| Date | 11 April 1896 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Ormos tes Zeas, Peiraias | |
| Participants | 3 from 2 countries | |
| Format | Final only. | |
The race started in the Saronic Gulf, with a steamer transporting the swimmers to the start, after which they swam into shore. The swimmers were transported out to the starting line shortly after the finish of the 100 metres. Only Efstathios Chorafas of the 100 metre swimmers competed, because of the proximity of the races and the chill they received from the water. Paul Neumann won the 500 metres by a huge margin.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Neumann |  AUT | 8:12.6 | Gold | ||
| 2 | Antonios Pepanos |  GRE | 9:57.6 | Silver | ||
| 3 | Efstathios Chorafas | GRE | – | Bronze | ||
| Otto Herschmann | AUT | – | ||||
| Holger Nielsen |  DEN | – | ||||
| Charles Winckler | DEN | – | ||||
| Adolphe Grisel |  FRA | – | ||||
| Frantz Reichel | FRA | – | ||||
| H. F. Suter |  GBR | – | ||||
| D. Frangopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| Dimitrios Christopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| N. Katravas | GRE | – | ||||
| A. Grigoriadis | GRE | – | ||||
| Ag. Diamantopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| I. Dontis | GRE | – | ||||
| Georgios Gaitanos | GRE | – | ||||
| I. Georgiadis | GRE | – | ||||
| V. Chatzis | GRE | – | ||||
| Theod. Kontos | GRE | – | ||||
| Nik. Kourakos | GRE | – | ||||
| K. Kourkoulas | GRE | – | ||||
| Sav. Laskaridis | GRE | – | ||||
| Merk. Lerias | GRE | – | ||||
| V. Mangourakis | GRE | – | ||||
| I. Markou | GRE | – | ||||
| G. Marnezos | GRE | – | ||||
| G. Mazoukas | GRE | – | ||||
| P. Michalopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| Panagiotis Nastos | GRE | – | ||||
| Fill. Pothitos | GRE | – | ||||
| K. Salouros | GRE | – | ||||
| D. Santanis | GRE | – | ||||
| N. Stournaras | GRE | – | ||||
| Sol. Xenopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| A. Zanos | GRE | – | ||||
| Alfréd Hajós |  HUN | – | ||||
| Ferenc Reischl | HUN | – |
