The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on July 31, 1984. There were 68 competitors from 45 nations. Nations were limited to two swimmers each, down from three in prior Games. The event was won by Rowdy Gaines of the United States, the nation's third victory in four Games—with only the boycotted 1980 Olympics missing. Overall, it was the eleventh victory for an American in the men's 100 metre freestyle, most of any nation. Mark Stockwell of Australia took silver. Swedish swimmer Per Johansson repeated as bronze medalist, only the seventh man to earn multiple medals in the event.

Background

This was the 19th appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.

One of the eight finalists from the 1980 Games returned: bronze medalist Per Johansson of Sweden. The reigning gold medalist, and 1982 world champion, Jörg Woithe of East Germany, was absent due to the Soviet-led boycott. World runner-up Rowdy Gaines had missed the 1980 Games due to the American-led boycott at the peak of his ability; four years later, he was still favored. Johansson had taken third at worlds.

With a large field and a reduced maximum per nation, many nations new to the event were able to compete. The Bahamas, Bahrain, the People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Fiji, Honduras, the Netherlands Antilles, San Marino, Suriname, Swaziland, and Uganda each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition used a new A/B final format. The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and finals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the A final, competing for medals through 8th place. The swimmers with the next 8 times in the semifinals competed in the B final for 9th through 16th place. Swim-offs were used as necessary to determine advancement.

Records

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Swimmer Nation Time Record31 July Final A Rowdy Gaines 49.80

Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date Time Round Tuesday, 31 July 1984 9:1016:3516:40 HeatsFinal AFinal B

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 4 Mark Stockwell 50.27 Q 2 9 4 Mike Heath 50.39 Q 3 8 4 Rowdy Gaines 50.41 Q 4 5 3 Per Johansson 50.57 Q 5 6 3 Dano Halsall 50.91 Q 6 1 4 Alberto Mestre 50.99 Q 7 2 3 Dirk Korthals 51.02 Q 8 3 4 Stéphan Caron 51.13 Q 9 7 5 Hans Kroes 51.19 q 9 5 Thomas Lejdström q 11 4 4 Michael Delany 51.22 q, 12 2 4 Stéfan Voléry 51.24 q 13 8 3 Edsard Schlingemann 51.33 q 14 6 5 Peter Rohde 51.40 q, NR 15 3 3 Ang Peng Siong 51.66 q 16 4 3 David Lowe 51.68 q 17 8 5 Fabrizio Rampazzo 51.71 q 18 3 5 Cyro Delgado 51.74 19 7 4 Fernando Cañales 51.75 20 7 3 Alexander Schowtka 51.78 21 1 3 Paul Easter 51.83 22 9 3 David Churchill 51.85 23 6 6 Ramiro Estrada 52.07 24 2 5 Franz Mortensen 52.22 25 1 5 Alexander Pilhatsch 52.25 26 8 6 Marco Colombo 52.34 27 3 6 Antonio Portela 52.47 NR 28 4 5 Ronald Menezes 52.49 29 5 5 Blair Hicken 52.74 30 4 2 Michael Miao 52.76 NR 31 5 6 Mu Lati 52.82 32 9 2 Shen Jianqiang 52.84 33 4 6 Shigeo Ogata 52.96 NR 34 9 3 Mohamed Youssef 53.19 NR 35 6 2 Kemal Sadri Özün 53.39 36 1 6 Li Khai-kam 53.48 37 5 4 Sean Nottage 53.66 38 8 2 Fabián Ferrari 53.69 39 2 6 Satoshi Sumida 53.83 40 3 2 Hilton Woods 53.92 41 8 7 Lukman Niode 54.10 42 1 2 Oon Jin Gee 54.17 43 5 2 Gökhan Attaroğlu 54.22 44 7 2 Fernando Rodríguez 54.61 45 9 6 Deryck Marks 54.63 2 7 William Wilson 54.63 47 3 7 Erik Rosskopf 54.80 48 7 7 César Sánchez 54.94 49 6 7 Anthony Nesty 54.99 50 5 7 Ahmed Said 55.01 51 2 2 Evert Johan Kroon 55.20 52 7 6 Gordon Scarlett 55.34 53 4 7 Collier Woolard 55.67 54 5 1 Samuela Tupou 55.85 55 1 7 Ingi Jónsson 56.31 56 7 1 Jean-Luc Adorno 56.38 57 8 1 Warren Sorby 56.75 58 3 1 Rodrigo Leal 56.80 59 6 1 Khaled Al-Assaf 56.91 60 4 1 Ernesto-José Degenhart 57.20 61 8 8 Hamad Bader 58.16 62 7 8 Trevor Ncala 58.22 63 9 8 Michele Piva 59.26 64 5 8 Rodolfo Torres 1:00.92 65 6 8 Domingos Chivavele 1:01.38 66 2 1 Percy Sayegh 1:01.88 67 1 1 Rami Kantari 1:01.96 68 9 1 Daniel Mulumba 1:07.86

Finals

Final B

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 9 7 Ang Peng Siong 51.09 NR 10 3 Stéfan Voléry 51.42 11 1 David Lowe 51.48 12 8 Fabrizio Rampazzo 51.56 13 4 Hans Kroes 51.64 5 Thomas Lejdström 15 6 Edsard Schlingemann 51.74 16 2 Peter Rohde 51.98

Final A The Australian team protested the final, requesting another race. The Americans had experience with the starter and knew he had a tendency toward a quick trigger. The Australian protest was disallowed.

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 3 Rowdy Gaines 49.80 4 Mark Stockwell 50.24 OC 6 Per Johansson 50.31 4 5 Mike Heath 50.41 5 2 Dano Halsall 50.50 NR 6 7 Alberto Mestre 50.70 NR 8 Stéphan Caron NR 8 1 Dirk Korthals 50.93

References

External links Official Report USA Swimming