Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

Men's 1500 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
Date August 15, 2008 (heats)
August 17, 2008 (final)
Competitors 37 from 29 nations
Winning time 14:40.84 AF
Medalists
1st, gold medalist(s) Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia
2nd, silver medalist(s) Grant Hackett  Australia
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Ryan Cochrane  Canada

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Competing at his third Games, Oussama Mellouli made an Olympic milestone to become Tunisia's first ever gold medalist in 48 years. He denied Australia's Grant Hackett a third straight title in the event, touching the wall first in an African record of 14:40.84. Hanging with the leaders through the first two-thirds of the race, Mellouli moved into the lead at the 1,100-metre mark, and held off Hackett's sprinted finish on the final lap. This was also a retribution for Mellouli, who served an 18-month doping ban from FINA for using the banned stimulant Adderall.[2][3][4]

Trying to become the first male swimmer to win three gold medals in the same event, Hackett collected a silver in 14:41.53.[5] Meanwhile, Canada's Ryan Cochrane powered home with a bronze in 14:42.69, finishing ahead of Russia's Yuri Prilukov (14:43.21). U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen, silver medalist in Athens four years earlier, placed fifth with a time 14:48.16, and was followed in the sixth spot by Great Britain's David Davies in 14:52.11.[3][6] Chinese duo Zhang Lin (14:55.20) and Sun Yang (15:05.12) rounded out the finale.[4]

Earlier in the prelims, Cochrane established a new Olympic record of 14:40.84 in heat three, until Hackett cleared the 14:40 barrier, and lowered the record to 14:38.92 in the final heat of five.[7]

Records

Grant Hackett was the world record holder and aiming to be the first male to complete a hat-trick in swimming events.

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

World record Grant Hackett (AUS)14:34.56Fukuoka, Japan29 July 2001
Olympic record Grant Hackett (AUS)14:43.40Athens, Greece21 August 2004

The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 15Heat 3Ryan Cochrane Canada14:40.84OR
August 15Heat 5Grant Hackett Australia14:38.92OR

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
155Grant Hackett Australia14:38.92Q, OR
235Ryan Cochrane Canada14:40.84Q, AM
334Yuri Prilukov Russia14:41.13Q, EU
456Zhang Lin China14:45.84Q, AS
533David Davies Great Britain14:46.11Q
646Oussama Mellouli Tunisia14:47.76Q
742Sun Yang China14:48.39Q
853Larsen Jensen United States14:49.53Q
944Mateusz Sawrymowicz Poland14:50.30
1045Federico Colbertaldo Italy14:51.44
1154Peter Vanderkaay United States14:52.11
1251Spyridon Gianniotis Greece14:53.32NR
1323Nicolas Rostoucher France15:00.58
1425Mads Glæsner Denmark15:03.33
1543Craig Stevens Australia15:04.82
1636Park Tae-Hwan South Korea15:05.55
1747Samuel Pizzetti Italy15:07.02
1837Takeshi Matsuda Japan15:09.17
1958Gergő Kis Hungary15:09.67
2022Tom Vangeneugden Belgium15:11.04NR
2115Florian Janistyn Austria15:12.46NR
2257Troyden Prinsloo South Africa15:12.64
2331Sergey Fesenko Ukraine15:13.03
2424Maciej Hreniak Poland15:16.16
2538Richard Charlesworth Great Britain15:17.27
2648Marcos Rivera Spain15:18.98
2732Sébastien Rouault France15:21.14
2821Dragoș Coman Romania15:24.05
2927Fernando Costa Portugal15:26.21
3013Petar Stoychev Bulgaria15:28.84
3152Nikita Lobintsev Russia15:35.47
3216Ryan Arabejo Philippines15:42.77
3328Ricardo Monasterio Venezuela15:45.98
3414Juan Martín Pereyra Argentina15:49.57
3512Ediz Yildirimer Turkey16:28.79
26Christian Kubusch GermanyDNS
41Luka Turk SloveniaDNS

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
1st, gold medalist(s) 7 Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia 14:40.84 AF
2nd, silver medalist(s) 4 Grant Hackett  Australia 14:41.53
3rd, bronze medalist(s) 5 Ryan Cochrane  Canada 14:42.69
4 3 Yuri Prilukov  Russia 14:43.21
5 8 Larsen Jensen  United States 14:48.16
6 2 David Davies  Great Britain 14:52.11
7 6 Zhang Lin  China 14:55.20
8 1 Sun Yang  China 15:05.12

References

  1. ↑ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Mellouli shatters Hackett's hat-trick bid". South China Morning Post. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Mellouli claims 1500m swim gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Ous Mellouli Claims Olympic Gold for Tunisia in Men's 1500 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Colman, Mike (17 August 2008). "Grant Hackett gives his all for silver medal in 1500m". The Australian. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Goffa, Debbie (17 August 2008). "Larsen Jensen places 5th in 1500m freestyle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Grant Hackett Leads 1500 Free Qualifying With Olympic Standard". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
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