Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 500 metre freestyle
| Men's 500 metre freestyle at the Games of the I Olympiad | |||||||
| Venue | Bay of Zea | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | April 11 | ||||||
| Competitors | 3 from 2 nations | ||||||
| Winning time | 8:12.6 | ||||||
| Medalists | |||||||
| |||||||
| Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Freestyle | |
| 100 m | men |
| 500 m | men |
| 1200 m | men |
| 100 m sailors | men |
The men's 500 metre freestyle was one of the swimming events in the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Only three swimmers swam in the 500 metre freestyle. Paul Neumann won the event. Alfréd Hajós, the winner of the 100m, tried to win all 3 open swimming events. However, he did not swim in the 500m because it started after the 100 metres. Efstathios Chorafas was the only swimmer to swim in all three events.
Background
[change | change source]This was the only Olympic Games with a 500-metre freestyle swimming event. The 1900 Olympics had 200- and 1000-metre events. In the 1904 Olympics, the 400-metre swim was used. This became the standard for swimming after that.[1]
Competition
[change | change source]This freestyle swimming competition was in a single race. All of the swimmers swam at the same time. The swimmers were taken out by a ship into the Bay of Zea. The swimmers would swim back to the shore.[1][2][3]
Schedule
[change | change source]The 500 metre freestyle was the third of the swimming events.[2]
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gregorian | Julian | ||
| Saturday, 11 April 1896 | Saturday, 30 March 1896 | 11:00 | Final |
Results
[change | change source]| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Paul Neumann |  Austria
|
8:12.6 |
|
Antonios Pepanos |  Greece
|
9:57.6 |
|
Efstathios Chorafas | Greece
|
Unknown |
References
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "500 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Official Report, part 2, p. 96.
- ↑ "Athens 1896 Swimming 400m Freestyle Men Result". Olympics.com. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
- 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.