Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre butterfly
Men's 100 metre butterfly at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||||||
Dates | August 14 (heats) August 15 (semifinals) August 16 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 66 from 51 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 50.58 OR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
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 |
Marathon | ||
10 km | men | women |
The men's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 14–16 August at the
U.S. swimmer
Kenya's Jason Dunford finished fifth with a time of 51.47, and was followed in the sixth spot by Japan's Takuro Fujii, in an Asian record of 51.50. Ukraine's Andriy Serdinov (51.59), the bronze medalist in Athens four years earlier, and Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini, gold medalist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, (51.86) closed out the field. Dunford and Pini also made history as the first swimmer for their respective nation to reach an Olympic final.[2]
Out of five individual events from his Olympic program, Phelps did not break the current world record in a final, finishing 0.18 of a second behind Crocker's time of 50.40, set in 2005. In the entire event, other records were established, the Olympic record, five continental records, and several national records.[5]
Preview
Due to a combination of the venue,
As with almost every event that he entered in at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps was the favorite to win the men's 100 metre butterfly. Since winning the gold medal at the previous Games, in Athens, Phelps had demonstrated his superiority in this event, by also becoming world champion at the Melbourne 2007 World Championships, and achieving victory at the United States Olympic Trials.[9] Therefore, the 100 metre butterfly was one of the eight Olympic events where Phelps was attempting to win a gold medal.[10]
Going into the event, Phelps' compatriot
Another threat to Phelps' goal was Serbia's Milorad Čavić. In Athens 2004, Čavić was leading in a semifinal of the 100 metre butterfly, but right after his final turn, his suit opened at the neck and sucked in water, causing Čavić to finish last with a time of 53.12 seconds.[12] At the 2008 European Championships, Čavić won the men's 50 metre butterfly and was the heavy favorite to win at twice that distance, but was suspended for wearing a "Kosovo is Serbia" T-shirt on the medal podium.[12] American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. told The New York Times that although "Mike (Phelps) has been saying he's going to win the 100 fly at the Olympics for the last year", he thought that Čavić would be the winner.[13]
Other possible medal contenders included Andriy Serdinov of Ukraine, who had won the Olympic bronze medal in 2004,[9] and Venezuelan Albert Subriats, a bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships and seen as a potential spoiler, if he could match or improve on his 51.82 time, in Beijing.[9]
Competition
Heats
The heats began on August 14, at 19:57 local time (
Semifinals
The semifinals were held on August 15 and started at 11:26 CST.[16] The first semifinal was won by Michael Phelps with a time of 50.97 seconds. Other three swimmers qualified from this semifinal: Andrew Lauterstein (51.27 seconds), Jason Dunford (51.33 seconds), and Ryan Pini (51.62 seconds).[15] Surprisingly, Albert Subirats Altes, the bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships,[9] failed to qualify, after finishing in the sixth place.[15] Also missing the cut was the host nation's representative Shi Feng, Segii Breus, and Kaio de Almeida.[15] The second semifinal was won in 50.92 seconds by Milorad Čavić, once again. The remaining three qualifiers were Ian Crocker (51.27 seconds), Andriy Serdinov (51.41 seconds), and Takuro Fujii (51.59 seconds).[15] New time bests set in the semifinals included the Oceanic and Australian records (set by Lauterstein), and the Chinese record (set by Shi).[5]
Final
The final took place on August 16, at 10:10 CST.[17] Before the race, Milorad Čavić made headlines by saying in an interview that it would be better for swimming if he beat Phelps.[4] Phelps' coach Bob Bowman used the quote to provide motivation to his protégé. In an interview, Phelps said that doubters like Čavić "fires me up more than anything, I always welcome comments. It definitely motivates me even more."[18] Almost immediately after the race started, Čavić took the lead with Phelps getting off to a slow start. At the turn, Čavić was first,[19][20] followed by Ian Crocker,[19] while Phelps made the split in seventh place, just 0.62 seconds behind Čavić.[20] As the two approached the finish, Čavić tried to coast to the wall on one last stroke,[20] while Phelps, who had misjudged the end, took an extra half-stroke, causing both competitors to touch the wall at almost exactly the same time.[4] It turned out that Phelps had actually finished one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Čavić, with a time of 50.58 seconds.[21] Phelps even admitted that, at first, he thought the extra stroke he took had cost him the gold medal, until he looked at the scoreboard displaying the results.[18] Andrew Lauterstein won the bronze medal, also beating Crocker by one one-hundredth of a second.[18]
