Swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle
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100 metre freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...
event at the
1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
took place between July 24 and 25. This was the first time in history that the 100m freestyle was swum under 50 seconds. There were 41 competitors from 27 nations. Nations had been limited to three swimmers each since the 1924 Games (except in 1960, when the limit was two). The event was won by Jim Montgomery of the United States, the nation's second consecutive and tenth overall victory in the men's 100 metre freestyle (most of any nation). His countryman Jack Babashoff took silver.
Peter Nocke Peter Nocke (born 25 October 1955 in Langenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a retired freestyle swimmer, who represented West Germany at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréa ...
's bronze was the first medal for West Germany in the event, though the United Team of Germany had won a bronze in 1964 (by West German
Hans-Joachim Klein Hans-Joachim Klein (; 21 December 1947 – 9 November 2022) was a German left-wing militant and a member of the Revolutionary Cells group. His '' nom de guerre'' was "Angie". In 1975, Klein participated in an attack on OPEC headquarters in Vie ...
).


Background

This was the 17th 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. Three of the eight finalists from the 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist
Vladimir Bure Vladimir Valeryevich Bure (russian: Владимир Валерьевич Буре, born 4 December 1950) is a Russian former freestyle swimmer and a fitness coach for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. Bure is the father of retired NHL players P ...
of the Soviet Union, seventh-place finisher Michel Rousseau of France, and eighth-place finisher Klaus Steinbach of West Germany. Reigning gold medalist Mark Spitz had retired after the 1972 Games at the age of 22. The new American favorite was Jim Montgomery, who had set the world record at the 1975 AAU championships. His main challenger would have been
Jonty Skinner John "Jonty" Alexander Skinner (born 15 February 1954) is a former South African competition swimmer and world record-holder, who became an American college swimming coach and a coach of the US national team. Swimming career Skinner was born ...
, but apartheid South Africa was banned from the Olympics. Montgomery had finished third at the 1975 world championships behind
Andy Coan Andrew B. Coan (March 4, 1958 – March 20, 2017) was an American freestyle swimming, freestyle swimming (sport), swimmer. Biography In 1975, at 17 years of age, while representing Pine Crest School, Pine Crest High School at an Ama ...
(not competing in Montreal) and Bure. Bulgaria, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 17th appearance, having competed at each edition of the event to date.


Competition format

The competition used a three-round (heats, semifinals, final) format. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952, though with 2 semifinals. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. There were 6 heats, with between 6 and 8 swimmers each. The top 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals of 8 swimmers each. The top 8 swimmers advanced to the final. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.


Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. Jim Montgomery broke the world record in the first semifinal, posting a 50.39 second time. In the final, he was the first swimmer to break the 50-second barrier, winning in 49.99 seconds for the new world record.


Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time ( UTC-4)


Results


Heats

; Swim-off


Semifinals


Final


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1976 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 Metre Freestyle Men's freestyle 100 metre Men's events at the 1976 Summer Olympics