Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre individual medley

The men's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.^[1]

Men's 400 metre individual medley at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Medal winners
Venue	Beijing National Aquatics Center
Dates	August 9 (heats) August 10 (final)
Competitors	29 from 22 nations
Winning time	4:03.84 WR
Medalists
Michael Phelps  United States László Cseh  Hungary Ryan Lochte  United States
← 2004 2012 →

U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps blasted a new world record to defend his title in the event, and more importantly, claim his first Olympic gold, seventh career, and ninth overall. Phelps expected to get a major challenge from teammate Ryan Lochte, but he pulled away from the field on the breaststroke leg, and then opened up his lead on the freestyle leg to a strong finish in 4:03.84, more than a second faster than his world record from the U.S. Olympic Trials.^[2][3] Hungary's László Cseh earned his first ever Olympic silver medal at these Games, in a European record of 4:06.16. Lochte, who fought off a challenge against Phelps, faded towards the end of the race with a bronze in 4:08.09.^[4]

Italian tandem Alessio Boggiatto (4:12.16) and Luca Marin (4:12.47) earned fourth and fifth spots with only 0.31 seconds apart from each other. Hungary's Gergő Kis (4:12.84), Canada's Brian Johns (4:13.38), and Brazil's Thiago Pereira (4:15.40) rounded out the finale.^[4]

Records

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

World record	Michael Phelps (USA)	4:05.25	Omaha, United States	29 June 2008	[5]
Olympic record	Michael Phelps (USA)	4:08.26	Athens, Greece	14 August 2004	—

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
August 9	Heat 4	Michael Phelps	United States	4:07.82	OR
August 10	Final	Michael Phelps	United States	4:03.84	WR

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	4	Michael Phelps	United States	4:07.82	Q, OR
2	2	4	László Cseh	Hungary	4:09.26	Q
3	4	5	Luca Marin	Italy	4:10.22	Q
4	3	4	Ryan Lochte	United States	4:10.33	Q
5	4	3	Gergő Kis	Hungary	4:10.66	Q
6	2	3	Alessio Boggiatto	Italy	4:10.68	Q
7	3	7	Brian Johns	Canada	4:11.41	Q, NR
8	3	5	Thiago Pereira	Brazil	4:11.74	Q
9	4	2	Keith Beavers	Canada	4:12.75
10	2	1	Bradley Ally	Barbados	4:14.01	NR
11	2	8	Gal Nevo	Israel	4:14.03	NR
12	3	3	Riaan Schoeman	South Africa	4:14.09
13	3	1	Andrey Krylov	Russia	4:14.55
14	4	6	Travis Nederpelt	Australia	4:15.37
15	2	2	Dinko Jukić	Austria	4:15.48	NR
16	2	7	Alexander Tikhonov	Russia	4:16.49
17	2	5	Thomas Haffield	Great Britain	4:16.76
18	2	6	Vasileios Demetis	Greece	4:18.40
19	3	6	Euan Dale	Great Britain	4:18.60
20	4	8	Vadym Lepskyy	Ukraine	4:20.96
21	3	8	Omar Pinzón	Colombia	4:22.31
22	4	7	Pierre Henri	France	4:22.41
23	1	4	Nikša Roki	Croatia	4:22.44
24	3	2	Javier Núñez	Spain	4:22.69
25	4	1	Romanos Alyfantis	Greece	4:23.41
26	1	6	Dmitriy Gordiyenko	Kazakhstan	4:25.20
27	1	2	Vasilii Danilov	Kyrgyzstan	4:29.20
28	1	3	Deniz Nazar	Turkey	4:30.80
29	1	5	Hocine Haciane	Andorra	4:32.00

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Michael Phelps	United States	4:03.84	WR
	5	László Cseh	Hungary	4:06.16	EU
	6	Ryan Lochte	United States	4:08.09
4	7	Alessio Boggiatto	Italy	4:12.16
5	3	Luca Marin	Italy	4:12.47
6	2	Gergő Kis	Hungary	4:12.84
7	1	Brian Johns	Canada	4:13.38
8	8	Thiago Pereira	Brazil	4:15.40

References

1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
2. Newberry, Paul (10 August 2008). "Michael Phelps sets world record in 400 IM, 1 gold down, 7 to go". New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
3. "Opening statement: Phelps grabs gold, WR in 400 IM". ESPN. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
4. Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Michael Phelps Smashes World Record in 400 IM". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
5. Crouse, Karen (30 June 2008). "Rival's fast finish propels Phelps to another record". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2008.

External links

• Official Olympic Report