400 metres Freestyle, Men

The defending Olympic champion and 2011 World Champion was Korean Park Tae-Hwan, although in the heats he was disqualified for a false start, but the Korean authorities appealed that decision and Park was reinstated and his time qualified him for the final. With him back in the final, he was favored, with his biggest challenger expected to be China’s Sun Yang, who had been second to Park at the 2011 Worlds, and won World titles that year at 800 and 1,500 metres. In the final Park took the lead from the start, but Sun remained close throughout. At 300 metres, Sun had pulled even and was much stronger over the final 100, finishing in 3:40.14 for an Olympic record and the gold medal, with Park trailing well back in 3:42.06 for the silver medal. American Peter Vanderkaay, who had been fourth at Beijing and the last two World Championships, had started slowly but finished well to earn the bronze medal. Sun’s time of 3:40.14 was the third fastest ever recorded, trailing only Paul Biedermann’s world record of 3:40.07 and the former world record, and textile best, set by Ian Thorpe with 3:40.08.