| Event: | Men's 50 metre freestyle |
| Games: | 1996 Summer |
| Venue: | Georgia Tech Aquatic Center |
| Date: | 25 July 1996 (heats & finals) |
| Competitors: | 65 |
| Nations: | 59 |
| Gold: | Alexander Popov |
| Goldnoc: | RUS |
| Silver: | Gary Hall Jr. |
| Silvernoc: | USA |
| Bronze: | Fernando Scherer |
| Bronzenoc: | BRA |
| Win Value: | 22.13 |
| Prev: | 1992 |
| Next: | 2000 |
The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 25 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.[1]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
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.
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).[2]
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 4 | 22.22 | Q | |||
| 2 | 8 | 4 | 22.36 | Q | |||
| 3 | 7 | 1 | 22.55 | Q, AS | |||
| 4 | 8 | 2 | 22.60 | Q | |||
| 5 | 6 | 1 | 22.61 | Q, NR | |||
| 6 | 9 | 5 | 22.64 | Q | |||
| 7 | 7 | 3 | 22.68 | ||||
| 7 | 8 | , NR | |||||
| 8 | 5 | ||||||
| 10 | 8 | 6 | 22.73 | q | |||
| 11 | 9 | 8 | 22.75 | q, NR | |||
| 12 | 8 | 1 | 22.77 | q | |||
| 13 | 9 | 2 | 22.82 | q | |||
| 14 | 8 | 3 | 22.83 | q | |||
| 15 | 7 | 6 | 22.85 | q | |||
| 16 | 9 | 3 | 22.86 | q | |||
| 17 | 7 | 2 | 22.91 | ||||
| 18 | 7 | 7 | 22.98 | ||||
| 9 | 6 | ||||||
| 20 | 8 | 7 | 23.03 | ||||
| 21 | 7 | 5 | 23.06 | ||||
| 22 | 9 | 1 | 23.12 | ||||
| 23 | 7 | 4 | 23.21 | ||||
| 24 | 9 | 7 | 23.22 | ||||
| 25 | 6 | 4 | 23.26 | ||||
| 26 | 6 | 2 | 23.29 | ||||
| 6 | 8 | NR | |||||
| 28 | 6 | 7 | 23.34 | ||||
| 29 | 5 | 5 | 23.35 | NR | |||
| 30 | 6 | 6 | 23.36 | ||||
| 31 | 5 | 8 | 23.37 | ||||
| 32 | 5 | 6 | 23.45 | ||||
| 33 | 6 | 3 | 23.47 | ||||
| 34 | 6 | 5 | 23.56 | ||||
| 35 | 4 | 8 | 23.60 | ||||
| 36 | 4 | 4 | 23.61 | NR | |||
| 4 | 5 | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 39 | 5 | 4 | 23.63 | ||||
| 40 | 3 | 3 | 23.73 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | ||||||
| 42 | 3 | 4 | 23.77 | ||||
| 43 | 3 | 5 | 23.78 | ||||
| 44 | 5 | 7 | 23.80 | ||||
| 45 | 4 | 3 | 23.93 | ||||
| 46 | 3 | 6 | 23.97 | ||||
| 47 | 4 | 6 | 24.02 | ||||
| 48 | 5 | 3 | 24.03 | ||||
| 49 | 4 | 7 | 24.15 | ||||
| 50 | 4 | 2 | 24.17 | ||||
| 51 | 3 | 2 | 24.37 | ||||
| 52 | 4 | 1 | 24.54 | ||||
| 53 | 2 | 6 | 24.62 | NR | |||
| 54 | 2 | 3 | 24.63 | ||||
| 55 | 3 | 1 | 24.67 | ||||
| 56 | 2 | 5 | 24.89 | ||||
| 57 | 2 | 2 | 24.91 | ||||
| 58 | 3 | 8 | 25.04 | ||||
| 59 | 3 | 7 | 25.23 | ||||
| 60 | 1 | 4 | 27.88 | ||||
| 61 | 1 | 5 | 28.37 | ||||
| 62 | 1 | 3 | 30.00 | ||||
| 63 | 2 | 1 | 34.21 | ||||
| 5 | 2 | ||||||
| 2 | 4 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 22.71 | Q | |||
| 2 | 5 | 22.74 | Q | |||
| 4 | q |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 2 | 22.67 | NR | |||
| 10 | 4 | 22.73 | ||||
| 11 | 6 | 22.82 | ||||
| 12 | 3 | 22.92 | ||||
| 8 | ||||||
| 14 | 1 | 22.96 | ||||
| 7 | ||||||
| 16 | 5 | 23.01 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 22.13 | |||||
| 5 | 22.26 | |||||
| 1 | 22.29 | SA | ||||
| 4 | 3 | 22.33 | AS | |||
| 5 | 6 | 22.59 | ||||
| 6 | 7 | 22.68 | ||||
| 7 | 8 | 22.72 | ||||
| 8 | 2 | 22.73 |