Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle


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.
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. The French tandem of Amaury Leveaux and Alain Bernard took home the silver and bronze with respective times of 21.45 and 21.49.
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. 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. Competing at their third Olympics, South Africa's Roland Mark Schoeman and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand rounded out the finale in seventh and eighth place, respectively.
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. 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.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following Olympic records were set during this competition.
DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
14 AugustHeat 11César Cielo21.47
14 AugustHeat 12Amaury Leveaux21.46
15 AugustSemifinal 2César Cielo21.34
16 AugustFinalCésar Cielo21.30

Qualification

The A standard for the event was 22.35 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee could qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The B standard was 23.13 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time could qualify. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event could also use their universality place.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 16 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the semifinals.
RankHeatLaneNameNationTimeNotes
1124Amaury Leveaux21.46,
2115César Cielo21.47,, =AM
3123Stefan Nystrand21.75
3125Ben Wildman-Tobriner21.75
5133Roland Mark Schoeman21.76
6111George Bovell21.77
7135Alain Bernard21.78
8134Eamon Sullivan21.79
9114Garrett Weber-Gale21.95
10127Rafed El-Masri21.96
11117Nicholas Santos22.00
12113Duje Draganja22.05
13132Ashley Callus22.11
14126Krisztián Takács22.14
15116Bartosz Kizierowski22.15
16122Gideon Louw22.17
17121Andrey Grechin22.20
18104Jernej Godec22.21
1984Flori Lang22.27
2091David Dunford22.29
21131Yevgeny Lagunov22.30
22112Javier Noriega22.33
23136Mark Foster22.35
23138Salim Iles22.35
2596Miko Mälberg22.37NR
26105Apostolos Tsagkarakis22.39
27106Richard Hortness22.42
28107Yoris Grandjean22.45
29101Matti Rajakylä22.48
3093Cai Li22.50
3097Alessandro Calvi22.50
32103Robert Lijesen22.51
33102Jakob Andkjær22.52
3488Jacinto de Jesus Ayala Benjamin22.57
35108José Meolans22.58
3692Andrei Radzionau22.65NR
37118Kaan Tayla22.66
38137Steffen Deibler22.67
3998Daniel Coakley22.69
4095Virdhawal Khade22.73
4174Oliver Elliot22.75NR
4283Yuriy Yegoshin22.77
4372Norbert Trandafir22.80
4478Árni Már Árnason22.81NR
4575Jevon Atkinson22.83NR
4581Mohammad Madwa22.83
4786Jonathan Javier Camacho Riera22.87
4876Stanislav Kuzmin22.91
4994Camilo Becerra22.93
5085Francisco Picasso23.01
5173Martyn Forde23.08
5282Elvis Burrows23.19
5371Joshua Laban23.28
54128Mohamed El Nady23.92
5564Yellow Yeiyah24.00
5677Vitaly Vasilyev24.02
5765Rodion Davelaar24.21
5887Rolandas Gimbutis24.36
5966Anas Hamadeh24.40
6062Luke Hall24.41
6157Alain Brigion Tobe24.53
6214Alois Dansou24.54
6355Sidni Hoxha24.56
6415Omar Jasim24.65
6554Zane Jordan24.82
6661Daniel Lee24.92
6767Chakyl Camal24.93NR
6853Andrey Molchanov25.02
6968Niall Roberts25.13
7056Kerson Hadley25.34
7144Stewart Glenister25.45
7251John Kamyuka25.54
7343Hamse Abdouh25.60
7452Adil Baig25.66
7513Omar Nunez26.00
7658Kouassi Brou26.08
7745Kyaw Zin26.17
7846Tural Abbasov26.31
7941Hemthon Ponloeu27.39
8035Charlton Nyirenda27.46
8147Prasiddha Jung Shah27.59
8248Gilbert Kaburu27.72
8333Jackson Niyomugabo27.74
8437Khalid Rushaka28.50
8536Dwayne Didon28.95
8638Mohamed Coulibaly29.09
8731Alisher Chingizov29.10
8832Ibrahim Shameel29.28
8934Mamadou Cisse29.29
9023Thepphithak Chindavong29.31
9163Mohamed Attoumane29.63
9226Rene Jacob Yougbara30.08
9342Ahmed Adam30.12
9424Abdulsalam Al Gadabi30.63NR
9525Mohamed Alhousseini Alhassan30.90
9622Kareem Valentine31.23
9727Stany Kempompo Ngangola35.19

Semifinals

The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
RankHeatLaneNameNationTimeNotes
114César Cielo Filho21.34,, AM
226Alain Bernard21.54
321Ashley Callus21.68
415Stefan Nystrand21.71
523Roland Mark Schoeman21.74
616Eamon Sullivan21.75
724Amaury Leveaux21.76
725Ben Wildman-Tobriner21.76
911Krisztián Takács21.84
1017Duje Draganja21.85
1113George Bovell21.86
1218Gideon Louw21.97
1322Garrett Weber-Gale22.08
1412Rafed El-Masri22.09
1528Bartosz Kizierowski22.12
1627Nicholas Santos22.15

Final