Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.^[1]

Men's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	London Aquatics Centre
Date	July 28, 2012 (heats & final)
Competitors	28 from 23 nations
Winning time	3:40.14 OR
Medalists
Sun Yang  China Park Tae-hwan  South Korea Peter Vanderkaay  United States
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Sun Yang made a historic milestone to become China's first ever male gold medalist in swimming, as he continued to build another Asian supremacy for the event, together with an Olympic record. He held off South Korea's defending champion Park Tae-hwan on the final stretch to effortlessly secure the gold medal in a sterling time of 3:40.14, cutting off Ian Thorpe's 2000 Olympic record by nearly half a second.^[2][3]

Meanwhile, Park ended a dramatic day with a silver medal in his pocket at 3:42.06. Earlier in the prelims, he was disqualified for an immediate false start from heat three, but reinstated in the final after the Korean Swimming Federation filed an appeal.^[4][5] U.S. swimmer Peter Vanderkaay added a second individual bronze and fourth career medal to his Olympic hardware in 3:44.69.^[6][7]

China's Hao Yun (3:46.02), Vanderkaay's teammate Conor Dwyer (3:46.39), Hungary's Gergő Kis (3:47.03), Great Britain's David Carry (3:48.62), and Australia's Ryan Napoleon (3:49.25) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the championship field.^[6]

Notable swimmers missed the final roster including Canada's Ryan Cochrane, who was bumped out of the lineup to ninth (3:47.26) after Park's disqualification had been overturned; and Biedermann, who struggled to keep his form with a thirteenth-place effort in the prelims (3:48.50).^[8][9]

Records

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

World record	Paul Biedermann (GER)	3:40.07	Rome, Italy	26 July 2009	[10]
Olympic record	Ian Thorpe (AUS)	3:40.59	Sydney, Australia	16 September 2000	[11]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
July 28	Final	Sun Yang	China	3:40.14	OR

Results

Heats

^[12]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	4	Sun Yang	China	3:45.07	Q
2	4	5	Peter Vanderkaay	United States	3:45.80	Q
3	4	7	Conor Dwyer	United States	3:46.24	Q
4	3	4	Park Tae-hwan	South Korea	3:46.68	Q
5	3	2	Gergő Kis	Hungary	3:46.77	Q
6	4	3	Hao Yun	China	3:46.88	Q
7	3	5	Ryan Napoleon	Australia	3:47.01	Q
8	3	6	David Carry	Great Britain	3:47.25	Q
9	2	5	Ryan Cochrane	Canada	3:47.26
10	4	6	Pál Joensen	Denmark	3:47.36
11	2	3	Robert Renwick	Great Britain	3:47.44
12	2	6	Mads Glæsner	Denmark	3:48.27
13	2	4	Paul Biedermann	Germany	3:48.50
14	3	3	David McKeon	Australia	3:48.57
15	2	2	Matthew Stanley	New Zealand	3:49.44
16	4	8	Cristian Quintero Valero	Venezuela	3:50.44
17	3	1	Sergiy Frolov	Ukraine	3:50.63
18	4	2	Samuel Pizzetti	Italy	3:50.93
19	4	1	Dominik Meichtry	Switzerland	3:51.34
20	2	7	Egor Degtyarev	Russia	3:52.33
21	1	4	Mateusz Sawrymowicz	Poland	3:53.33
22	3	8	Matias Koski	Finland	3:54.96
23	2	8	Đorđe Marković	Serbia	3:55.35
24	2	1	Juan Martin Pereyra	Argentina	3:56.76
25	3	7	Heerden Herman	South Africa	3:57.28
26	1	5	Mateo de Angulo	Colombia	3:57.76
27	1	6	Ahmed Gebrel	Palestine	4:08.51
28	1	3	Allan Gutierrez Castro	Honduras	4:09.10

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Sun Yang	China	3:40.14	OR, AS
	6	Park Tae-hwan	South Korea	3:42.06
	5	Peter Vanderkaay	United States	3:44.69
4	7	Hao Yun	China	3:46.02
5	3	Conor Dwyer	United States	3:46.39
6	2	Gergő Kis	Hungary	3:47.03
7	8	David Carry	Great Britain	3:48.62
8	1	Ryan Napoleon	Australia	3:49.25

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. Clarey, Christopher (28 July 2012). "New Pecking Order in Pool as China Wins Two Golds". New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
3. "Olympic swimming: China's Sun Yang beats rival Park to gold". BBC Sport. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
4. "2012 London Olympics: Tae Hwan Park Wins Appeal, Returns to 400 Free Field". Swimming World Magazine. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-08-08. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
5. "Park Tae-hwan Graceful in Defeat After DQ-Plagued 400-m Freestyle". The Chosun Ilbo. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
6. "2012 London Olympics: Sun Yang Lowers Asian, Olympic Record; Rattles World Record in 400 Freestyle Victory". Swimming World Magazine. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
7. Dillman, Lisa (28 July 2012). "London Olympics: Peter Vanderkaay wins bronze in 400-meter free". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
8. "2012 London Olympics: China's Sun Yang Cruises to Top Seed in 400 Free; Defending Gold Medalist Tae Hwan Park Disqualified, But Wins Appeal". Swimming World Magazine. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
9. "Canadian Cochrane bumped from 400m free final". CBC Sports. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
10. Cowley, Michael (27 July 2009). "Thorpe's mark tumbles in night of world records". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
11. Harris, Beth (16 September 2000). "Thorpe Sets World Mark, Thompson Wins 6th Gold". ABC News. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
12. "Men's 400m Freestyle – Heats". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.

External links

• NBC Olympics Coverage