Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
VenueSydney International Aquatic Centre
DateSeptember 16, 2000 (heats & final)
Competitors46 from 40 nations
Winning time3:40.59 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ian Thorpe  Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Massimiliano Rosolino  Italy
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Klete Keller  United States
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2004 →
Swimming at the
2000 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
4 × 200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.[1]

At only 17 years of age, Australia's overwhelming favourite Ian Thorpe, dubbed by his fans as the "Thorpedo", made his Olympic debut by claiming the first gold medal for the host nation at these Games, winning by 2.81 seconds. Cheered by a massive home crowd and rocketed to the chants of "Thorpie" by his swimming fans, Thorpe maintained a strong lead from start to finish before hitting the wall first in a new world record of 3:40.59.[2][3]

Massimiliano Rosolino earned a silver medal for Italy in a European record of 3:43.40, finishing almost three seconds behind Thorpe. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Klete Keller (another 17-year-old) stormed home from last place in the 200 m lap to wrest a bronze in 3:47.00, an American record, edging out Rosolino's teammate Emiliano Brembilla (3:47.01) by a hundredth of a second (0.01).[4]

Romania's Dragoș Coman finished fifth with a national record of 3:47.38, and was followed in the sixth spot by another U.S. swimmer Chad Carvin in 3:47.58. Aussie Grant Hackett (3:48.22) and South Africa's Ryk Neethling (3:48.52) rounded out the finale within three-tenths of a second (0.30) apart.[4]

Acknowledging a massive roar of the home crowd, Thorpe also cracked Yevgeny Sadovyi's 1992 Olympic record by 0.35 seconds to lead the final of six heats, and pick up a top-seeded time of 3:44.65 in the morning prelims.[5][6]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Ian Thorpe (AUS) 3:41.33 Sydney, Australia 13 May 2000 [7]
Olympic record  Yevgeny Sadovyi (EUN) 3:45.00 Barcelona, Spain 29 July 1992 [7]

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
16 September Heat 6 Ian Thorpe  Australia 3:44.65 OR
16 September Final Ian Thorpe  Australia 3:40.59 WR

Results

Heats

[7]

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 4 Ian Thorpe  Australia 3:44.65 Q, OR
2 4 3 Massimiliano Rosolino  Italy 3:45.65 Q, NR
3 4 4 Ryk Neethling  South Africa 3:48.08 Q
4 6 3 Emiliano Brembilla  Italy 3:48.41 Q
5 5 5 Chad Carvin  United States 3:48.42 Q
6 6 5 Klete Keller  United States 3:48.62 Q
7 5 3 Dragoș Coman  Romania 3:48.77 Q, NR
8 5 4 Grant Hackett  Australia 3:48.91 Q
9 5 2 Heiko Hell  Germany 3:50.80
10 4 5 Paul Palmer  Great Britain 3:51.06
11 4 1 Masato Hirano  Japan 3:51.42 AS
12 6 8 Nicolas Rostoucher  France 3:51.80 NR
13 5 6 James Salter  Great Britain 3:52.01
14 6 7 Alexei Filipets  Russia 3:52.21
15 6 6 Rick Say  Canada 3:52.72
16 4 7 Igor Snitko  Ukraine 3:52.97
17 4 2 Luiz Lima  Brazil 3:53.87
18 4 6 Jacob Carstensen  Denmark 3:54.14
19 5 7 Vlastimil Burda  Czech Republic 3:54.40
20 5 8 Spyridon Gianniotis  Greece 3:54.96
21 6 2 Mark Johnston  Canada 3:54.99
22 4 8 Dmitry Koptur  Belarus 3:55.26
23 5 1 Ricardo Monasterio  Venezuela 3:55.35
24 3 6 Torwai Sethsothorn  Thailand 3:56.68
25 3 3 Jin Hao  China 3:57.22
26 3 8 Damian Alleyne  Barbados 3:58.12
27 2 4 Woo Chul  South Korea 3:58.31
28 3 5 Jorge Carral Armella  Mexico 3:58.34
29 3 4 Jonathan Duncan  New Zealand 3:58.52
30 2 2 Mark Kwok Kin Ming  Hong Kong 3:58.94 NR
31 3 2 Zoltán Szilágyi  Hungary 3:59.40
32 2 5 Agustín Fiorilli  Argentina 3:59.44
33 6 1 Igor Chervynskiy  Ukraine 3:59.84
34 2 3 Petar Stoychev  Bulgaria 3:59.94
35 3 7 Jure Bučar  Slovenia 4:00.19
36 2 1 Miguel Mendoza  Philippines 4:00.66 NR
37 1 2 Sng Ju Wei  Singapore 4:01.34 NR
38 2 8 Victor Rogut  Moldova 4:01.42
39 2 7 Aytekin Mindan  Turkey 4:01.46
40 1 5 Giancarlo Zolezzi  Chile 4:01.51
41 1 4 Li Yun-lun  Chinese Taipei 4:03.10
42 3 1 Hannes Kalteis  Austria 4:03.66
43 2 6 Dieung Manggang  Malaysia 4:03.77
44 1 6 Hani Elteir  Egypt 4:04.23
45 1 3 Ivan Ivanov  Kyrgyzstan 4:09.33
46 1 7 Marcelino López  Nicaragua 4:18.89

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Ian Thorpe  Australia 3:40.59 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Massimiliano Rosolino  Italy 3:43.40 EU
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 Klete Keller  United States 3:47.00 AM
4 6 Emiliano Brembilla  Italy 3:47.01
5 1 Dragoș Coman  Romania 3:47.38 NR
6 2 Chad Carvin  United States 3:47.58
7 8 Grant Hackett  Australia 3:48.22
8 3 Ryk Neethling  South Africa 3:48.52

References

  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ Harris, Beth (16 September 2000). "Thorpe Sets World Mark, Thompson Wins 6th Gold". ABC News. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  3. ^ "The Stuff of Heroes". Time Magazine. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (16 September 2000). "Olympic Day 1 Finals (Complete)". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  5. ^ Whitten, Phillip (16 September 2000). "Olympic Day 1 Prelims (Complete)". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  6. ^ Morrissey, Rick (16 September 2000). "Spitz's Remarks Not Golden". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  7. ^ a b c "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 400m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 135–136. Retrieved 28 May 2013.