The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 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 ...
in
Beijing, China
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
.
U.S. swimmer
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...
blasted a new world record to defend his title in the event, and more importantly, claim his first Olympic gold, seventh career, and ninth overall. Phelps expected to get a major challenge from teammate
Ryan Lochte
Ryan Steven Lochte ( ; born August 3, 1984) is an American professional swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. Along with Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Jenny Thompson, he is the second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by to ...
, but he pulled away from the field on the breaststroke leg, and then opened up his lead on the freestyle leg to a strong finish in 4:03.84, more than a second faster than his world record from the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Hungary's
László Cseh
László Cseh (; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive swimmer and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020 ...
earned his first ever Olympic silver medal at these Games, in a European record of 4:06.16. Lochte, who fought off a challenge against Phelps, faded towards the end of the race with a bronze in 4:08.09.
Italian tandem
Alessio Boggiatto
Alessio Boggiatto (born 18 December 1981) is a former Italian medley swimmer.
Biography
Born at Moncalieri, Boggiatto specialized in 400 m medley, winning several European Championship medals and one World Championship title in that distanc ...
(4:12.16) and
Luca Marin (4:12.47) earned fourth and fifth spots with only 0.31 seconds apart from each other. Hungary's
Gergő Kis
Gergő Szabolcs Kis (born 19 January 1988, in Tapolca) is a Hungarian freestyle swimmer.
Kis participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's 1500 m freestyle, ranking 23rd in the heats. In the 2006 European Junior Swimming Champi ...
(4:12.84), Canada's
Brian Johns
Brian Lawrence Johns (born August 5, 1982) is a former competition swimmer from Canada. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he grew up in Richmond, British Columbia and trained with the Aquanauts and Racers (later Rapids) swim clubs. He started swimm ...
(4:13.38), and Brazil's
Thiago Pereira
Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira (born 26 January 1986) is a retired Brazilian international competition swimmer. One of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil, Pereira won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2012 ...
(4:15.40) rounded out the finale.
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Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and 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 400 Metre Individual Medley
Men's individual medley 400 metre
Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics