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
The National Aquatics Centre (), and colloquially known as the Water Cube () and the Ice Cube (), is an aquatics center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China.
The facility was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2 ...
in
Beijing, China.
Competing at his third Games,
Oussama Mellouli
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli ( ar, أسامة الملولي; born 16 February 1984) is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Tr ...
made an Olympic milestone to become Tunisia's first ever gold medalist in 48 years. He denied Australia's
Grant Hackett
Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to ...
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
FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...
for using the banned stimulant
Adderall
Adderall and Mydayis are trade names for a combination drug called mixed amphetamine salts containing four salts of amphetamine. The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a (3:1) ratio ...
.
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
Yury Aleksandrovich Prilukov (russian: Юрий Александрович Прилуков; born 14 June 1984) is a freestyle swimmer from Russia, who specializes in long distance swimming.
Prilukov was born in Sverdlovsk. He is a five-time ...
(14:43.21). U.S. swimmer
Larsen Jensen
Larsen Alan Jensen (born September 1, 1985) is an American former competition swimmer and a two-time Olympic medalist.
Career
At the 2003 World Championships, Jensen earned a silver medal in the 800-meter freestyle, his first medal at the int ...
, 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.
The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
Final
References
External links
Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 Metre Freestyle
Men's freestyle 1500 metre
Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics