Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle

Men's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Men's 100 metre freestyle; at the Games of the I Olympiad
	Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Venue	Bay of Zea
Date	April 11
Competitors	10 from 4 nations
Winning time	1:22.2 OR
Medalists
	1904 (100 yd) →

The men's 100 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.^[1] The 100 metre freestyle race was the first of the swimming events. Ten swimmers entered the race. The two competitors from Austria-Hungary finished in the top two places, though no record distinguishes the places of the other eight competitors. Alfréd Hajós of Hungary beat Otto Herschmann of Austria by about half a metre, with the other swimmers far behind. The Hungarian flag was hoisted, but the band began to play the Austrian anthem (Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser) until the Hungarian sang the Hungarian anthem (Himnusz).^[2]

Background

This was the first appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle was the 200 metres), though the 1904 version was measured in yards rather than metres.^[2]

Alfréd Hajós was the 1895 European champion.^[2]

Competition format

The 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. Buoys marked the starting line, hollow pumpkins (which tended to move) marked the course, and a red flag marked the finish line.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in metres) prior to the 1896 Summer Olympics.

World record	Unknown^*	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Olympic record	N/A	*N/A*	N/A	N/A

^* unofficial

The following record was established during the competition:

Date	Event	Athlete	Nation	Distance (m)	Record
April 11	Final	Alfréd Hajós	Hungary	1:22.2	OR

Schedule

The 100 metres freestyle was the first of the swimming events.^[3]

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

Results

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	Alfréd Hajós	Hungary	1:22.2
	Otto Herschmann	Austria	1:22.8
3–10	Georgios Anninos	Greece	Unknown
	Efstathios Chorafas	Greece	Unknown
	Alexandros Chrysafos	Greece	Unknown
	Gardner Williams	United States	Unknown
	Four others, names unknown	Greece	Unknown

References

^ "Olympedia – Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b Official Report, part 2, p. 96.
^ "Athens 1896 Swimming 100m Freestyle Men Result". Olympics.com. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J. & Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at [1])
Mallon, Bill & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at [2])
Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.

[1] "Olympedia – Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

[Olympedia-2] "100 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 December 2020.

[OR96-3] Official Report, part 2, p. 96.

[4] "Athens 1896 Swimming 100m Freestyle Men Result". Olympics.com. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

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