Several records were broken at the final. For the first time at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps did not break the current world record in a final, finishing eighteen one-hundredths of a second behind team-mate Crocker's 50.40-second world record from 2005; he did though set a new Olympic record.[4] Three continental records were broken in the final, with Fujii setting a new Asian record, Čavić a new European record, and Lauterstein a new Oceanic record.[5] Although he finished last, swimmer Ryan Pini made history as the first swimmer from Papua New Guinea to swim in an Olympic final, and even received a call from the prime minister Michael Somare congratulating him.[22] Most notably though, Phelps won his seventh gold medal at these Games, tying Mark Spitz's record for most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games.[4] For being able to emulate Spitz's record, Speedo, a sponsor of Michael Phelps, awarded him a US$1 million bonus, which had already been offered to him at the 2004 Summer Olympics, under the same conditions.[2] After the final, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) arranged a joint interview with Phelps and Spitz, where Spitz praised Phelps' effort, telling him that "what you did tonight was epic" and even though at one point, Phelps was more than half a second behind Čavić, Spitz "never thought for one moment you (Phelps) were out of that race."[4]
Protest
Almost immediately after the end of the race, the
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | Ian Crocker (USA) | 50.40 | Montreal, Canada | 30 July 2005 | [25] |
Olympic record | Michael Phelps (USA) | 51.25 | Athens, Greece | 16 August 2004 | [25] |
The following records were established during the competition:
Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 14 | Heat 7 | Jason Dunford | Kenya | 51.14 | OR |
August 14 | Heat 9 | Milorad Čavić | Serbia | 50.76 | OR |
August 16 | Final | Michael Phelps | United States | 50.58 | OR |
Results
Heats
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Michael Phelps | United States | 50.97 | Q |
2 | 3 | Andrew Lauterstein | Australia | 51.27 | Q, OC |
3 | 5 | Jason Dunford | Kenya | 51.33 | Q |
4 | 1 | Ryan Pini | Papua New Guinea | 51.62 | Q, NR |
5 | 7 | Shi Feng | China | 51.68 | NR[5] |
6 | 6 | Albert Subirats Altes | Venezuela | 51.82 | |
7 | 2 | Sergiy Breus |
Ukraine | 52.05 | |
8 | 8 | Kaio de Almeida | Brazil | 52.32 |
Semifinal 2
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Milorad Čavić | Serbia | 50.92 | Q |
2 | 1 | Ian Crocker | United States | 51.27 | Q |
3 | 5 | Andriy Serdinov | Ukraine | 51.41 | Q |
4 | 6 | Takuro Fujii | Japan | 51.59 | Q |
5 | 3 | Peter Mankoč | Slovenia | 51.80 | |
6 | 2 | Corney Swanepoel | New Zealand | 52.01 | |
7 | 8 | Lyndon Ferns | South Africa | 52.18 | |
8 | 7 | Frédérick Bousquet | France | 52.94 |
Final
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | Michael Phelps | United States | 50.58 | OR | |
4 | Milorad Čavić | Serbia | 50.59 | ER | |
3 | Andrew Lauterstein | Australia | 51.12 | OC | |
4 | 6 | Ian Crocker | United States | 51.13 | |
5 | 2 | Jason Dunford | Kenya | 51.47 | |
6 | 1 | Takuro Fujii | Japan | 51.50 | AS |
7 | 7 | Andriy Serdinov | Ukraine | 51.59 | |
8 | 8 | Ryan Pini | Papua New Guinea | 51.86 |
References
- ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ Michaelis, Vicki (16 August 2008). "Phelps wins 100m butterfly thriller to tie Spitz's record". USA Today. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "100 m Butterfly Long Course". scmsom. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- National Public Radio. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "Celebrity Rules as the Olympics strays far from its ideal". The Japan Times. 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "Five swim predictions: Aussie women strong". Yahoo! Sports. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
- ^ Canadian Broadcasting Company. 2008-08-12. Archived from the originalon August 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "Phelps wins historic eighth gold medal". CNN. 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ OC Register. 2008-08-14. Archived from the originalon 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ "Competition information – Swimming (August 14)". Official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "XXIX Olympic Games". SwimRankings.net. 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ "Competition information – Swimming (August 15)". Official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-02. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ "Competition information – Swimming (August 16)". Official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-02. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ a b c d "Phelps ties Spitz's record with seventh gold medal ... just barely". Sports Illustrated. 2008-08-16. Archived from the original on September 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ a b Michaelis, Vicki (2008-08-15). "Phelps wins 100 m butterfly thriller to tie Spitz's record". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ Canada.com. 2008-08-15. Archived from the originalon 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ "It's 8: Phelps passes Spitz with another gold". Yahoo! Sports. 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ "PNG swimmer makes history". Radio Australia. 2008-08-19. Archived from the original on 2008-08-26. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- Si.com. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
- ^ "Michael Phelps was given an Olympic gold in a race he did not win, claims Mark Spitz". telegraph.co.uk. 18 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Olympic and World Records. Swimming: 100 m butterfly – Progression". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
External links
- Official Reports
- Phelps-Čavić Finish Photos by Sports Illustrated
- Associated Press report on YouTube
- Cavic Or Phelps Wall Touch on YouTube