# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Summer Olympics was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 19 and 20.
United States' Gary Hall Jr. defended his Olympic title in the event in 21.93, just two hundredths of a second off the record set by Alexander Popov in 1992. The silver medal was awarded to Croatia's Duje Draganja, who placed behind Hall in 21.94. South Africa's Roland Mark Schoeman completed his full set of medals by adding a bronze in 22.02.
Defending bronze medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands (22.56), and dual Olympic champion Alexander Popov of Russia (22.58) missed the semifinals. By the following year, Popov announced his retirement from swimming, and became a full-time member of the International Olympic Committee.
Eleven first round heats were raced, comprising a total of 86 swimmers. The fastest 16 swimmers from this group qualified to move on to the semifinals stage. After the heats had been raced, the cut-off time was 22.53 seconds. The 16 swimmers who advanced then raced in two semifinals of eight swimmers each, the results being pooled and the fastest eight swimmers advancing to the final. The cut-off time to proceed into the final was 22.19 seconds.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Alexander Popov (RUS) | 21.64 | Moscow, Russia | 16 June 2000 |
| Olympic record | Alexander Popov (EUN) | 21.91 | Barcelona, Spain | 30 July 1992 |

## Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

## Results

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.

### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 11 | 4 | Gary Hall Jr. | United States | 22.04 | Q |
| 2 | 10 | 8 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 22.24 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | 3 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 22.26 | Q |
| 3 | 11 | 8 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 22.26 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 8 | 5 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 22.28 | Q |
| 6 | 9 | 6 | Julien Sicot | France | 22.30 | Q |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | Jason Lezak | United States | 22.33 | Q |
| 8 | 11 | 5 | Roland Mark Schoeman | South Africa | 22.41 | Q |
| 8 | 11 | 2 | Oleksandr Volynets | Ukraine | 22.41 | Q |
| 10 | 9 | 2 | Brett Hawke | Australia | 22.42 | Q |
| 10 | 11 | 1 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.42 | Q |
| 12 | 8 | 4 | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 22.45 | Q |
| 13 | 8 | 2 | Karel Novy | Switzerland | 22.51 | Q |
| 14 | 9 | 5 | Javier Noriega | Spain | 22.52 | Q |
| 14 | 10 | 7 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 22.52 | Q |
| 16 | 11 | 6 | Lyndon Ferns | South Africa | 22.53 | Q |
| 17 | 11 | 3 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 22.56 | |
| 18 | 10 | 3 | Johan Kenkhuis | Netherlands | 22.58 | |
| 18 | 10 | 4 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 22.58 | |
| 18 | 8 | 6 | Rafed El-Masri | Syria | 22.58 | |
| 21 | 7 | 1 | Rolandas Gimbutis | Lithuania | 22.59 | |
| 22 | 10 | 2 | Lorenzo Vismara | Italy | 22.70 | |
| 23 | 10 | 5 | Eduardo Lorente | Spain | 22.71 | |
| 24 | 7 | 3 | Apostolos Tsagkarakis | Greece | 22.72 | |
| 25 | 9 | 1 | Michele Scarica | Italy | 22.80 | |
| 26 | 11 | 7 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 22.82 | |
| 27 | 9 | 7 | José Meolans | Argentina | 22.90 | |
| 28 | 10 | 6 | Vyacheslav Shyrshov | Ukraine | 22.96 | |
| 29 | 9 | 8 | Andrey Kapralov | Russia | 22.97 | |
| 30 | 10 | 1 | Matthew Rose | Canada | 23.01 | |
| 31 | 7 | 6 | Milorad Čavić | Serbia and Montenegro | 23.05 | |
| 32 | 6 | 2 | Krisztián Takács | Hungary | 23.12 | |
| 33 | 6 | 1 | Stanislau Neviarouski | Belarus | 23.13 | |
| 34 | 8 | 7 | Marcos Hernández | Cuba | 23.19 | |
| 35 | 7 | 2 | Lee Chung-hee | South Korea | 23.20 | |
| 36 | 7 | 7 | Camilo Becerra | Colombia | 23.23 | |
| 36 | 7 | 4 | Pedro Silva | Portugal | 23.23 | |
| 36 | 5 | 7 | Ravil Nachaev | Uzbekistan | 23.23 | |
| 39 | 6 | 8 | Kaan Tayla | Turkey | 23.26 | |
| 40 | 5 | 4 | Carl Probert | Fiji | 23.31 | |
| 41 | 7 | 5 | Jere Hård | Finland | 23.33 | |
| 42 | 7 | 3 | Chen Zuo | China | 23.41 | |
| 43 | 6 | 3 | Julio Santos | Ecuador | 23.43 | |
| 43 | 5 | 6 | Joshua Laban | Virgin Islands | 23.43 | |
| 45 | 6 | 4 | Chrysanthos Papachrysanthou | Cyprus | 23.51 | |
| 46 | 5 | 1 | Allen Ong | Malaysia | 23.52 | |
| 46 | 6 | 6 | Arwut Chinnapasaen | Thailand | 23.52 | |
| 48 | 6 | 7 | Wang Shao-an | Chinese Taipei | 23.54 | |
| 49 | 6 | 5 | Danil Haustov | Estonia | 23.56 | |
| 50 | 4 | 4 | José Mafio | Uruguay | 23.58 | |
| 51 | 4 | 5 | Jevon Atkinson | Jamaica | 23.61 | |
| 52 | 5 | 2 | Raichin Antonov | Bulgaria | 23.67 | |
| 53 | 4 | 6 | Rodrigo Díaz | Guatemala | 23.69 | |
| 54 | 5 | 5 | Örn Arnarson | Iceland | 23.84 | |
| 55 | 5 | 8 | Oleg Shteynikov | Kazakhstan | 23.88 | |
| 56 | 4 | 3 | Terrence Haynes | Barbados | 23.90 | |
| 57 | 4 | 8 | Abed Rahman Kaaki | Lebanon | 24.68 | |
| 58 | 4 | 2 | Gregory Arkhurst | Ivory Coast | 24.82 | |
| 58 | 4 | 7 | Mauricio Prudencio | Bolivia | 24.82 | |
| 60 | 4 | 1 | Alois Dansou | Benin | 24.86 | |
| 61 | 1 | 4 | Emile Rony Bakale | Republic of the Congo | 25.07 | |
| 62 | 3 | 5 | Chris Hackel | Mauritius | 25.33 | |
| 63 | 1 | 3 | Ahmed Mohamed Jewel | Bangladesh | 25.47 | |
| 64 | 3 | 4 | Cole Shade Sule | Cameroon | 26.16 | |
| 65 | 3 | 3 | Johnathan Steele | Grenada | 26.40 | |
| 66 | 3 | 6 | Kreshnik Gjata | Albania | 26.61 | |
| 66 | 5 | 3 | Semen Danilov | Kyrgyzstan | 26.61 | |
| 68 | 2 | 4 | Anderson Bonabart | Federated States of Micronesia | 26.75 | |
| 69 | 1 | 2 | Ibrahim Maliki | Niger | 26.81 | |
| 70 | 3 | 8 | Hem Kiri | Cambodia | 27.49 | |
| 71 | 3 | 2 | Khaled Ghezzawi | Libya | 27.55 | |
| 72 | 2 | 3 | Hojamamed Hojamamedov | Turkmenistan | 27.68 | |
| 73 | 3 | 1 | Hassan Mubah | Maldives | 27.71 | |
| 74 | 1 | 7 | Donnie Defreitas | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 27.72 | |
| 75 | 3 | 7 | Edgar Luberenga | Uganda | 27.77 | |
| 76 | 1 | 5 | Abdourahamane Diawara | Guinea | 28.10 | |
| 77 | 2 | 5 | Bounthanom Vongphachanh | Laos | 28.17 | |
| 78 | 2 | 7 | Leonce Sekama | Rwanda | 28.99 | |
| 79 | 1 | 6 | David Keita | Mali | 29.96 | |
| 80 | 2 | 2 | Mohamed Saad | Yemen | 29.97 | |
| 81 | 2 | 6 | Mamadou Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | 30.36 | |
| 82 | 2 | 8 | Malique Williams | Antigua and Barbuda | 32.86 | |
| 83 | 2 | 1 | Yona Walesi | Malawi | 34.11 | |
| – | 8 | 1 | Luis Rojas | Venezuela | DNS | |
| – | 8 | 3 | Peter Mankoč | Slovenia | DNS | |
| – | 8 | 8 | George Bovell | Trinidad and Tobago | DNS | |

