The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 21–22 September 2000 at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
U.S. swimmers Gary Hall, Jr. and Anthony Ervin, who trained together at the Phoenix Swim Club, tied for the gold; they finished with a matching time of 21.98, edging out Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband in 22.03.
Italy's Lorenzo Vismara finished fourth in 22.11, while Poland's Bartosz Kizierowski was a fraction behind the leading pack in sixth at 22.22. Russia's double defending champion Alexander Popov finished outside the medals in sixth place with a time of 22.24. Great Britain's four-time Olympian Mark Foster (22.41) and Ukraine's Oleksandr Volynets (22.51) rounded out the finale. Earlier in the prelims, Volynets made a surprise packet with a ninth fastest time and a Ukrainian record of 22.52 to lead the sixth heat.
Ervin stopped swimming competitively in 2003, auctioned off his gold medal on eBay to aid survivors of the 2004 tsunami, but returned from retirement to claim his place on his second Olympics, in London, twelve years after his first. Both men would later continue to win another gold in this event outright (Hall, Jr. in 2004 and Ervin in 2016), edging out the runner-up by 0.01 second in their respective races.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Competition format
In a change from previous Games, 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
Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes 1 9 6 Bartosz Kizierowski 22.05 , NR 2 9 4 Gary Hall, Jr. 22.14 3 10 4 Alexander Popov 22.15 4 8 4 Anthony Ervin 22.24 5 10 5 Pieter van den Hoogenband 22.32 6 8 6 Ricardo Busquets 22.42 7 10 6 Brett Hawke 22.45 8 9 5 Brendon Dedekind 22.48 9 6 2 Oleksandr Volynets 22.52 , NR10 10 3 Roland Mark Schoeman 22.53 8 7 Stefan Nystrand , NR 12 9 2 Johan Kenkhuis 22.61 13 8 5 Lorenzo Vismara 22.62 14 8 3 Mark Foster 22.65 15 9 8 Denis Pimankov 22.74 16 10 2 Chris Fydler 22.80 17 7 4 Jiang Chengji 22.82 6 6 Kim Min-suk NR 19 10 8 Julio Santos 22.83 20 9 3 Fernando Scherer 22.88 21 8 2 José Meolans 22.89 22 8 1 Salim Iles 22.95 23 10 7 Edvaldo Silva Filho 22.96 8 8 Eduardo Lorente 25 6 8 Peter Mankoč 23.02 26 7 6 Attila Zubor 23.03 27 6 7 Stavros Michaelides 23.05 28 7 1 Stephan Kunzelmann 23.08 29 10 1 Indrek Sei 23.11 30 5 1 Ravil Nachaev 23.12 31 7 2 Christophe Bühler 23.15 32 7 7 Marijan Kanjer 23.16 33 7 5 Marcos Hernández 23.20 34 7 3 Dzmitry Kalinouski 23.21 6 5 Yoav Bruck 36 7 8 Pedro Silva 23.27 37 5 4 Allan Murray 23.34 38 6 1 Rolandas Gimbutis 23.36 39 6 4 Thierry Wouters 23.44 40 4 1 Sergey Borisenko 23.46 41 4 4 Sergey Ashihmin 23.53 42 5 7 Richard Sam Bera 23.56 43 5 8 Nebojša Bikić 23.57 44 5 2 Camilo Becerra 23.63 45 3 4 Estebán Blanco 23.72 NR 46 5 6 Tamer Hamed 23.77 47 4 8 Serghei Stolearenco 23.84 48 4 3 Paul Kutscher 23.90 49 4 7 Luis López Hartinger 24.00 4 6 Leslie Kwok 51 4 2 Huang Chih-yung 24.01 52 3 5 Howard Hinds 24.07 53 4 5 Harbeth Fu Wing 24.20 54 3 8 Zurab Beridze 24.28 55 5 3 Rodrigo Olivares 24.50 56 3 1 Ayoub Al-Mas 24.91 57 3 3 Omar Hughes 25.07 58 3 2 Dmitri Margaryan 25.29 59 2 6 Jamie Peterkin 25.33 60 3 7 Emin Guliyev 25.36 61 1 1 Wael Ghassan 25.43 62 2 4 Davy Bisslik 25.57 63 3 6 João Aguiar 25.70 64 2 5 Muhammad Ahmed 25.84 65 2 3 Ilidio Matusse 26.28 66 2 8 Hem Kiri 26.41 67 2 1 Kenneth Maronie 26.85 68 2 7 Khalid Al-Kulaibi 26.96 69 1 5 Chitra Bahadur Gurung 27.02 70 2 2 Sikhounxay Ounkhamphanyavong 27.03 71 1 4 Anlloyd Samuel 27.24 72 1 3 Stephenson Wallace 27.84 73 1 6 Hassan Mubah 28.86 74 1 2 Bakary Sereme 29.69 75 1 8 Samson Ndayishimiye 38.76 1 7 Mohamed Abdul Hamid 6 3 Craig Hutchison 5 5 Francisco Sánchez 9 1 Romain Barnier 9 7 Lars Frölander
Semifinals
Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes 1 1 4 Gary Hall, Jr. 22.07 2 2 3 Pieter van den Hoogenband 22.11 3 1 5 Anthony Ervin 22.13 4 2 5 Alexander Popov 22.17 5 2 1 Lorenzo Vismara 22.30 6 1 1 Mark Foster 22.32 7 2 4 Bartosz Kizierowski 22.35 8 2 2 Oleksandr Volynets 22.36 , NR 9 1 6 Brendon Dedekind 22.39 10 1 8 Chris Fydler 22.41 2 7 Roland Mark Schoeman 22.41 12 1 7 Johan Kenkhuis 22.47 13 2 6 Brett Hawke 22.49 1 2 Stefan Nystrand 22.49 NR 15 1 3 Ricardo Busquets 22.51 16 2 8 Denis Pimankov 22.89
Final Rank Lane Name Nation Time Notes 4 Gary Hall, Jr. 21.98 3 Anthony Ervin 5 Pieter van den Hoogenband 22.03 4 2 Lorenzo Vismara 22.11 5 1 Bartosz Kizierowski 22.22 6 6 Alexander Popov 22.24 7 7 Mark Foster 22.41 8 8 Oleksandr Volynets 22.51
References
External links Official Olympic Report