| Event: | Men's 400 metre individual medley |
| Games: | 2012 Summer |
| Venue: | London Aquatics Centre |
| Dates: | July 28, 2012 (heats & final) |
| Competitors: | 37 |
| Nations: | 29 |
| Win Value: | 4:05.18 |
| Gold: | Ryan Lochte |
| Goldnoc: | USA |
| Silver: | Thiago Pereira |
| Silvernoc: | BRA |
| Bronze: | Kosuke Hagino |
| Bronzenoc: | JPN |
| Prev: | 2008 |
| Next: | 2016 |
The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]
U.S. Ryan Lochte pulled away from the rest of the field, including double defending champion Michael Phelps, over a wide margin to capture the Olympic title in the event. He rocketed to a strong finish in a sterling textile best of 4:05.18, the second fastest ever behind Phelps' 2008 world record by 1.34 seconds.[2] [3] Meanwhile, Brazil's Thiago Pereira powered home with the silver in a matching South American record of 4:08.86, making him the first swimmer for his nation to claim an Olympic medal in the event, since Ricardo Prado did so in 1984.[4] Japanese teen Kosuke Hagino smashed an Asian record of 4:08.94 to edge Phelps out of the podium for the bronze.[5] [6]
For the first time since his official debut in 2000, Phelps struggled to a fourth-place finish and denied his seventeenth career medal in 4:09.28. He almost missed the final roster by a small fraction of a second, after posting an eighth-seeded time of 4:13.33 from the morning prelims.[7] [8]
South Africa's Chad le Clos (4:12.42), Hagino's teammate Yuya Horihata (4:13.30), Aussie swimmer Thomas Fraser-Holmes (4:13.49), and Italy's Luca Marin (4:14.89) rounded out the historic finale.[6] Surprisingly, Hungary's top medal favorite and European champion László Cseh missed the final by seven-hundredths of a second (0.07) with a ninth-place effort (4:13.40).[9]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 4:10.01 | Q, AS | |||
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 4:12.24 | Q, NR | |||
| 3 | 5 | 4 | 4:12.35 | Q | |||
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 4:12.39 | Q | |||
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 4:12.66 | Q | |||
| 6 | 5 | 6 | 4:13.02 | Q | |||
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 4:13.09 | Q | |||
| 8 | 4 | 4 | 4:13.33 | Q | |||
| 9 | 4 | 5 | 4:13.40 | ||||
| 10 | 3 | 1 | 4:14.77 | ||||
| 11 | 4 | 2 | 4:15.41 | ||||
| 12 | 3 | 3 | 4:15.45 | ||||
| 13 | 4 | 6 | 4:15.56 | ||||
| 14 | 4 | 3 | 4:15.57 | ||||
| 15 | 4 | 1 | 4:16.63 | ||||
| 16 | 2 | 4 | 4:16.71 | NR | |||
| 17 | 4 | 7 | 4:17.04 | ||||
| 18 | 2 | 6 | 4:17.20 | NR | |||
| 19 | 5 | 1 | 4:17.22 | ||||
| 5 | 7 | ||||||
| 21 | 3 | 7 | 4:18.12 | ||||
| 22 | 3 | 5 | 4:18.31 | ||||
| 23 | 4 | 8 | 4:19.17 | ||||
| 24 | 3 | 2 | 4:20.24 | ||||
| 25 | 1 | 5 | 4:21.32 | ||||
| 26 | 2 | 2 | 4:23.06 | NR | |||
| 2 | 5 | ||||||
| 28 | 2 | 3 | 4:23.12 | ||||
| 29 | 2 | 1 | 4:24.32 | NR | |||
| 30 | 2 | 8 | 4:24.69 | ||||
| 31 | 1 | 4 | 4:25.06 | NR | |||
| 32 | 5 | 8 | 4:25.76 | ||||
| 33 | 2 | 7 | 4:26.81 | ||||
| 34 | 1 | 6 | 4:32.38 | ||||
| 35 | 1 | 3 | 4:35.80 | ||||
| 36 | 1 | 2 | 5:21.30 | ||||
| 3 | 8 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4:05.18 | |||||
| 6 | 4:08.86 | SA | ||||
| 4 | 4:08.94 | AS | ||||
| 4 | 8 | 4:09.28 | ||||
| 5 | 5 | 4:12.42 | ||||
| 6 | 1 | 4:13.30 | ||||
| 7 | 2 | 4:13.49 | ||||
| 8 | 7 | 4:14.89 |