Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

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The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain. There were 75 competitors from 52 nations. Five of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist Matt Biondi of the United States, bronze medalist Stéphan Caron of France, fourth place finisher Gennadiy Prigoda of the Soviet Union (now competing for the Unified Team), sixth place finisher Andrew Baildon of Australia, and eighth place finisher Tommy Werner of Sweden. Biondi was the favorite, having also won the 1991 World Championship and his 1988 world record still standing. Caron and 1991 European Champion Alexander Popov were also contenders. Rank Heat Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 1 10 3 Alexander Popov 49.29 QA (Qualified for final A) 2 10 5 Gustavo Borges 49.49 QA (Qualified for final A) 3 8 4 Jon Olsen 49.63 QA (Qualified for final A) 4 10 4 Matt Biondi 49.75 QA (Qualified for final A) 5 9 4 Stéphan Caron 49.82 QA (Qualified for final A) 6 8 6 Tommy Werner 50.00 QA (Qualified for final A) 10 2 Gennadiy Prigoda 50.00 QA (Qualified for final A) 8 9 7 Christian Tröger 50.05 QA (Qualified for final A) 9 9 3 Raimundas Mažuolis 50.17 QB (Qualified for final B) 10 8 3 Chris Fydler 50.26 QB (Qualified for final B) 11 9 5 Nils Rudolph 50.29 QB (Qualified for final B) 12 9 6 Christophe Kalfayan 50.30 QB (Qualified for final B) 13 7 3 Ricardo Busquets 50.31 QB (Qualified for final B) 14 10 1 John Steel 50.59 QB (Qualified for final B) 10 7 Andrew Baildon 50.59 QB (Qualified for final B) 16 8 5 Giorgio Lamberti 50.65 QB (Qualified for final B), WD (Withdrew) 17 10 6 Roberto Gleria 50.66 QB (Qualified for final B) 18 8 2 Håkan Karlsson 50.73 8 8 Stephen Clarke 50.73 20 8 1 Béla Szabados 50.78 21 9 2 Mike Fibbens 50.93 22 7 4 Rodrigo González 51.04 23 6 1 Stéfan Voléry 51.05 24 10 8 Paul Howe 51.12 25 9 1 Emanuel Nascimento 51.17 26 9 8 Franz Mortensen 51.29 27 8 7 Uğur Taner 51.34 28 7 5 Jarl Inge Melberg 51.39 29 7 6 Seddon Keyter 51.42 30 1 2 Mladen Kapor 51.44 31 7 1 Yoav Bruck 51.46 32 6 6 Indrek Sei 51.47 7 2 Yves Clausse 51.47 34 7 8 Tsutomu Nakano 51.63 35 6 5 Krzysztof Cwalina 51.70 36 6 7 Nicholas Sanders 51.77 37 6 2 Giovanni Linscheer 51.82 38 5 7 Janne Blomqvist 51.86 39 6 8 Michael Wright 51.88 40 6 4 Xie Jun 51.94 41 6 3 Darren Ward 52.05 42 5 4 Arthur Li Kai Yien 52.22 43 5 1 Allan Murray 52.43 44 5 2 Stavros Michaelides 52.54 45 4 8 Shigeo Ogata 52.74 46 5 5 Ivor Le Roux 52.92 47 4 6 Enrico Linscheer 52.94 48 5 6 Marc Verbeeck 52.97 49 5 3 Sebastián Lasave 53.07 50 4 5 Geribryan Mewett 53.14 51 3 4 Ian Steed Raynor 53.16 52 4 4 Mohamed El Azoul 53.31 53 4 3 Nikos Paleokrassas 53.47 54 3 5 Rhoderick McGown 53.65 55 5 8 Patrick Sagisi 53.90 56 4 1 Kenneth Yeo 54.44 57 3 3 Plutarco Castellanos 54.66 58 3 7 Gustavo Bucaro 54.74 59 2 6 Adrian Romero 54.77 60 3 6 Laurent Alfred 54.89 61 3 1 Helder Torres 55.38 62 4 7 Frank Leskaj 55.50 63 2 4 Émile Lahoud 55.51 64 1 1 Mouhamed Diop 55.82 65 2 3 Hussein Al Sadiq 55.96 66 2 2 Ahmad Faraj 56.05 67 2 5 Ivan Roberts 56.15 68 1 7 Bruno N'Diaye 56.39 69 3 2 Jarrah Al Asmawi 56.72 70 2 1 Mohamed Bin Abid 56.82 71 2 7 Carl Probert 57.25 72 1 4 Kenny Roberts 58.86 73 1 5 Foy Gordon Chung 1:03.96 74 1 3 Ahmed Imthiyaz 1:04.96 75 1 6 Mohamed Rasheed 1:08.12 — 4 2 Nayef Al Hasawi DNS (Did not start) 7 7 Peter Williams DNS (Did not start)

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 9 2 Ricardo Busquets 49.92 NR 10 4 Raimundas Mažuolis 50.13 11 6 Christophe Kalfayan 50.49 12 3 Nils Rudolph 50.62 13 7 John Steel 50.69 14 5 Chris Fydler 50.78 15 8 Roberto Gleria 50.81 16 1 Andrew Baildon 50.93

Popov won, well ahead of everyone else. An equipment error resulted in the scoreboard initially displaying Caron as the second place swimmer and Borges as last. Borges last was an obvious mistake to anyone watching; he had been fighting for second. His touchpad had malfunctioned. Officials reviewed film of "his" finish, assigning him a time of 49.53—equal to Biondi; they then realized that the film had been of Biondi. Looking at the correct finish, the officials gave Borges a time of 49.43, good for the silver medal. Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Alexander Popov 49.02 NR 5 Gustavo Borges 49.43 SA 2 Stéphan Caron 49.50 4 3 Jon Olsen 49.51 5 6 Matt Biondi 49.53 6 1 Tommy Werner 49.63 7 8 Christian Tröger 49.84 8 7 Gennadiy Prigoda 50.25