Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle
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The men's
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
1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
took place on 28 July at the
Piscines Bernat Picornell Piscines Bernat Picornell ( en, Bernat Picornell Pools) is a swimming venue situated in the Olympic Ring in Montjuïc, Barcelona. The venue consists of three swimming pools: a 50m indoor pool, a 50m outdoor pool, and a pool for diving. It hosted ...
in
Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. There were 75 competitors from 52 nations. Nations had been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. The event was won by Alexander Popov of the Unified Team.
Gustavo Borges Gustavo França Borges (born December 2, 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in the Summer Olympic Games in: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the second-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with fouron ...
's silver was Brazil's first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle since 1960.
Stéphan Caron Stéphan Caron (sometimes spelled Stéphane Caron, born 1 July 1966 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime) is a former Freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer from France. Caron won the bronze medal in the men's 100 m freestyle at the Summer Olympics twi ...
of France repeated as bronze medalist, the eighth man to win multiple medals in the event. It was the first time since 1968 that the United States had competed and not won the event and the first time since 1956 that the Americans had competed and not taken any medal, as
Jon Olsen Jon C. Olsen (born April 25, 1969) is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Olsen was a successful relay swimmer for the U.S. national team in the late 1980s and 1990s. He has won a t ...
finished fourth and defending champion
Matt Biondi Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
came in fifth.


Background

This was the 21st 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. Five of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist
Matt Biondi Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, bronze medalist
Stéphan Caron Stéphan Caron (sometimes spelled Stéphane Caron, born 1 July 1966 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime) is a former Freestyle swimming, freestyle swimmer from France. Caron won the bronze medal in the men's 100 m freestyle at the Summer Olympics twi ...
of France, fourth-place finisher
Gennadiy Prigoda Gennadiy Sergeyevich Prigoda (russian: Геннадий Серге́евич Пригода; born 2 May 1965) is a former freestyle swimmer from Russia, who competed twice at the Summer Olympics first for the Soviet Union in 1988, and then for ...
of the Soviet Union (now competing for the Unified Team), sixth-place finisher Andrew Baildon of Australia, and eighth-place finisher
Tommy Werner Tommy ("Tom") Henrik Werner (born 31 March 1966 in Karlskrona, Blekinge) was a freestyle swimmer from Sweden. He won the silver medal in the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 1992 Summer Olympics together Christer Wallin, Anders Holmertz ...
of Sweden. Biondi was the favorite, having also won the 1991 World Championship and his 1988 world record still standing. Caron and 1991 European Champion Alexander Popov were also contenders. Albania, Lithuania, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and the Seychelles each made their debut in the event; some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team and competitors from Yugoslavia competed as Independent Olympic Participants. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.


Competition format

This
freestyle swimming Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most commo ...
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. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Gustavo Borges Gustavo França Borges (born December 2, 1972) is a Brazilian former competitive swimmer. He swam for Brazil in the Summer Olympic Games in: 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Borges has won the second-most Olympic medals of any Brazilian, with fouron ...
set a new South American area record, and two national records were set: the Russian record by Alexander Popov and the Puerto Rican record by
Ricardo Busquets Ricardo J. ("Ricky") Busquets Healy (born October 3, 1974 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a former freestyle swimmer from Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, ...
.


Schedule

All times are
Central European Summer Time Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
(
UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
)


Results


Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).


Finals


Final B


Final A

Popov won, well ahead of everyone else. An equipment error resulted in the scoreboard initially displaying Caron as the second-place swimmer and Borges as last. Borges last was an obvious mistake to anyone watching; he had been fighting for second. His touchpad had malfunctioned. Officials reviewed film of "his" finish, assigning him a time of 49.53—equal to Biondi; they then realized that the film had been ''of Biondi''. Looking at the correct finish, the officials gave Borges a time of 49.43, good for the silver medal.


References


External links


Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 1992 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 Metre Freestyle Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics Men's events at the 1992 Summer Olympics