# Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
The winning margin was 0.69 seconds which as of 2023 remains the only time this event was won by less than one second at the Olympics.
Competing at his third Games, Oussama Mellouli made an Olympic milestone to become Tunisia's first ever gold medalist in 48 years. He denied Australia's Grant Hackett a third straight title in the event, touching the wall first in an African record of 14:40.84. Hanging with the leaders through the first two-thirds of the race, Mellouli moved into the lead at the 1,100-metre mark, and held off Hackett's sprinted finish on the final lap. This was also a retribution for Mellouli, who served an 18-month doping ban from FINA for using the banned stimulant Adderall.
Trying to become the first male swimmer to win three gold medals in the same event, Hackett collected a silver in 14:41.53. Meanwhile, Canada's Ryan Cochrane powered home with a bronze in 14:42.69, finishing ahead of Russia's Yuri Prilukov (14:43.21). U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen, silver medalist in Athens four years earlier, placed fifth with a time 14:48.16, and was followed in the sixth spot by Great Britain's David Davies in 14:52.11. Chinese duo Zhang Lin (14:55.20) and Sun Yang (15:05.12) rounded out the finale.
Earlier in the prelims, Cochrane established a new Olympic record of 14:40.84 in heat three, until Hackett cleared the 14:40 barrier, and lowered the record to 14:38.92 in the final heat of five.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Grant Hackett (AUS) | 14:34.56 | Fukuoka, Japan | 29 July 2001 | |
| Olympic record | Grant Hackett (AUS) | 14:43.40 | Athens, Greece | 21 August 2004 | - |
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 15 | Heat 3 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 14:40.84 | OR |
| August 15 | Heat 5 | Grant Hackett | Australia | 14:38.92 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 5 | Grant Hackett | Australia | 14:38.92 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 14:40.84 | Q, AM |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | Yuri Prilukov | Russia | 14:41.13 | Q, EU |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | Zhang Lin | China | 14:45.84 | Q, AS |
| 5 | 3 | 3 | David Davies | Great Britain | 14:46.11 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 6 | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia | 14:47.76 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 2 | Sun Yang | China | 14:48.39 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Larsen Jensen | United States | 14:49.53 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | Mateusz Sawrymowicz | Poland | 14:50.30 | |
| 10 | 4 | 5 | Federico Colbertaldo | Italy | 14:51.44 | |
| 11 | 5 | 4 | Peter Vanderkaay | United States | 14:52.11 | |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | Spyridon Gianniotis | Greece | 14:53.32 | NR |
| 13 | 2 | 3 | Nicolas Rostoucher | France | 15:00.58 | |
| 14 | 2 | 5 | Mads Glæsner | Denmark | 15:03.33 | |
| 15 | 4 | 3 | Craig Stevens | Australia | 15:04.82 | |
| 16 | 3 | 6 | Park Tae-Hwan | South Korea | 15:05.55 | |
| 17 | 4 | 7 | Samuel Pizzetti | Italy | 15:07.02 | |
| 18 | 3 | 7 | Takeshi Matsuda | Japan | 15:09.17 | |
| 19 | 5 | 8 | Gergő Kis | Hungary | 15:09.67 | |
| 20 | 2 | 2 | Tom Vangeneugden | Belgium | 15:11.04 | NR |
| 21 | 1 | 5 | Florian Janistyn | Austria | 15:12.46 | NR |
| 22 | 5 | 7 | Troyden Prinsloo | South Africa | 15:12.64 | |
| 23 | 3 | 1 | Sergey Fesenko | Ukraine | 15:13.03 | |
| 24 | 2 | 4 | Maciej Hreniak | Poland | 15:16.16 | |
| 25 | 3 | 8 | Richard Charlesworth | Great Britain | 15:17.27 | |
| 26 | 4 | 8 | Marcos Rivera | Spain | 15:18.98 | |
| 27 | 3 | 2 | Sébastien Rouault | France | 15:21.14 | |
| 28 | 2 | 1 | Dragoș Coman | Romania | 15:24.05 | |
| 29 | 2 | 7 | Fernando Costa | Portugal | 15:26.21 | |
| 30 | 1 | 3 | Petar Stoychev | Bulgaria | 15:28.84 | |
| 31 | 5 | 2 | Nikita Lobintsev | Russia | 15:35.47 | |
| 32 | 1 | 6 | Ryan Arabejo | Philippines | 15:42.77 | |
| 33 | 2 | 8 | Ricardo Monasterio | Venezuela | 15:45.98 | |
| 34 | 1 | 4 | Juan Martín Pereyra | Argentina | 15:49.57 | |
| 35 | 1 | 2 | Ediz Yildirimer | Turkey | 16:28.79 | |
| | 2 | 6 | Christian Kubusch | Germany | DNS | |
| | 4 | 1 | Luka Turk | Slovenia | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 7 | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia | 14:40.84 | AF |
| | 4 | Grant Hackett | Australia | 14:41.53 | |
| | 5 | Ryan Cochrane | Canada | 14:42.69 | |
| 4 | 3 | Yuri Prilukov | Russia | 14:43.21 | |
| 5 | 8 | Larsen Jensen | United States | 14:48.16 | |
| 6 | 2 | David Davies | Great Britain | 14:52.11 | |
| 7 | 6 | Zhang Lin | China | 14:55.20 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sun Yang | China | 15:05.12 | |