Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre breaststroke

Men's 100 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
VenueLondon Aquatics Centre
DateJuly 28, 2012 (heats &
semifinals)
July 29, 2012 (final)
Competitors44 from 36 nations
Winning time58.46 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Christian Sprenger  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Brendan Hansen  United States
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Swimming at the
2012 Summer Olympics
Sample picture of the event (unofficial)
Qualification
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
4 × 200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen

The men's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28–29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]

Cameron van der Burgh smashed a new world record to end South Africa's medal drought for an Olympic gold in the event. He blasted out to a 27.07 split on the first length, and pulled strongly ahead of the field to touch the wall first in 58.46, slashing 0.12 seconds off the record set by Australia's Brenton Rickard in a high-tech bodysuit from the 2009 World Championships.[2][3] An underwater camera footage also showed him executing three illegal butterfly kicks on the pullout. The champion later admitted that he was doing it, saying that by not doing it "you are falling behind or giving yourself a disadvantage."[4][5] Rickard's teammate Christian Sprenger ripped off a sterling time of 58.93 to snatch the silver, moving him to sixth all time in the event's history.[6] Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Brendan Hansen ended his three-year retirement to take the bronze in 59.49.[7][8]

Hungary's Dániel Gyurta finished off the podium with a fourth-place time and a national record in 59.53. Japan's defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima witnessed his three-peat bid come to an end with a fifth-place time in 59.79.[9] Rickard, the former world record holder, earned a sixth spot in 59.87, while Italy's Fabio Scozzoli (59.97) and Lithuania's Giedrius Titenis (1:00.84) closed out the field.[8]

Earlier in the semifinals, Van der Burgh cleared a 59-second barrier for the second time in his career and the first in textile to pick up a final top seed in 58.83, erasing Kitajima's 2008 Olympic record by eight-hundredths of a second.[10][11]

Records

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

World record  Brenton Rickard (AUS) 58.58 Rome, Italy 27 July 2009 [12][13]
Olympic record  Kosuke Kitajima (JPN) 58.91 Beijing, China 11 August 2008 [14]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
July 28 Semifinal 1 Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa 58.83 OR
July 29 Final Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa 58.46 WR

Results

Heats

[15]

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 3 Christian Sprenger  Australia 59.62 Q
2 6 4 Kosuke Kitajima  Japan 59.63 Q
3 6 2 Giedrius Titenis  Lithuania 59.68 Q
4 4 6 Dániel Gyurta  Hungary 59.76 Q, NR
5 5 3 Glenn Snyders  New Zealand 59.78 Q, NR
6 4 4 Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa 59.79 Q
7 5 2 Scott Dickens  Canada 59.85 Q, NR
8 6 5 Ryo Tateishi  Japan 59.86 Q
9 5 7 Michael Jamieson  Great Britain 59.89 Q
10 4 5 Brendan Hansen  United States 59.93 Q
11 5 6 Eric Shanteau  United States 59.96 Q
12 5 4 Fabio Scozzoli  Italy 59.99 Q
13 4 2 Craig Benson  Great Britain 1:00.04 Q
14 4 3 Brenton Rickard  Australia 1:00.07 Q
15 5 5 Felipe França Silva  Brazil 1:00.38 Q
16 6 6 Felipe Lima  Brazil 1:00.57 Q
17 3 4 Giacomo Perez d'Ortona  France 1:00.59
18 5 1 Damir Dugonjič  Slovenia 1:00.77
19 6 1 Christian vom Lehn  Germany 1:00.78
20 4 7 Lennart Stekelenburg  Netherlands 1:00.96
21 6 7 Hendrik Feldwehr  Germany 1:01.00
22 3 6 Panagiotis Samilidis  Greece 1:01.20
23 4 1 Valeriy Dymo  Ukraine 1:01.27
5 8 Mattia Pesce  Italy
25 3 1 Carlos Almeida  Portugal 1:01.40
26 2 3 Laurent Carnol  Luxembourg 1:01.46
27 6 8 Roman Sloudnov  Russia 1:01.47
28 3 3 Li Xiayan  China 1:01.55
29 3 8 Martin Liivamägi  Estonia 1:01.57
4 8 Barry Murphy  Ireland
31 2 6 Čaba Silađi  Serbia 1:01.95
32 3 2 Dawid Szulich  Poland 1:02.07
3 5 Imri Ganiel  Israel
34 2 4 Vladislav Polyakov  Kazakhstan 1:02.15
35 2 2 Édgar Crespo  Panama 1:02.18
36 2 5 Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson  Iceland 1:02.65
37 2 1 Malick Fall  Senegal 1:02.93
3 7 Dragos Agache  Romania
39 2 8 Azad Al-Barazi  Syria 1:03.48 NR
40 2 7 Danila Artiomov  Moldova 1:03.57
41 1 4 Amini Fonua  Tonga 1:03.65
42 1 3 Mubarak Al-Besher  United Arab Emirates 1:05.26
43 1 5 Diguan Pigot  Suriname 1:05.55
44 1 6 Wael Koubrousli  Lebanon 1:07.06