### Semifinals

The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 6 | Roland Mark Schoeman | South Africa | 21.99 | Q, AF |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Brett Hawke | Australia | 22.07 | Q, OC |
| 3 | 2 | 6 | Jason Lezak | United States | 22.12 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 22.16 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | Gary Hall Jr. | United States | 22.18 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.18 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 7 | Oleksandr Volynets | Ukraine | 22.18 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 22.19 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 22.22 | |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | Julien Sicot | France | 22.26 | |
| 11 | 2 | 8 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 22.27 | |
| 12 | 1 | 4 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 22.29 | |
| 13 | 1 | 1 | Javier Noriega | Spain | 22.36 | |
| 14 | 1 | 8 | Lyndon Ferns | South Africa | 22.46 | |
| 15 | 1 | 7 | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 22.52 | |
| 16 | 2 | 1 | Karel Novy | Switzerland | 22.63 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nation | Time |
| | 2 | Gary Hall Jr. | United States | 21.93 |
| | 8 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 21.94 |
| | 4 | Roland Mark Schoeman | South Africa | 22.02 |
| 4 | 1 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 22.08 |
| 5 | 3 | Jason Lezak | United States | 22.11 |
| 6 | 5 | Brett Hawke | Australia | 22.18 |
| 7 | 7 | Oleksandr Volynets | Ukraine | 22.26 |
| 8 | 6 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 22.37 |