Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre freestyle

The inaugural men's 50-metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 24 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.[1]

Men's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
VenueJamsil Indoor Swimming Pool
Date24 September 1988 (heats & finals)
Competitors71 from 44 nations
Winning time22.14 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Matt Biondi  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Tom Jager  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Gennadiy Prigoda  Soviet Union
← 1904
(50 yd)
1992 →

U.S. swimmer Matt Biondi demolished a new world record to become the event's first ever Olympic champion. He threw down a scorching time in 22.14 to add a fourth gold and sixth medal to his Olympic hardware, and to slice 0.04 seconds off the record set by South Africa's Peter Williams.[2][3] Starting the race with a fastest reaction, Biondi's rival and teammate Tom Jager faded down the stretch to pick up the silver in 22.36. Meanwhile, Soviet Union's Gennadiy Prigoda edged out Swiss swimmer Dano Halsall by 12-hundredths of a second to take home the bronze in 22.71.[2]

Records

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

World record   Peter Williams (RSA) 22.18 Indianapolis, United States 10 April 1988
Olympic record Inaugural event

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time Record
24 September Heat 8 Matt Biondi   United States 22.39 OR
24 September Final A Matt Biondi   United States 22.14 WR

Competition format

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The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to final A, where they competed for the top 8 places. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the heats swam in final B, for ninth through the sixteenth place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.

Results

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Heats

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Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.[4]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 8 Matt Biondi   United States 22.39 Q, OR
2 9 Gennadiy Prigoda   Soviet Union 22.57 Q
3 7 Dano Halsall   Switzerland 22.61 Q, NR
9 Tom Jager   United States Q
5 7 Volodymyr Tkachenko   Soviet Union 22.81 Q
6 7 Frank Henter   West Germany 22.98 Q
7 8 Andrew Baildon   Australia 22.99 Q
8 8 Stéfan Voléry   Switzerland 23.04 Q
9 9 Ang Peng Siong   Singapore 23.08 q, NR
10 8 Per Johansson   Sweden 23.12 q
11 9 Stephan Güsgen   West Germany 23.22 q
7 Stéphan Caron   France q, WD
13 9 Shen Jianqiang   China 23.41 q
9 Tsvetan Golomeev   Bulgaria q, WD
15 4 Mark Andrews   Canada 23.44 q, NR
16 8 Göran Titus   Sweden 23.44 q
17 8 Hilton Woods   Netherlands Antilles 23.46 q
18 6 Feng Qiangbiao   China 23.47 qSO
6 Christophe Kalfayan   France qSO
20 7 Vagn Høgholm   Denmark 23.50
9 Hans Kroes   Netherlands
22 7 Mark Foster   Great Britain 23.51
23 7 Petr Kladiva   Czechoslovakia 23.53
24 5 Manuel Guzmán   Puerto Rico 23.61
25 6 Mike Fibbens   Great Britain 23.67
26 8 Peter Rohde   Denmark 23.70
27 6 Thomas Stachewicz   Australia 23.72
28 6 Yves Clausse   Luxembourg 23.99
29 8 Rodrigo González   Mexico 24.01
30 6 Paulo Trindade   Portugal 24.02
31 5 Sérgio Esteves   Portugal 24.24
32 1 Garvin Ferguson   Bahamas 24.25 NR
33 7 José Moreira   Brazil 24.26
4 Joseph Eric Buhain   Philippines NR
35 5 Li Khai Kam   Hong Kong 24.30
36 6 Markus Opatril   Austria 24.32
37 5 Jorge Fernandes   Brazil 24.40
38 6 Alexander Pilhatsch   Austria 24.42
39 5 Michael Wright   Hong Kong 24.47
40 5 Magnús Ólafsson   Iceland 24.50
41 4 Richard Sam Bera   Indonesia 24.63 NR
42 5 Mohamed El-Azoul   Egypt 24.64
4 Murat Tahir   Turkey
44 4 Hans Foerster   Virgin Islands 24.72
45 6 Urbano Zea   Mexico 24.86
3 Oon Jin Gee   Singapore
47 3 Ronald Pickard   Virgin Islands 25.01
48 5 Mohamed Hassan   Egypt 25.11
49 1 Paul Yelle   Barbados 25.15
50 4 Hakan Eskioğlu   Turkey 25.24
51 3 Chiang Chi-li   Chinese Taipei 25.26
52 3 Vaughan Smith   Zimbabwe 25.29
53 3 Graham Thompson   Zimbabwe 25.38
54 3 Song Kwang-sun   South Korea 25.40
55 3 Wirmandi Sugriat   Indonesia 25.55
56 3 Bruno N'Diaye   Senegal 25.63
57 2 Warren Sorby   Fiji 25.64
58 2 Pablo Barahona   Honduras 25.79
59 1 Sergio Fafitine   Mozambique 25.97
60 2 Plutarco Castellanos   Honduras 26.00
61 2 Hasan Al-Shammari   Kuwait 26.27
62 2 Jason Chute   Fiji 26.46
63 2 Michele Piva   San Marino 26.60
2 Ahmad Faraj   United Arab Emirates
65 2 Trevor Ncala   Swaziland 26.88
66 1 Filippo Piva   San Marino 26.96
67 1 Amine El-Domyati   Lebanon 27.34
68 1 Mubarak Faraj Bilal   United Arab Emirates 27.60
69 1 Yul Mark Du Pont   Swaziland 27.93
4 Pedro Lima   Angola DSQ
4 Mouhamed Diop   Senegal DSQ

Swimoff

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Feng Qiangbiao   China 23.28 q, WD
2 5 Christophe Kalfayan   France 23.37 q

Finals

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[5]

Final B

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
9 7 Goran Titus   Sweden 23.28
10 5 Per Johansson   Sweden 23.37
11 4 Ang Peng Siong   Singapore 23.39
12 6 Shen Jianqiang   China 23.40
13 8 Christophe Kalfayan   France 23.45
14 3 Stephan Güsgen   West Germany 23.55
15 2 Mark Andrews   Canada 23.64
16 1 Hilton Woods   Netherlands Antilles 23.65

Final A

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  4 Matt Biondi   United States 22.14 WR
  6 Tom Jager   United States 22.36
  5 Gennadiy Prigoda   Soviet Union 22.71
4 3 Dano Halsall   Switzerland 22.83
5 8 Stéfan Voléry   Switzerland 22.84
6 2 Volodymyr Tkachenko   Soviet Union 22.88
7 7 Frank Henter   West Germany 23.03
8 1 Andrew Baildon   Australia 23.15

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's 50 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b Dodds, Tracy (24 September 1988). "The Seoul Games / Day 9 : Biondi, the Underdog, Ends Up Top Dog Again". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  3. ^ Husar, John (25 September 1988). "Biondi, Evans Stay on Gold Standard". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Seoul 2000: Swimming – Men's 50m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 400. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Seoul 2000: Swimming – Men's 50m Freestyle Finals" (PDF). Seoul 1988. LA84 Foundation. p. 401. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
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