Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre backstroke

The men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Men's 100 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 10, 2008 (heats)
August 11, 2008 (semifinals)
August 12, 2008 (final)
Competitors45 from 35 nations
Winning time52.54 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Aaron Peirsol  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Matt Grevers  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Hayden Stoeckel  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Arkady Vyatchanin  Russia
← 2004
2012 →

Aaron Peirsol established a new world record of 52.54 to defend his Olympic title in the event. His teammate Matt Grevers earned a silver in 53.11, giving the United States a one-two finish.[2][3] Meanwhile, Australia's Hayden Stoeckel and Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin, who both finished behind Grevers by 0.07 of a second, tied for the bronze medal in a matching time of 53.18.[4]

Stoeckel's teammate Ashley Delaney finished fifth in 53.31, while Great Britain's Liam Tancock, who led a field in the first 50 metres, faded only to sixth place in 53.39.[5] Spain's Aschwin Wildeboer (53.51) and Japan's Junichi Miyashita (53.99) rounded out the finale. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went faster than a winning time of 54.09, previously set by Peirsol in Athens four years earlier.[2]

Earlier, Grevers erased Peirsol's 2004 Olympic record of 53.45 to pick up a top seed in the prelims, until Stoeckel broke a 53-second barrier, and eventually lowered the record to 52.97 in the semifinals.[6]

Records

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

World record   Aaron Peirsol (USA) 52.89 Omaha, United States 1 July 2008
Olympic record   Aaron Peirsol (USA) 53.45 Athens, Greece 21 August 2004

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 10 Heat 4 Matt Grevers   United States 53.41 OR
August 11 Semifinal 1 Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia 53.06 OR
August 11 Semifinal 2 Hayden Stoeckel   Australia 52.97 OR
August 12 Final Aaron Peirsol   United States 52.54 WR

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 4 Matt Grevers   United States 53.41 Q, OR
2 4 5 Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia 53.64 Q
3 6 4 Aaron Peirsol   United States 53.65 Q
4 6 7 Aschwin Wildeboer   Spain 53.67 Q
5 3 5 Gerhard Zandberg   South Africa 53.75 Q, AF
6 6 5 Liam Tancock   Great Britain 53.85 Q
7 5 3 Hayden Stoeckel   Australia 53.93 Q
8 3 8 Ľuboš Križko   Slovakia 54.07 Q, NR
9 5 5 Ashley Delaney   Australia 54.08 Q
10 5 2 Junichi Miyashita   Japan 54.12 Q
11 4 2 Stanislav Donets   Russia 54.18 Q
12 4 3 Tomomi Morita   Japan 54.21 Q
13 6 3 Markus Rogan   Austria 54.22 Q
14 6 1 Mirco Di Tora   Italy 54.39 Q
15 5 1 Guy Barnea   Israel 54.50 Q
16 5 6 Gregor Tait   Great Britain 54.62 Q
17 4 6 Aristeidis Grigoriadis   Greece 54.71
18 3 4 Damiano Lestingi   Italy 54.78
19 5 4 Helge Meeuw   Germany 54.88
20 6 2 Guilherme Guido   Brazil 54.89
6 8 Răzvan Florea   Romania
22 4 8 George Du Rand   South Africa 54.90
23 3 7 Sung Min   South Korea 54.99
24 4 1 Gordan Kožulj   Croatia 55.05
25 3 3 Benjamin Stasiulis   France 55.08
26 2 6 Omar Pinzón   Colombia 55.11
27 3 6 Jonathan Massacand   Switzerland 55.21 NR
28 4 7 Nick Driebergen   Netherlands 55.31
29 2 5 Pavel Sankovich   Belarus 55.39
30 3 1 Derya Büyükuncu   Turkey 55.43
31 5 8 Jake Tapp   Canada 55.54
32 3 2 Vytautas Janušaitis   Lithuania 55.65
33 6 6 Thomas Rupprath   Germany 55.77
34 5 7 Marko Strahija   Croatia 55.89
35 2 4 Örn Arnarson   Iceland 56.15
36 2 3 Roland Rudolf   Hungary 56.25
37 2 2 Sun Xiaolei   China 56.44
38 2 8 Oleksandr Isakov   Ukraine 56.55
39 1 4 Danil Bugakov   Uzbekistan 56.59
40 2 7 Eduardo Germán Otero   Argentina 56.74
41 2 1 Tomáš Fučík   Czech Republic 57.29
42 1 5 Stanislav Osinsky   Kazakhstan 57.42
43 1 3 Jared Heine   Marshall Islands 58.86
44 1 2 Souhaib Kalala   Syria 1:00.24
45 1 6 Rubel Mohammad Rana   Bangladesh 1:04.82

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia 53.06 Q, OR, EU
2 5 Aschwin Wildeboer   Spain 53.51 Q
3 3 Liam Tancock   Great Britain 53.61 Q
4 2 Junichi Miyashita   Japan 53.69 Q, AS
5 7 Tomomi Morita   Japan 53.95
6 8 Gregor Tait   Great Britain 54.37
7 6 Ľuboš Križko   Slovakia 54.38
8 1 Mirco Di Tora   Italy 54.92

Semifinal 2

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 Hayden Stoeckel   Australia 52.97 Q, OR
2 4 Matt Grevers   United States 52.99 Q
3 5 Aaron Peirsol   United States 53.56 Q
4 2 Ashley Delaney   Australia 53.76 Q
5 1 Markus Rogan   Austria 53.80
6 3 Gerhard Zandberg   South Africa 53.98
7 7 Stanislav Donets   Russia 54.57
8 8 Guy Barnea   Israel 54.93

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  2 Aaron Peirsol   United States 52.54 WR
  5 Matt Grevers   United States 53.11
  3 Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia 53.18
4 Hayden Stoeckel   Australia
5 8 Ashley Delaney   Australia 53.31
6 7 Liam Tancock   Great Britain 53.39 NR
7 6 Aschwin Wildeboer   Spain 53.51
8 1 Junichi Miyashita   Japan 53.99

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b Lohn, John (11 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Aaron Peirsol Crushes 100 Back World Record En Route To Win". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Aaron Peirsol wins gold in 100m backstroke; Matt Grevers takes silver". Los Angeles Times. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Dead-heat bronze for Stoeckel, Peirsol wins backstroke gold". ABC News. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Peirsol wins 100m backstroke gold". BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. ^ Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Club 52 Grows to Four, Hayden Stoeckel Wins Semifinal Round of 100 Back". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
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