The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the

2012 Summer Olympics 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 ...

took place on 2–3 August at the

London Aquatics Centre The London Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility with two swimming pools and a diving pool in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The centre, designed by architect Zaha Hadid as one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olymp ...

London, United Kingdom London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. As the most decorated Olympian of all time,

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 ...

continued to ramp up his already astonishing resume with an unprecedented second Olympic three-peat and another title defense. Rallying from seventh at the halfway turn, he produced a remarkable swim over the rest of the field to claim his seventeenth gold and twenty-first career medal in 51.21. Trailing behind Phelps by 0.23 seconds, South Africa's

Chad le Clos Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short ...

and Russia's

Yevgeny Korotyshkin Yevgeny Yevgeniyevich Korotyshkin, occasionally spelled "Evgeny", (russian: Евгений Евгеньевич Коротышкин) (born 30 April 1983) is a Russian swimmer from Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

tied for the silver in a matching time of 51.44. Leading early at the turn, Serbia's

Milorad Čavić Milorad "Milo" Čavić ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад "Мило" Чавић, ; born May 31, 1984) is a Serbian former professional swimmer. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in a historic race with American ...

, who famously lost to Phelps in Beijing four years earlier by a fingertip, faded down the stretch to match Germany's

Steffen Deibler Steffen Deibler (born 10 July 1987) is a German former competitive swimmer from Biberach an der Riß. From 2009 to 2018 he was the world record holder for the 50 m butterfly (short course). Swimming career Deibler specialized in short dist ...

with a fourth-place time in 51.81. Netherlands'

Joeri Verlinden Joeri Verlinden (born 22 January 1988) is a Dutch swimmer who specializes in butterfly and freestyle. He is currently trained by Martin Truijens. He was previously trained by Marcel Wouda. Swimming career Verlinden made his international debut ...

(51.82), U.S. swimmer

Tyler McGill Tyler Tennant McGill (born August 18, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer who is a butterfly specialist and has been a member of two world champion relay teams from the United States. He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympi ...

(51.88), and Poland's

Konrad Czerniak Konrad Czerniak (born 11 July 1989) is a Polish competitive swimmer who has participated in the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships. He won ten medals at these championships, mostly in the butterfly. At the 2012 Summ ...

(52.05) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out a historic finish. Austria's Dinko Jukic (51.99), fourth-place finalist in the 200 m butterfly few days earlier; and Kenya's

Jason Dunford Jason Edward Dunford, OGW, OLY (born 28 November 1986), also known as Samaki Mkuu, is a Kenyan Olympic swimmer, media personality, rapper and entrepreneur. During his swimming career he was predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter winni ...

(52.16), fifth in Beijing, missed the final roster after placing ninth and sixteenth respectively in the semifinals. Other notable swimmers featured Japan's

Takeshi Matsuda is a retired Japanese Olympic, Asian and National Record holding swimmer. He swam for Japan at the 2004, 2008 Olympics, 2012 Olympics, and 2016 Olympics, winning four medals. At the 2008 Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the men's 200 m bu ...

, who elected not to do a swimoff with Germany's Benjamin Starke (a matching time of 52.36) on the morning prelims; his teammate Takuro Fujii (52.49) and Papua New Guinea's

Ryan Pini Ryan John Pini MBE (born 10 December 1981 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) is a 4-time Olympic swimmer from Papua New Guinea. He swam for PNG at the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics; also serving as the PNG flagbearer in 2008 and 2016. He ...

(52.68), both of whom finished sixth and eighth in Beijing; and Sweden's 2000 champion

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Swedish swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden. He grew up in Ornäs in Borlänge Municipality. In ...

, who posted a twentieth-place time of 52.47 in his sixth Olympics.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

Results

Heats

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

External links

NBC Olympics Coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metre butterfly Men's 00100 metre butterfly Men's 100 metre butterfly Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics