Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 500 metre freestyle

The men's 500 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.

Men's 500 metre freestyle at the Games of the I Olympiad
Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Venue	Bay of Zea
Date	April 11
Competitors	3 from 2 nations
Winning time	8:12.6
Medalists
Paul Neumann  Austria Antonios Pepanos  Greece Efstathios Chorafas  Greece

Only three swimmers entered the 500 metre freestyle. Paul Neumann added Austria's first gold medal to Herschmann's silver. Alfréd Hajós, the winner of the 100m, had intended to sweep the three open swimming events, but did not compete in the 500m because it was begun immediately after the 100 metres. Chorophas was the only swimmer to compete in all three events.

Background

This was the only appearance of a 500-metre freestyle event, with 1900 having 200- and 1000-metre events and the now-standard 400 metre event debuting in 1904 (in yards, for that Games only).^[1]

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition involved a single race, with all swimmers competing at the same time. The swimmers were taken out by ship into the bay, where they would swim toward shore.^[1][2][3]

Schedule

The 500 metre freestyle was the third of the swimming events, held shortly after the 100 metre freestyle and the sailor-only 100 metre freestyle.^[2]

Date		Time	Round
Gregorian	Julian
Saturday, 11 April 1896	Saturday, 30 March 1896	11:00	Final

Results

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	Paul Neumann	Austria	8:12.6
	Antonios Pepanos	Greece	9:57.6
	Efstathios Chorafas	Greece	Unknown