The men's marathon swim over a distance of 10 kilometres at the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

took place on 10 August in the Serpentine at

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

. Outclassing a vast field of rivals, Tunisia's

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 ...

built a historic milestone as the first ever swimmer to capture Olympic titles in both pool and open water. Around the 7 km mark, Mellouli quickly opened up a three-body-length lead over a small pack of swimmers, and maintained a fast pace to claim his second gold and third career medal in 1:49:55.1. Chasing for two more Olympic medals in a grueling race, Germany's Thomas Lurz finished behind the leader by 3.4 seconds with a silver in 1:49:58.5, while Canada's

Richard Weinberger Richard Weinberger (born June 7, 1990) is a Canadian long-distance swimmer. Weinberger won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the 10-kilometre open water marathon. He is the 2011 Pan American Games champion and also has a b ...

, who pulled off a powerful lead on the first lap, grabbed the bronze in 1:50:00.3. Greece's

Spyridon Gianniotis Spyridon "Spyros" Gianniotis (; born 19 February 1980) is a Greek competitive swimmer who specialises in long-distance and open-water freestyle events. He is an Olympic silver medalist, two-time World Champion, World Cup gold medalist, and two ...

, the reigning world champion, mounted a spirited challenge against Mellouli, Lurz and Weinberger in pursuit, but dropped back in the last 200 metres to fourth in 1:50:05.3. Enjoying a massive support from the home crowd at Hyde Park, Great Britain's

Daniel Fogg Daniel Lee Fogg (born 24 August 1987) is an English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain in the Olympics, World and European Championships as well as England in the Commonwealth Games. Daniel Fogg specialises in the 1500-metre f ...

struggled to maintain his form after the fourth lap, but pushed himself further from behind with a spectacular swim to claim a fifth spot in 1:50:37.3. Fogg was followed in sixth and seventh respectively by Russian duo

Sergey Bolshakov Sergey Bolshakov (born 6 June 1988, Izhevsk) is a Russian professional swimmer, specialising in Open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and river ...

(1:50:40.1) and Vladimir Dyatchin (1:50:42.8), while Lurz's teammate Andreas Waschburger, who led both the third and fourth lap ahead of Mellouli and Weinberger, faded down the stretch to pick up the eighth spot in 1:50:44.4. Bulgaria's four-time Olympian

Petar Stoychev Petar Stoychev ( bg, Петър Стойчев; born 24 October 1976 in Momchilgrad) is a Bulgarian swimmer who is one of the most successful long distance marathon swimmers in history. He is one of the greatest marathon swimmers of all time an ...

finished ninth in 1:50:46.2 to hold off an American open water swimmer Alex Meyer (1:50:48.2) by exactly two seconds. As the remaining swimmers completed the race, Guam's 16-year-old teen Benjamin Schulte fought off audaciously throughout the open-water course to round out the field with a twenty-fifth place time in 2:03:35.1.

Qualification

The men's 10 km open water marathon at the 2012 Olympics featured a field of 25 swimmers: * 10: the top-10 finishers in the 10 km race at the 2011 FINA World Championships. * 9: the top-9 finishers at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier (8–9 June 2012 in Setúbal, Portugal). * 5: one representative from each FINA continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania). (These were selected based on the finishes at the qualifying race in Setúbal.) * 1: from the host nation (Great Britain) if not qualified by other means. If Great Britain already had a qualifier in the race, this spot was allocated back into the general pool from the 2012 qualifying race.

Results

References

External links

NBC Olympics CoverageMap of the Course
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon 10 kilometre Men's 10000 metre marathon

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics