Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle
The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 2–3 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. France's Florent Manaudou stunned the entire field to join his sister Laure Manaudouon top of the podium for the Olympic sprint freestyle title. Swimming in lane seven, the dark horse threw down a scorching time and a textile best of 21.34 to hold off U.S. swimmer Cullen Jones and the event's Brazilian world record holder and defending Olympic championCésar Cielo by two-tenths of a second, a sizable chunk in the Olympic swimming's shortest race. Jones took home the silver in 21.54 to match his semifinal time in the process, while Cielo missed his chance to defend the title with a bronze medal in 21.59. Cielo's teammate Bruno Fratus finished outside the podium by almost a fingertip with a fourth-place time in 21.61. After twelve years of absence as a 31-year-old, U.S. swimmer Anthony Ervin, who previously tied with Gary Hall, Jr. for the gold in 2000, managed to pull off a fifth-place finish in 21.78. Ervin was followed in sixth and seventh by four-time Olympians Roland Mark Schoeman of South Africa and George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago. Plagued by injury, Australia's Eamon Sullivan struggled to mount a sprint challenge in a high-calibre race as he finished eighth in 21.98. Earlier in the semifinals, Australia's top sprinter James Magnussen missed the star-studded roster with an eleventh-place time in 22.00. Other notable swimmers featured Swedish veteran Stefan Nystrand and France's Amaury Leveaux, the defending silver medalist, both of whom fell short of the semifinal field by a small fraction of a second on the morning prelims.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Qualification
The OlympicQualifying Time for the event was 22.11 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee could automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time was 22.88 seconds. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time was eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events was reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event could also use their universality place.
Competition format
The competition consists of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advance to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advance to the final. Swim-offs are 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.
Rank
Heat
Lane
Name
Nation
Time
Notes
1
6
3
George Bovell
21.77
2
8
4
César Cielo
21.80
3
8
5
Bruno Fratus
21.82
4
6
4
Anthony Ervin
21.83
5
7
1
Roland Schoeman
21.92
6
7
4
Cullen Jones
21.95
7
6
5
Andrey Grechin
22.09
7
7
7
Andriy Govorov
22.09
7
8
3
Florent Manaudou
22.09
10
7
5
James Magnussen
22.11
11
8
6
Luca Dotto
22.12
11
8
7
Gideon Louw
22.12
13
8
8
Brent Hayden
22.15
14
6
6
Krisztián Takács
22.19
15
6
8
Norbert Trandafir
22.22
, NR
16
7
3
Eamon Sullivan
22.27
17
6
2
Stefan Nystrand
22.32
18
7
6
Amaury Leveaux
22.35
19
7
2
Marco Orsi
22.36
20
6
7
Adam Brown
22.39
21
8
2
Sergey Fesikov
22.42
22
5
3
Jasper Aerents
22.43
23
6
1
Hanser García
22.45
24
4
4
Roy-Allan Burch
22.47
NR
25
7
8
Ari-Pekka Liukkonen
22.57
26
5
1
Shi Yang
22.64
27
5
4
David Dunford
22.72
28
5
7
Mario Todorović
22.75
29
4
5
Barry Murphy
22.76
30
8
1
Ioannis Kalargaris
22.80
31
5
8
Árni Már Árnason
22.81
NR
32
5
5
Brett Fraser
22.91
33
5
6
Kacper Majchrzak
23.00
34
4
3
Shehab Younis
23.16
35
5
2
Federico Grabich
23.30
36
4
6
Luke Hall
23.48
37
4
2
Kareem Ennab
24.09
38
4
7
Chakyl Camal
24.43
39
4
1
Mahfizur Rahman Sagor
24.64
40
3
6
Kerson Hadley
24.82
41
3
4
Adama Ouedraogo
25.26
42
4
8
Zachary Payne
25.26
43
3
5
Emile Bakale
25.64
44
3
2
Kouassi Brou
25.82
45
3
3
Tolga Akcayli
26.27
46
3
1
Giordan Harris
26.88
47
3
8
Prasiddha Jung Shah
26.93
48
3
7
Hemthon Ponloeu
27.03
49
2
2
Abdourahman Osman
27.25
50
2
6
Mohamed Elkhedr
27.26
51
2
3
Ching Maou Wei
27.30
52
2
7
Jackson Niyomugabo
27.38
53
2
5
Ganzi Mugula
27.58
54
2
4
Paul Edingue Ekane
27.87
55
1
5
Christian Nassif
28.04
56
1
4
Phathana Inthavong
28.17
57
2
1
Mulualem Girma Teshale
28.99
58
1
3
Wilfried Tevoedjre
29.77
Semifinals
The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
