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

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 22 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States. There were 60 competitors from 54 nations. Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. The event was won by Alexander Popov of Russia, the third man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the 100 metre freestyle (after Duke Kahanamoku in 1912 and 1920 and Johnny Weissmuller in 1924 and 1928). Gary Hall, Jr. returned the United States to the podium in the event after a one-Games absence. Gustavo Borges, the silver medalist in 1992, earned bronze. Popov and Borges were the 9th and 10th men to earn multiple medals in the event.

## Background

This was the 22nd appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.
Four of the eight finalists from the 1992 Games returned: gold medalist Alexander Popov of the Unified Team (now competing for Russia), silver medalist Gustavo Borges of Brazil, fourth-place finisher Jon Olsen of the United States, and seventh-place finisher Christian Tröger of Germany.
In 1992, Popov defeated defending gold medalist Matt Biondi and proceeded to win every major 50 metre and 100 metre freestyle championship since Barcelona, including the 1994 world championships. Popov was the odds-on favorite. His biggest challenger was American Gary Hall, Jr., runner-up in the world championships.
Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

## Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition used the A/B final format instituted in 1984. The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the A final, competing for medals through 8th place. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the semifinals competed in the B final for 9th through 16th place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Alexandr Popov (RUS) | 48.21 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 18 June 1994 |
| Olympic record | Matt Biondi (USA) | 48.63 | Seoul, South Korea | 22 September 1988 |

