| Date | 11 April 1896 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Ormos tes Zeas, Peiraias | |
| Participants | 6 from 4 countries | |
| Format | Final only. | |
Alfréd Hajós had hoped to enter, and win, all three swimming races open to all competitors. However, the 500 metres started immediately after the 100 metres, so he had to wait for the 1,200 to start so he could recover. Hajós was born Arnold Guttmann, but he changed his name on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of the Magyar Empire. Hajós means «sailor» in Hungarian.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfréd Hajós |  HUN | 18:22.2 | Gold | ||
| 2 | Ioannis Andreou |  GRE | 21:03.4 | Silver | ||
| Gardner Williams |  USA | – | ||||
| N. Katravas | GRE | – | ||||
| Efstathios Chorafas | GRE | – | ||||
| Paul Neumann |  AUT | – | ||||
| Holger Nielsen |  DEN | – | ||||
| Charles Winckler | DEN | – | ||||
| Adolphe Grisel |  FRA | – | ||||
| D. Frangopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| Antonios Pepanos | GRE | – | ||||
| G. Athanasiou | GRE | – | ||||
| Ag. Diamantopoulos | GRE | – | ||||
| I. Dontis | GRE | – | ||||
| V. Chatzis | GRE | – | ||||
| Theod. Kontos | GRE | – | ||||
| P. F. Koukoudakis | GRE | – | ||||
| Sav. Laskaridis | GRE | – | ||||
| Merk. Lerias | GRE | – | ||||
| Panagiotis Nastos | GRE | – | ||||
| A. Romantzas | GRE | – | ||||
| Emm. Valetsiotis | GRE | – | ||||
| Sol. Xenopoulos | GRE | – |
