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 Schoeman (21.67) and Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (21.72) 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 records were established during the competition: Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 14 August Heat 11 César Cielo 21.47 14 August Heat 12 Amaury Leveaux 21.46 15 August Semifinal 1 César Cielo 21.34 16 August Final César Cielo 21.30
Qualification
The A standard for the event was 22.35 seconds. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) 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.
Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes 1 12 4 Amaury Leveaux 21.46 , 2 11 5 César Cielo 21.47 , =AM3 12 3 Stefan Nystrand 21.75 12 5 Ben Wildman-Tobriner 5 13 3 Roland Schoeman 21.76 6 11 1 George Bovell 21.77 7 13 5 Alain Bernard 21.78 8 13 4 Eamon Sullivan 21.79 9 11 4 Garrett Weber-Gale 21.95 10 12 7 Rafed El-Masri 21.96 11 11 7 Nicholas Santos 22.00 12 11 3 Duje Draganja 22.05 13 13 2 Ashley Callus 22.11 14 12 6 Krisztián Takács 22.14 15 11 6 Bartosz Kizierowski 22.15 16 12 2 Gideon Louw 22.17 17 12 1 Andrey Grechin 22.20 18 10 4 Jernej Godec 22.21 19 8 4 Flori Lang 22.27 20 9 1 David Dunford 22.29 21 13 1 Yevgeny Lagunov 22.30 22 11 2 Javier Noriega 22.33 23 13 6 Mark Foster 22.35 13 8 Salim Iles 25 9 6 Miko Mälberg 22.37 NR 26 10 5 Apostolos Tsagkarakis 22.39 27 10 6 Richard Hortness 22.42 28 10 7 Yoris Grandjean 22.45 29 10 1 Matti Rajakylä 22.48 30 9 3 Cai Li 22.50 9 7 Alessandro Calvi 32 10 3 Robert Lijesen 22.51 33 10 2 Jakob Andkjær 22.52 34 8 8 Jacinto de Jesus Ayala Benjamin 22.57 35 10 8 José Meolans 22.58 36 9 2 Andrei Radzionau 22.65 NR 37 11 8 Kaan Tayla 22.66 38 13 7 Steffen Deibler 22.67 39 9 8 Daniel Coakley 22.69 40 9 5 Virdhawal Khade 22.73 41 7 4 Oliver Elliot 22.75 NR 42 8 3 Yuriy Yegoshin 22.77 43 7 2 Norbert Trandafir 22.80 44 7 8 Árni Már Árnason 22.81 NR45 7 5 Jevon Atkinson 22.83 NR 8 1 Mohammad Madwa 47 8 6 Jonathan Javier Camacho Riera 22.87 48 7 6 Stanislav Kuzmin 22.91 49 9 4 Camilo Becerra 22.93 50 8 5 Francisco Picasso 23.01 51 7 3 Martyn Forde 23.08 52 8 2 Elvis Burrows 23.19 53 7 1 Joshua Laban 23.28 54 12 8 Mohamed El Nady 23.92 55 6 4 Yellow Yeiyah 24.00 56 7 7 Vitaly Vasilyev 24.02 57 6 5 Rodion Davelaar 24.21 58 8 7 Rolandas Gimbutis 24.36 59 6 6 Anas Hamadeh 24.40 60 6 2 Luke Hall 24.41 61 5 7 Alain Brigion Tobe 24.53 62 1 4 Alois Dansou 24.54 63 5 5 Sidni Hoxha 24.56 64 1 5 Omar Jasim 24.65 65 5 4 Zane Jordan 24.82 66 6 1 Daniel Lee 24.92 67 6 7 Chakyl Camal 24.93 NR 68 5 3 Andrey Molchanov 25.02 69 6 8 Niall Roberts 25.13 70 5 6 Kerson Hadley 25.34 71 4 4 Stewart Glenister 25.45 72 5 1 John Kamyuka 25.54 73 4 3 Hamse Abdouh 25.60 74 5 2 Adil Baig 25.66 75 1 3 Omar Núñez 26.00 76 5 8 Kouassi Brou 26.08 77 4 5 Kyaw Zin 26.17 78 4 6 Tural Abbasov 26.31 79 4 1 Hemthon Ponloeu 27.39 80 3 5 Charlton Nyirenda 27.46 81 4 7 Prasiddha Jung Shah 27.59 82 4 8 Gilbert Kaburu 27.72 83 3 3 Jackson Niyomugabo 27.74 84 3 7 Khalid Rushaka 28.50 85 3 6 Dwayne Didon 28.95 86 3 8 Mohamed Coulibaly 29.09 87 3 1 Alisher Chingizov 29.10 88 3 2 Ibrahim Shameel 29.28 89 3 4 Mamadou Cisse 29.29 90 2 3 Thepphithak Chindavong 29.31 91 6 3 Mohamed Attoumane 29.63 92 2 6 Rene Jacob Yougbara 30.08 93 4 2 Ahmed Adam 30.12 94 2 4 Abdulsalam Al Gadabi 30.63 NR 95 2 5 Mohamed Alhousseini Alhassan 30.90 96 2 2 Kareem Valentine 31.23 97 2 7 Stany Kempompo Ngangola 35.19
Semifinals
The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.
Rank Heat Lane Name Nation Time Notes 1 1 4 César Cielo Filho 21.34 , , AM 2 2 6 Alain Bernard 21.54 3 2 1 Ashley Callus 21.68 4 1 5 Stefan Nystrand 21.71 5 2 3 Roland Schoeman 21.74 6 1 6 Eamon Sullivan 21.75 7 2 4 Amaury Leveaux 21.76 2 5 Ben Wildman-Tobriner 9 1 1 Krisztián Takács 21.84 10 1 7 Duje Draganja 21.85 11 1 3 George Bovell 21.86 12 1 8 Gideon Louw 21.97 13 2 2 Garrett Weber-Gale 22.08 14 1 2 Rafed El-Masri 22.09 15 2 8 Bartosz Kizierowski 22.12 16 2 7 Nicholas Santos 22.15
Final Rank Lane Name Nation Time Notes 4 César Cielo 21.30 , AM 1 Amaury Leveaux 21.45 5 Alain Bernard 21.49 4 3 Ashley Callus 21.62 5 8 Ben Wildman-Tobriner 21.64 6 7 Eamon Sullivan 21.65 7 2 Roland Schoeman 21.67 AF 8 6 Stefan Nystrand 21.72
References
External links Official Olympic Report