Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

Men's 100 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 10, 2008 (heats)
August 11, 2008 (semifinals)
August 12, 2008 (final)
Competitors45 from 35 nations
Winning time52.54 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Aaron Peirsol  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Matt Grevers  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hayden Stoeckel  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia
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2012 →
Swimming at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Sample picture of the event (unofficial)
Qualification
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
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Aaron Peirsol established a new world record of 52.54 to defend his Olympic title in the event. His teammate Matt Grevers earned a silver in 53.11, giving the United States a one-two finish.[2][3] Meanwhile, Australia's Hayden Stoeckel and Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin, who both finished behind Grevers by 0.07 of a second, tied for the bronze medal in a matching time of 53.18.[4]

Stoeckel's teammate Ashley Delaney finished fifth in 53.31, while Great Britain's Liam Tancock, who led a field in the first 50 metres, faded only to sixth place in 53.39.[5] Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer (53.51) and Japan's Junichi Miyashita (53.99) rounded out the finale. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went faster than a winning time of 54.09, previously set by Peirsol in Athens four years earlier.[2]

Earlier, Grevers erased Peirsol's 2004 Olympic record of 53.45 to pick up a top seed in the prelims, until Stoeckel broke a 53-second barrier, and eventually lowered the record to 52.97 in the semifinals.[6]

Records

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

World record  Aaron Peirsol (USA) 52.89 Omaha, United States 1 July 2008
Olympic record  Aaron Peirsol (USA) 53.45 Athens, Greece 21 August 2004

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

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 10 Heat 4 Matt Grevers  United States 53.41 OR
August 11 Semifinal 1 Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia 53.06 OR
August 11 Semifinal 2 Hayden Stoeckel  Australia 52.97 OR
August 12 Final Aaron Peirsol  United States 52.54 WR

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 4 Matt Grevers  United States 53.41 Q, OR
2 4 5 Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia 53.64 Q
3 6 4 Aaron Peirsol  United States 53.65 Q
4 6 7 Aschwin Wildeboer  Spain 53.67 Q
5 3 5 Gerhard Zandberg  South Africa 53.75 Q, AF
6 6 5 Liam Tancock  Great Britain 53.85 Q
7 5 3 Hayden Stoeckel  Australia 53.93 Q
8 3 8 Ľuboš Križko  Slovakia 54.07 Q, NR
9 5 5 Ashley Delaney  Australia 54.08 Q
10 5 2 Junichi Miyashita  Japan 54.12 Q
11 4 2 Stanislav Donets  Russia 54.18 Q
12 4 3 Tomomi Morita  Japan 54.21 Q
13 6 3 Markus Rogan  Austria 54.22 Q
14 6 1 Mirco Di Tora  Italy 54.39 Q
15 5 1 Guy Barnea  Israel 54.50 Q
16 5 6 Gregor Tait  Great Britain 54.62 Q
17 4 6 Aristeidis Grigoriadis  Greece 54.71
18 3 4 Damiano Lestingi  Italy 54.78
19 5 4 Helge Meeuw  Germany 54.88
20 6 2 Guilherme Guido  Brazil 54.89
6 8 Răzvan Florea  Romania
22 4 8 George Du Rand  South Africa 54.90
23 3 7 Sung Min  South Korea 54.99
24 4 1 Gordan Kožulj  Croatia 55.05
25 3 3 Benjamin Stasiulis  France 55.08
26 2 6 Omar Pinzón  Colombia 55.11
27 3 6 Jonathan Massacand  Switzerland 55.21 NR
28 4 7 Nick Driebergen  Netherlands 55.31
29 2 5 Pavel Sankovich  Belarus 55.39
30 3 1 Derya Büyükuncu  Turkey 55.43
31 5 8 Jake Tapp  Canada 55.54
32 3 2 Vytautas Janušaitis  Lithuania 55.65
33 6 6 Thomas Rupprath  Germany 55.77
34 5 7 Marko Strahija  Croatia 55.89
35 2 4 Örn Arnarson  Iceland 56.15
36 2 3 Roland Rudolf  Hungary 56.25
37 2 2 Sun Xiaolei  China 56.44
38 2 8 Oleksandr Isakov  Ukraine 56.55
39 1 4 Danil Bugakov  Uzbekistan 56.59
40 2 7 Eduardo Germán Otero  Argentina 56.74
41 2 1 Tomáš Fučík  Czech Republic 57.29
42 1 5 Stanislav Osinsky  Kazakhstan 57.42
43 1 3 Jared Heine  Marshall Islands 58.86
44 1 2 Souhaib Kalala  Syria 1:00.24
45 1 6 Rubel Mohammad Rana  Bangladesh 1:04.82

Semifinals

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 2 6 Hayden Stoeckel  Australia 52.97 Q, OR, OC
2 2 4 Matt Grevers  United States 52.99 Q
3 1 4 Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia 53.06 Q, ER
4 1 5 Aschwin Wildeboer  Spain 53.51 Q, NR
5 2 5 Aaron Peirsol  United States 53.56 Q
6 1 3 Liam Tancock  Great Britain 53.61 Q
7 1 2 Junichi Miyashita  Japan 53.69 Q
8 2 2 Ashley Delaney  Australia 53.76 Q
9 2 1 Markus Rogan  Austria 53.80
10 1 7 Tomomi Morita  Japan 53.95
11 2 3 Gerhard Zandberg  South Africa 53.98
12 1 8 Gregor Tait  Great Britain 54.37
13 1 6 Ľuboš Križko  Slovakia 54.38
14 2 7 Stanislav Donets  Russia 54.57
15 1 1 Mirco Di Tora  Italy 54.92
16 2 8 Guy Barnea  Israel 54.93

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 2 Aaron Peirsol  United States 52.54 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Matt Grevers  United States 53.11
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3 Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia 53.18
4 Hayden Stoeckel  Australia
5 8 Ashley Delaney  Australia 53.31
6 7 Liam Tancock  Great Britain 53.39 NR
7 6 Aschwin Wildeboer  Spain 53.51
8 1 Junichi Miyashita  Japan 53.99

References

  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b Lohn, John (11 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Aaron Peirsol Crushes 100 Back World Record En Route To Win". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Aaron Peirsol wins gold in 100m backstroke; Matt Grevers takes silver". Los Angeles Times. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Dead-heat bronze for Stoeckel, Peirsol wins backstroke gold". ABC News. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Peirsol wins 100m backstroke gold". BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. ^ Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Club 52 Grows to Four, Hayden Stoeckel Wins Semifinal Round of 100 Back". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.