 4 | 8 | Derya Büyükuncu | Turkey | 56.71 | |
| 21 | 5 | 8 | Nicolae Butacu | Romania | 56.73 | |
| 22 | 3 | 7 | Eithan Urbach | Israel | 56.74 | |
| 23 | 5 | 7 | Jonathan Winter | New Zealand | 56.92 | |
| 24 | 4 | 2 | Rogério Romero | Brazil | 56.94 | |
| 25 | 5 | 3 | Tamás Deutsch | Hungary | 56.96 | |
| 26 | 4 | 3 | Zhao Yi | China | 57.17 | |
| 26 | 7 | 5 | Martin Harris | Great Britain | 57.17 | |
| 28 | 7 | 8 | Mindaugas Špokas | Lithuania | 57.20 | |
| 29 | 4 | 1 | Carlos Arena | Mexico | 57.40 | |
| 30 | 4 | 5 | Nuno Laurentino | Portugal | 57.59 | |
| 31 | 3 | 3 | Raymond Papa | Philippines | 57.67 | |
| 32 | 1 | 4 | Alex Lim | Malaysia | 57.68 | NR |
| 33 | 3 | 4 | Miroslav Machovič | Slovakia | 57.78 | |
| 34 | 3 | 5 | Tomislav Karlo | Croatia | 57.89 | |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | Nicholas Neckles | Barbados | 57.91 | |
| 36 | 4 | 7 | Panagiotis Adamidis | Greece | 58.12 | |
| 37 | 3 | 1 | Rastislav Bizub | Czech Republic | 58.29 | |
| 38 | 2 | 3 | Dulyarit Phuangthong | Thailand | 58.32 | |
| 39 | 2 | 6 | Kim Min-suk | South Korea | 58.43 | |
| 40 | 3 | 2 | Logi Jes Kristjánsson | Iceland | 58.53 | |
| 41 | 3 | 6 | Adrian O'Connor | Ireland | 58.56 | |
| 42 | 2 | 5 | Sergey Ushkalov | Kazakhstan | 58.61 | |
| 43 | 3 | 8 | Artur Elezarov | Moldova | 59.24 | |
| 44 | 2 | 7 | Nicolás Rajcevich | Chile | 59.90 | |
| 45 | 1 | 5 | Konstantin Priahin | Kyrgyzstan | 1:00.26 | |
| 46 | 2 | 8 | Gerald Koh | Singapore | 1:00.29 | |
| 47 | 2 | 4 | Mike Fung-A-Wing | Suriname | 1:01.24 | |
| 48 | 1 | 3 | Leandro Jorge | Mozambique | 1:03.86 | |
| 49 | 2 | 1 | Fahad Al-Otaibi | Kuwait | 1:04.27 | |
| 50 | 1 | 6 | Sitaram Shahi | Nepal | 1:14.58 | |
| | 6 | 6 | Jani Sievinen | Finland | DNS | |
| | 7 | 7 | Alexander Popov | Russia | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 8 | Keitaro Konnai | Japan | 55.74 |
| 10 | 7 | Neil Willey | Great Britain | 56.07 |
| 11 | 6 | Hajime Itoi | Japan | 56.23 |
| 12 | 5 | Mariusz Siembida | Poland | 56.31 |
| 13 | 3 | Darius Grigalionis | Lithuania | 56.33 |
| 14 | 2 | Stev Theloke | Germany | 56.63 |
| 15 | 1 | Steven Dewick | Australia | 56.82 |
| 16 | 4 | Robert Braknis | Canada | 57.00 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 4 | Jeff Rouse | United States | 54.10 |
| | 3 | Rodolfo Falcón | Cuba | 54.98 |
| | 5 | Neisser Bent | Cuba | 55.02 |
| 4 | 6 | Martín López-Zubero | Spain | 55.22 |
| 5 | 2 | Tripp Schwenk | United States | 55.30 |
| 6 | 8 | Emanuele Merisi | Italy | 55.53 |
| 7 | 7 | Ralf Braun | Germany | 55.56 |
| 8 | 1 | Franck Schott | France | 55.76 |