Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Competitors 59 from 53 nations
Medalists
  Ian Thorpe   Australia
  Pieter van den Hoogenband   Netherlands
  Michael Phelps   United States
«2000 2008»
Swimming events at the
2004 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

In the lead-up to the Men's 200 metre freestyle Final at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the race was billed as The Race of the Century due to its significance and high-class field.

The final contained the four fastest men in the event in history: Ian Thorpe (Australia, world record holder in the event at the time), Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands, aiming to defend his title from Sydney), Grant Hackett (Australia, former world record holder in the event) and Michael Phelps (USA).

Records

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

World Record Ian Thorpe (AUS) Fukuoka, Japan 1:44.06 s 25 July 2001
Olympic Record Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) Sydney, Australia 1:45.35 s 18 September 2000

Heat Rankings

  1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:47.22 -Q
  2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:47.32 -Q
  3. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.95 -Q
  4. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.97 -Q
  5. Michael Phelps, United States 1:48.43 -Q
  6. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:48.68 -Q
  7. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:48.90 -Q
  8. Jens Schreiber, Germany 1:49.00 -Q
  9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.25 -Q
  10. Rick Say, Canada 1:49.32 -Q
  11. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:49.45 -Q
  12. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.48 -Q
  13. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.54 -Q
  14. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:49.56 -Q
  15. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.60 -Q
  16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:49.91 -Q
  17. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.01
  18. Jacob Carstensen, Denmark 1:50.15
  19. Stefan Herbst, Germany 1:50.23
  20. Rodrigo Castro, Brazil 1:50.27
  21. Saulius Binevicius, Lithuania 1:50.50
  22. Peter Mankoc, Slovenia 1:50.72
  23. Romans Miloslavskis, Latvia 1:50.83
  24. Maxim Kuznetsov, Russia 1:50.93
  25. Nicolas Rostoucher, France 1:50.96
  26. Dominik Koll, Austria 1:51.36
  27. Dmytro Vereitinov, Ukraine 1:51.38
  28. Josh Ilika Brenner, Mexico 1:51.66
  29. Luis Monteiro, Portugal 1:51.78
  30. Łukasz Drzewiński, Poland 1:51.90
  31. Mihail Alexandrov, Bulgaria 1:52.12
  32. Tamas Szucs, Hungary 1:52.26
  33. Kyu-Chul Han, Korea 1:52.28
  34. Damian Alleyne, Barbados 1:52.89
  35. Aleksandar Malenko, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 1:53.00
  36. Mahrez Mebarek, Algeria 1:53.00
  37. Yahor Salabutau, Belarus 1:53.03
  38. Albert Subirats, Venezuela 1:53.11
  39. Giancarlo Zolezzi, Chile 1:53.18
  40. Juan Martín Pereyra, Argentina 1:53.19
  41. Shaune Fraser, Cayman Islands 1:53.19
  42. Miguel Molina, Philippines 1:53.81
  43. Zhang Lin, China 1:53.84
  44. Alexandros Aresti, Cyprus 1:53.90
  45. Martín Kutscher, Uruguay 1:53.91
  46. Andrea Beccari, Italy 1:54.00
  47. Te Tung Chen, Chinese Taipei 1:54.14
  48. Igor Erhartic, Serbia and Montenegro 1:54.21
  49. Stepan Pinciuc, Republic of Moldova 1:54.56
  50. Anouar Ben Naceur, Tunisia 1:54.69
  51. Mark Chay, Singapore 1:54.70
  52. Aytekin Mindan, Turkey 1:55.65
  53. Adil Bellaz, Morocco 1:55.79
  54. Mario Delac, Croatia 1:55.82
  55. Vitaliy Khan, Kazakhstan 1:56.11
  56. Diego Mularoni, San Marino 1:56.18
  57. Petr Vasilev, Uzbekistan 1:56.93
  58. Zurab Khomasuridze, Georgia 1:58.02
  59. Ruslan Ismailov, Kyrgyzstan 2:01.53

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

  1. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:46.00
  2. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.28
  3. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:47.72
  4. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.27
  5. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.49
  6. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.76
  7. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:50.02
  8. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.61

Semi-final 2

  1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:46.65
  2. Michael Phelps, United States 1:47.08
  3. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:47.61
  4. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.93
  5. Rick Say, Canada 1:48.16
  6. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.59
  7. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:50.00
  8. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:51.35

Semi-final rankings

  1. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:46.00 -Q
  2. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:46.65 -Q
  3. Michael Phelps, United States 1:47.08 -Q
  4. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.28 -Q
  5. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:47.61 -Q
  6. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:47.72 -Q
  7. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.93 -Q
  8. Rick Say, Canada 1:48.16 -Q
  9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.27
  10. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.49
  11. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.59
  12. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.76
  13. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:50.00
  14. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:50.02
  15. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.61
  16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:51.35

Final

  1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:44.71 Olympic Record
  2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:45.23
  3. Michael Phelps, United States 1:45.32 American Record
  4. Klete Keller, United States 1:46.13
  5. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:46.56
  6. Rick Say, Canada 1:47.55
  7. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:48.02
  8. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:48.40

References