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 22 July 1996 | | Heats Finals |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | 4 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 48.74 | QA |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Gary Hall, Jr. | United States | 48.90 | QA |
| 3 | 8 | 3 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 49.17 | QA |
| 4 | 6 | 3 | Francisco Sánchez | Venezuela | 49.59 | QA |
| 5 | 5 | 8 | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 49.61 | QA, NR |
| 6 | 6 | 5 | Pavlo Khnykin | Ukraine | 49.69 | QA |
| 7 | 6 | 2 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 49.73 | QA |
| 8 | 8 | 5 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 49.79 | QA |
| 9 | 8 | 6 | Lars Frölander | Sweden | 49.91 | QB, WD |
| 10 | 6 | 7 | Christian Tröger | Germany | 50.06 | QB |
| 11 | 7 | 1 | Stephen Clarke | Canada | 50.14 | QB |
| 12 | 7 | 4 | Jon Olsen | United States | 50.17 | QB |
| 13 | 5 | 1 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 50.18 | QB, NR |
| 14 | 7 | 5 | Chris Fydler | Australia | 50.27 | QB |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Raimundas Mažuolis | Lithuania | 50.27 | QB, WD |
| 16 | 8 | 2 | Rostyslav Svanidze | Ukraine | 50.31 | QB |
| 17 | 4 | 4 | Sion Brinn | Jamaica | 50.38 | QB, NR |
| 17 | 7 | 6 | Björn Zikarsky | Germany | 50.38 | QB |
| 19 | 5 | 5 | Aleh Rukhlevich | Belarus | 50.42 | |
| 20 | 6 | 6 | Attila Zubor | Hungary | 50.43 | |
| 21 | 5 | 4 | Aleksey Yegorov | Kazakhstan | 50.49 | |
| 22 | 7 | 8 | Yoav Bruck | Israel | 50.61 | |
| 23 | 5 | 3 | Nicolas Gruson | France | 50.71 | |
| 24 | 8 | 1 | Vladimir Predkin | Russia | 50.75 | |
| 25 | 8 | 8 | Salim Iles | Algeria | 50.87 | |
| 26 | 5 | 2 | Brendon Dedekind | South Africa | 50.95 | |
| 27 | 5 | 6 | Earl McCarthy | Ireland | 50.99 | |
| 28 | 8 | 7 | Nicholas Shackell | Great Britain | 51.03 | |
| 29 | 3 | 1 | Sergey Ashihmin | Kyrgyzstan | 51.07 | NR |
| 30 | 7 | 2 | Nicolae Ivan | Romania | 51.14 | |
| 31 | 6 | 1 | Trent Bray | New Zealand | 51.18 | |
| 32 | 4 | 1 | Indrek Sei | Estonia | 51.19 | NR |
| 33 | 4 | 7 | Juan Benavides | Spain | 51.20 | |
| 34 | 6 | 8 | Richard Sam Bera | Indonesia | 51.25 | |
| 35 | 7 | 7 | Béla Szabados | Hungary | 51.26 | |
| 36 | 2 | 3 | Janko Gojković | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 51.28 | NR |
| 37 | 5 | 7 | Shunsuke Ito | Japan | 51.29 | |
| 38 | 4 | 5 | Felipe Delgado | Ecuador | 51.38 | |
| 39 | 4 | 3 | Zhao Lifeng | China | 51.70 | |
| 40 | 4 | 6 | Marijan Kanjer | Croatia | 51.76 | |
| 41 | 3 | 6 | Giovanni Linscheer | Suriname | 51.82 | |
| 42 | 3 | 8 | Arthur Li Kai Yien | Hong Kong | 51.84 | |
| 43 | 3 | 4 | José Isaza | Panama | 51.86 | |
| 44 | 4 | 8 | Kalle Varonen | Finland | 52.00 | |
| 45 | 7 | 3 | José Meolans | Argentina | 52.02 | |
| 46 | 2 | 2 | Georgios Giziotis | Greece | 52.04 | |
| 47 | 4 | 2 | Tamer Hamed | Egypt | 52.16 | |
| 48 | 3 | 3 | Oleg Tsvetkovskiy | Uzbekistan | 52.39 | |
| 49 | 2 | 7 | Koh Yun-ho | South Korea | 52.56 | |
| 50 | 3 | 2 | Stavros Michaelides | Cyprus | 52.65 | |
| 51 | 1 | 4 | Darrick Bollinger | Guam | 52.68 | |
| 52 | 1 | 5 | Kenny Roberts | Seychelles | 52.89 | |
| 53 | 2 | 4 | Nikola Kalabić | FR Yugoslavia | 52.98 | |
| 54 | 2 | 6 | Diego Perdomo | Colombia | 53.01 | |
| 55 | 3 | 5 | Maxim Cazmirciuc | Moldova | 53.18 | |
| 56 | 3 | 7 | Huang Chih-yung | Chinese Taipei | 53.47 | |
| 57 | 2 | 8 | Sng Ju Wei | Singapore | 53.50 | |
| 58 | 2 | 5 | Juan Luis Bocanegra | Guatemala | 54.05 | |
| 59 | 1 | 6 | Diego Mularoni | San Marino | 57.11 | |
| 60 | 1 | 3 | Khuwaiter Al-Dhaheri | United Arab Emirates | 57.70 | |
| — | 1 | 2 | Ali Al-Gazali | Yemen | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 3 | Jon Olsen | United States | 49.80 | |
| 10 | 4 | Christian Tröger | Germany | 49.90 | |
| 11 | 8 | Björn Zikarsky | Germany | 49.91 | |
| 12 | 1 | Sion Brinn | Jamaica | 50.09 | NR |
| 13 | 2 | Chris Fydler | Australia | 50.31 | |
| 14 | 7 | Rostyslav Svanidze | Ukraine | 50.43 | |
| 15 | 5 | Stephen Clarke | Canada | 50.45 | |
| 16 | 6 | Bartosz Kizierowski | Poland | 50.51 | |

#### Final A

Hall led going into the turn, but Popov led coming out of it. Hall caught Popov again in the second length, but Popov pulled away at the finish.
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Alexander Popov | Russia | 48.74 | |
| | 5 | Gary Hall, Jr. | United States | 48.81 | |
| | 3 | Gustavo Borges | Brazil | 49.02 | |
| 4 | 1 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Netherlands | 49.13 | NR |
| 5 | 8 | Fernando Scherer | Brazil | 49.57 | |
| 6 | 7 | Pavlo Khnykin | Ukraine | 49.65 | |
| 7 | 2 | Ricardo Busquets | Puerto Rico | 49.68 | |
| 8 | 6 | Francisco Sánchez | Venezuela | 49.84 | |