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.
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. 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.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
Date Round Name Nationality Time Record 24 September Heat 8 Matt Biondi 22.39 24 September Final A Matt Biondi 22.14
Competition format
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
Heats Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 8 Matt Biondi 22.39 Q, 2 9 Gennadiy Prigoda 22.57 Q3 7 Dano Halsall 22.61 Q, NR 9 Tom Jager Q 5 7 Volodymyr Tkachenko 22.81 Q 6 7 Frank Henter 22.98 Q 7 8 Andrew Baildon 22.99 Q 8 8 Stéfan Voléry 23.04 Q 9 9 Ang Peng Siong 23.08 q, NR 10 8 Per Johansson 23.12 q11 9 Stephan Güsgen 23.22 q 7 Stéphan Caron q, 13 9 Shen Jianqiang 23.41 q 9 Tsvetan Golomeev q, 15 4 Mark Andrews 23.44 q, NR 16 8 Göran Titus 23.44 q 17 8 Hilton Woods 23.46 q18 6 Feng Qiangbiao 23.47 6 Christophe Kalfayan 20 7 Vagn Høgholm 23.50 9 Hans Kroes 22 7 Mark Foster 23.51 23 7 Petr Kladiva 23.53 24 5 Manuel Guzmán 23.61 25 6 Mike Fibbens 23.67 26 8 Peter Rohde 23.70 27 6 Thomas Stachewicz 23.72 28 6 Yves Clausse 23.99 29 8 Rodrigo González 24.01 30 6 Paulo Trindade 24.02 31 5 Sérgio Esteves 24.24 32 1 Garvin Ferguson 24.25 NR33 7 José Moreira 24.26 4 Joseph Eric Buhain NR 35 5 Li Khai Kam 24.30 36 6 Markus Opatril 24.32 37 5 Jorge Fernandes 24.40 38 6 Alexander Pilhatsch 24.42 39 5 Michael Wright 24.47 40 5 Magnús Ólafsson 24.50 41 4 Richard Sam Bera 24.63 NR 42 5 Mohamed El-Azoul 24.64 4 Murat Tahir 44 4 Hans Foerster 24.72 45 6 Urbano Zea 24.86 3 Oon Jin Gee 47 3 Ronald Pickard 25.01 48 5 Mohamed Hassan 25.11 49 1 Paul Yelle 25.15 50 4 Hakan Eskioğlu 25.24 51 3 Chiang Chi-li 25.26 52 3 Vaughan Smith 25.29 53 3 Graham Thompson 25.38 54 3 Song Kwang-sun 25.40 55 3 Wirmandi Sugriat 25.55 56 3 Bruno N'Diaye 25.63 57 2 Warren Sorby 25.64 58 2 Pablo Barahona 25.79 59 1 Sergio Fafitine 25.97 60 2 Plutarco Castellanos 26.00 61 2 Hasan Al-Shammari 26.27 62 2 Jason Chute 26.46 63 2 Michele Piva 26.60 2 Ahmad Faraj 65 2 Trevor Ncala 26.88 66 1 Filippo Piva 26.96 67 1 Amine El-Domyati 27.34 68 1 Mubarak Faraj Bilal 27.60 69 1 Yul Mark Du Pont 27.93 4 Pedro Lima 4 Mouhamed Diop
Swimoff Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Feng Qiangbiao 23.28 q, 2 5 Christophe Kalfayan 23.37 q
Finals
Final B Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 9 7 Goran Titus 23.28 10 5 Per Johansson 23.37 11 4 Ang Peng Siong 23.39 12 6 Shen Jianqiang 23.40 13 8 Christophe Kalfayan 23.45 14 3 Stephan Güsgen 23.55 15 2 Mark Andrews 23.64 16 1 Hilton Woods 23.65
Final A Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Matt Biondi 22.14 6 Tom Jager 22.36 5 Gennadiy Prigoda 22.71 4 3 Dano Halsall 22.83 5 8 Stéfan Voléry 22.84 6 2 Volodymyr Tkachenko 22.88 7 7 Frank Henter 23.03 8 1 Andrew Baildon 23.15
References
External links Official Report USA Swimming