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

Event:	Men's 100 metre backstroke
Games:	2008 Summer
Venue:	Beijing National Aquatics Center
Date:	August 10, 2008 (heats) August 11, 2008 (semifinals) August 12, 2008 (final)
Competitors:	45
Nations:	35
Win Value:	52.54
Gold:	Aaron Peirsol
Goldnoc:	USA
Silver:	Matt Grevers
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Hayden Stoeckel
Bronzenoc:	AUS
Bronze2:	Arkady Vyatchanin
Bronzenoc2:	RUS
Prev:	2004
Next:	2012

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]

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

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

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

Date	Event	Name	Time
August 10	Heat 4	align=left	align=left	53.41
August 11	Semifinal 1	align=left	align=left	53.06
August 11	Semifinal 2	align=left	align=left	52.97
August 12	Final	align=left	align=left	52.54

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	4	53.41	Q,
2	4	5	53.64	Q
3	6	4	53.65	Q
4	6	7	53.67	Q
5	3	5	53.75	Q, AF
6	6	5	53.85	Q
7	5	3	53.93	Q
8	3	8	54.07	Q, NR
9	5	5	54.08	Q
10	5	2	54.12	Q
11	4	2	54.18	Q
12	4	3	54.21	Q
13	6	3	54.22	Q
14	6	1	54.39	Q
15	5	1	54.50	Q
16	5	6	54.62	Q
17	4	6	54.71
18	3	4	54.78
19	5	4	54.88
20	6	2	54.89
20	6	8	54.89
22	4	8	54.90
23	3	7	54.99
24	4	1	55.05
25	3	3	55.08
26	2	6	55.11
27	3	6	55.21	NR
28	4	7	55.31
29	2	5	55.39
30	3	1	55.43
31	5	8	55.54
32	3	2	55.65
33	6	6	55.77
34	5	7	55.89
35	2	4	56.15
36	2	3	56.25
37	2	2	56.44
38	2	8	56.55
39	1	4	56.59
40	2	7	56.74
41	2	1	57.29
42	1	5	57.42
43	1	3	58.86
44	1	2
45	1	6

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	53.06	Q,, EU
2	5	53.51	Q
3	3	53.61	Q
4	2	53.69	Q, AS
5	7	53.95
6	8	54.37
7	6	54.38
8	1	54.92

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	6	52.97	Q,
2	4	52.99	Q
3	5	53.56	Q
4	2	53.76	Q
5	1	53.80
6	3	53.98
7	7	54.57
8	8	54.93

Final

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
	2	52.54
	5	53.11
	3	53.18
	4	53.18
5	8	53.31
6	7	53.39	NR
7	6	53.51
8	1	53.99

External links

Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

Web site: Olympic Swimming Schedule. USA Today. 9 August 2008. 14 May 2013.
News: Lohn. John. Olympics, Swimming: Aaron Peirsol Crushes 100 Back World Record En Route To Win. Swimming World Magazine. 11 August 2008. 16 May 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130602151850/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/18773.asp. 2 June 2013.
News: Aaron Peirsol wins gold in 100m backstroke; Matt Grevers takes silver. Los Angeles Times. 11 August 2008. 16 May 2013.
News: Dead-heat bronze for Stoeckel, Peirsol wins backstroke gold. ABC News. 12 August 2008. 16 May 2013.
News: Peirsol wins 100m backstroke gold . BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. 16 May 2013.
News: Lohn. John. Olympics, Swimming: Club 52 Grows to Four, Hayden Stoeckel Wins Semifinal Round of 100 Back. Swimming World Magazine. 10 August 2008. 16 May 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121101090524/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/18755.asp. 1 November 2012.