Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle
| Men's 50 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
 The medal ceremony of the 50m final. | ||||||||||
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | August 14, 2008 (heats) August 15, 2008 (semifinals) August 16, 2008 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 97 from 90 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 21.30 OR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freestyle | ||||
| 50 m | men | women | ||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| 800 m | women | |||
| 1500 m | men | |||
| Backstroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Breaststroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Butterfly | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Individual medley | ||||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| Freestyle relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| 4×200 m | men | women | ||
| Medley relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| Marathon | ||||
| 10 km | men | women | ||
The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 14–16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]
César Cielo made an Olympic milestone to become Brazil's first ever gold medalist in swimming. He rocketed to an unexpected triumph in a new Olympic record of 21.30, then the second-fastest in history, powering past the field by 0.15 of a second, a sizable chunk in Olympic swimming's shortest race.[2][3] The French tandem of Amaury Leveaux and Alain Bernard took home the silver and bronze with respective times of 21.45 and 21.49.[4]
Australia's Ashley Callus finished fourth in 21.62, while his teammate and world record holder Eamon Sullivan was a fraction behind the leading pack in sixth at 21.65.[5] For the first time in Olympic history, no American swimmer had reached the podium in the event, as the reigning world champion Ben Wildman-Tobriner, swimming on the outside in lane eight, pulled off a fifth-place effort in 21.64.[6] Competing at their third Olympics, South Africa's Roland Mark Schoeman (21.67) and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (21.72) rounded out the finale in seventh and eighth place, respectively.[4]
Earlier in the prelims, Cielo posted a time of 21.47 to erase Alexander Popov's 1992 Olympic record by 0.44 of a second. One heat later, Leveaux established the same record by winning the twelfth heat in 21.46.[7] The following morning, in the semifinals, Cielo lowered again an Olympic record to 21.34 that had been set by Leveaux in the preliminaries under 0.12 seconds.[8]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Eamon Sullivan (AUS) | 21.28 | Sydney, Australia | 28 March 2008 |
| Olympic record |  Alexander Popov (EUN) | 21.91 | Barcelona, Spain | 30 July 1992 |
The following Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August | Heat 11 | César Cielo |  Brazil | 21.47 | OR |
| 14 August | Heat 12 | Amaury Leveaux |  France | 21.46 | OR |
| 15 August | Semifinal 2 | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.34 | OR |
| 16 August | Final | César Cielo | Brazil | 21.30 | OR |
Results
Heats
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Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | César Cielo Filho | Brazil |
21.34 | Q, OR, AM |
| 2 | 5 | Stefan Nystrand |  Sweden | 21.71 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Eamon Sullivan | Australia |
21.75 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Krisztián Takács |  Hungary |
21.84 | |
| 5 | 7 | Duje Draganja |  Croatia |
21.85 | |
| 6 | 3 | George Bovell |  Trinidad and Tobago |
21.86 | |
| 7 | 8 | Gideon Louw |  South Africa |
21.97 | |
| 8 | 2 | Rafed El-Masri |  Germany |
22.09 | |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Alain Bernard | France |
21.54 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Ashley Callus | Australia |
21.68 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Roland Mark Schoeman | South Africa |
21.74 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Amaury Leveaux | France |
21.76 | Q |
| 5 | Ben Wildman-Tobriner |  United States |
Q | ||
| 6 | 2 | Garrett Weber-Gale | United States |
22.08 | |
| 7 | 8 | Bartosz Kizierowski |  Poland |
22.12 | |
| 8 | 7 | Nicholas Santos | Brazil |
22.15 | |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | César Cielo Filho | Brazil | 21.30 | OR, AM |
 | 1 | Amaury Leveaux | France | 21.45 | |
 | 5 | Alain Bernard | France | 21.49 | |
| 4 | 3 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 21.62 | |
| 5 | 8 | Ben Wildman-Tobriner | United States | 21.64 | |
| 6 | 7 | Eamon Sullivan | Australia | 21.65 | |
| 7 | 2 | Roland Mark Schoeman | South Africa | 21.67 | AF |
| 8 | 6 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 21.72 |
References
- ↑ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ↑ "'Big Cesar' races to first Brazilian swim gold". ESPN. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ "Cielo hands Brazil's first swimming gold". South China Morning Post. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- 1 2 Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Cesar Cielo Claims 50 Free Gold in Olympic Record Time". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ "Cielo Filho takes 50m gold". ABC News. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ Crumpacker, John (16 August 2008). "Wildman-Tobriner is 5th in the 50". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Olympic Standard Falls Twice in Men's 50 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Cesar Cielo Drops Olympic Record in 50 Free Semis". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
External links
| 50 yards | |
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| 50 metres |
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