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 3 Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa 58.83 Q, OR, AF
2 7 Fabio Scozzoli  Italy 59.44 Q
3 1 Brenton Rickard  Australia 59.50 Q
4 4 Kosuke Kitajima  Japan 59.69 Q
5 5 Dániel Gyurta  Hungary 59.74 Q, NR
6 2 Brendan Hansen  United States 59.78 Q
7 6 Ryo Tateishi  Japan 59.93
8 8 Felipe Lima  Brazil 1:00.08

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Christian Sprenger  Australia 59.61 Q
2 5 Giedrius Titenis  Lithuania 59.66 Q
3 2 Michael Jamieson  Great Britain 59.89
4 7 Eric Shanteau  United States 59.96
5 8 Felipe França Silva  Brazil 1:00.01
6 1 Craig Benson  Great Britain 1:00.13
7 3 Glenn Snyders  New Zealand 1:00.15
8 6 Scott Dickens  Canada 1:00.16

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa 58.46 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 Christian Sprenger  Australia 58.93
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 8 Brendan Hansen  United States 59.49
4 1 Dániel Gyurta  Hungary 59.53 NR
5 7 Kosuke Kitajima  Japan 59.79
6 3 Brenton Rickard  Australia 59.87
7 5 Fabio Scozzoli  Italy 59.97
8 2 Giedrius Titenis  Lithuania 1:00.84

References

  1. ^ "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  2. ^ "Vollmer, van der Burgh break world records at finals". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  3. ^ Ferreira-Marques, Clara (29 July 2012). "Swimming: Van der Burgh ends South African men's gold drought". Reuters. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  4. ^ Jeffery, Nicole (4 August 2012). "South African Cameron van der Burgh admits using illegal dolphin kicks to win gold medal". The Australian. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  5. ^ Gleeson, Scott (7 August 2012). "Gold medal swimmer admits to cheating at Games". USA Today. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  6. ^ Cowley, Michael (30 July 2012). "South African Cameron van der Burgh admits using illegal dolphin kicks to win gold medal". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Van der Burgh wins 100 breast; Hansen gets bronze". Fox News. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  8. ^ a b "2012 London Olympics: Cameron van der Burgh's World Record Ends Kosuke Kitajima's Threepeat Bid in 100 Breast; Hansen Medals". Swimming World Magazine. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  9. ^ "Cameron van der Burgh sets mark". ESPN. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Van der Burgh breaks record". Sport24. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  11. ^ "2012 London Olympics: Cameron van der Burgh Downs Olympic Record in 100 Breast Semis". Swimming World Magazine. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  12. ^ Jeffery, Nicole (28 July 2009). "Brenton Rickard wins breaststroke gold for Australia at world swimming championships". Herald Sun. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  13. ^ "FINA World Championships, Swimming: Australia's Brenton Rickard Smashes World Record in 100 Breast". Swimming World Magazine. 27 July 2009. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  14. ^ "Kitajima wins 100m breaststroke in WR time". ABC News Australia. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Men's 100m Breaststroke – Heats". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.