| | Event type

400 metres Freestyle, Men

Date	23 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	34 from 30 countries

At the start of the Olympic year the red-hot favourite for the Olympic title was the man who was both world champion and world record holder, Kieren Perkins of Australia. This changed after the events of the Australian trials where Perkins could only manage to finish third and so missed out on a place on the Olympic team. The world leader for 1996 was Tom Dolan of the USA but he disappointed in the heats and missed the final.

The final followed the same pattern as the 200 metres freestyle final that was held three days earlier. Perennial frontrunner Anders Holmertz took the lead and tried to hang on as long as he could. In this race it meant he led until just before the 300 m mark when Danyon Loader drew upsides him and power passed. At the end of the race Loader’s lead was over a second ahead of Britain’s Paul Palmer with Daniel Kowalski’s finishing effort not quite being enough to deprive Palmer of the silver medal.

After a century without a New Zealander winning an Olympic swimming gold medal, Loader’s win was the second in 72 hours

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	B Final	Final
1	Danyon Loader	NZL	3:51.54 (1 h5)	–	3:47.97 (1)	Gold
2	Paul Palmer	GBR	3:51.98 (2 h5)	–	3:49.00 (2)	Silver
3	Daniel Kowalski	AUS	3:51.67 (1 h3)	–	3:49.39 (3)	Bronze
4	Emiliano Brembilla	ITA	3:49.35 (1 h4)	–	3:49.87 (4)
5	Anders Holmertz	SWE	3:52.27 (2 h3)	–	3:50.68 (5)
6	Massi Rosolino	ITA	3:51.05 (2 h4)	–	3:51.04 (6)
7	Jörg Hoffmann	GER	3:51.26 (3 h4)	–	3:52.15 (7)
8	Jacob Carstensen	DEN	3:52.62 (3 h5)	–	3:54.45 (8)
9	John Piersma	USA	3:53.58 (4 h4)	3:50.69 (1)	–
10	Sebastian Wiese	GER	3:53.55 (3 h3)	3:52.37 (2)	–
11	Ryk Neethling	RSA	3:56.19 (7 h5)	3:54.34 (3)	–
12	Ihor Snitko	UKR	3:55.67 (6 h5)	3:54.63 (4)	–
13	Malcolm Allen	AUS	3:54.34 (5 h5)	3:55.48 (5)	–
14	Aleksey Akatyev	RUS	3:56.40 (5 h3)	3:55.72 (6)	–
15	Yann de Fabrique	FRA	3:55.42 (5 h4)	3:56.46 (7)	–
16	Dimitrios Manganas	GRE	3:54.85 (4 h3)	3:57.39 (8)	–
17	Tom Dolan	USA	3:53.91 (4 h5)	–	–		1
18	Luiz Lima	BRA	3:56.43 (6 h3)	–	–
19	Torlarp Sethsothorn	THA	3:57.08 (6 h4)	–	–
20	Jure Bučar	SLO	3:57.36 (7 h3)	–	–
21	Alejandro Bermúdez	COL	3:57.45 (1 h2)	–	–
22	Miroslav Vučetić	CRO	3:59.20 (2 h2)	–	–
23	Béla Szabados	HUN	3:59.36 (7 h4)	–	–
24	Hisato Yasui	JPN	4:00.19 (8 h5)	–	–
25	Ricardo Monasterio	VEN	4:00.44 (3 h2)	–	–
26	Andrey Kvasov	KGZ	4:00.69 (1 h1)	–	–
27	Can Ergenekan	TUR	4:02.39 (4 h2)	–	–
28	Agustín Fiorilli	ARG	4:02.53 (2 h1)	–	–
29	Mark Kwok	HKG	4:02.68 (5 h2)	–	–
30	U Cheol	KOR	4:03.11 (8 h3)	–	–
31	Andrei Zaharov	MDA	4:09.30 (6 h2)	–	–
32	Hicham El-Masry	SYR	4:10.23 (8 h4)	–	–
33	Sng Ju Wei	SGP	4:12.24 (7 h2)	–	–
34	Omar Dallal	JOR	4:41.12 (3 h1)	–	–
DNS	Antti Kasvio	FIN	– (DNS h2)	–	–

Round One (23 July 1996)

Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	4	Andrey Kvasov	KGZ	27.76 (1) 29.99 (1)	57.75 (1) 30.49 (1)	1:28.24 (1) 30.47 (1)	1:58.71 (1) 30.57 (1)	2:29.28 (1) 30.49 (1)	2:59.77 (1) 30.80 (1)	3:30.57 (1) 30.12 (2)	4:00.69	0.75
2	5	Agustín Fiorilli	ARG	28.41 (2) 30.50 (2)	58.91 (2) 30.84 (2)	1:29.75 (2) 30.59 (2)	2:00.34 (2) 30.76 (2)	2:31.10 (2) 30.94 (2)	3:02.04 (2) 30.84 (2)	3:32.88 (2) 29.65 (1)	4:02.53	0.83
3	3	Omar Dallal	JOR	30.42 (3) 32.99 (3)	1:03.41 (3) 35.25 (3)	1:38.66 (3) 35.76 (3)	2:14.42 (3) 36.69 (3)	2:51.11 (3) 36.72 (3)	3:27.83 (3) 37.42 (3)	4:05.25 (3) 35.87 (3)	4:41.12	0.82

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	1	Alejandro Bermúdez	COL	27.89 (2) 30.09 (4)	57.98 (3) 30.10 (2)	1:28.08 (3) 29.85 (1)	1:57.93 (2) 30.04 (2)	2:27.97 (2) 30.13 (1)	2:58.10 (2) 30.26 (1)	3:28.36 (1) 29.09 (1)	3:57.45	0.83
2	4	Miroslav Vučetić	CRO	27.86 (1) 29.71 (2)	57.57 (2) 29.83 (1)	1:27.40 (1) 30.07 (2)	1:57.47 (1) 29.92 (1)	2:27.39 (1) 30.52 (2)	2:57.91 (1) 31.05 (3)	3:28.96 (2) 30.24 (3)	3:59.20	0.90
3	7	Ricardo Monasterio	VEN	27.92 (3) 29.60 (1)	57.52 (1) 30.30 (3)	1:27.82 (2) 30.50 (5)	1:58.32 (3) 30.56 (4)	2:28.88 (3) 30.64 (3)	2:59.52 (3) 30.87 (2)	3:30.39 (3) 30.05 (2)	4:00.44	0.87
4	5	Can Ergenekan	TUR	28.32 (5) 30.46 (6)	58.78 (6) 30.53 (5)	1:29.31 (5) 30.11 (3)	1:59.42 (5) 30.25 (3)	2:29.67 (4) 30.82 (5)	3:00.49 (4) 31.23 (5)	3:31.72 (4) 30.67 (5)	4:02.39	0.78
5	6	Mark Kwok	HKG	28.41 (6) 30.00 (3)	58.41 (4) 30.44 (4)	1:28.85 (4) 30.47 (4)	1:59.32 (4) 30.81 (5)	2:30.13 (5) 30.81 (4)	3:00.94 (5) 31.08 (4)	3:32.02 (5) 30.66 (4)	4:02.68	0.65
6	2	Andrei Zaharov	MDA	28.30 (4) 30.40 (5)	58.70 (5) 30.89 (6)	1:29.59 (6) 31.64 (7)	2:01.23 (6) 31.74 (6)	2:32.97 (6) 32.28 (6)	3:05.25 (6) 32.31 (6)	3:37.56 (6) 31.74 (6)	4:09.30	0.94
7	8	Sng Ju Wei	SGP	29.15 (7) 30.52 (7)	59.67 (7) 31.27 (7)	1:30.94 (7) 30.53 (6)	2:01.47 (7) 32.41 (7)	2:33.88 (7) 32.94 (7)	3:06.82 (7) 33.43 (7)	3:40.25 (7) 31.99 (7)	4:12.24	0.86
DNS	3	Antti Kasvio	FIN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	4	Daniel Kowalski	AUS	26.45 (1) 28.62 (1)	55.07 (1) 29.41 (2)	1:24.48 (1) 29.39 (1)	1:53.87 (1) 29.94 (5)	2:23.81 (1) 29.71 (1)	2:53.52 (1) 29.91 (2)	3:23.43 (2) 28.24 (1)	3:51.67	0.77	Q
2	5	Anders Holmertz	SWE	26.61 (2) 28.75 (2)	55.36 (2) 29.28 (1)	1:24.64 (2) 29.66 (3)	1:54.30 (2) 29.75 (2)	2:24.05 (2) 29.78 (3)	2:53.83 (2) 29.28 (1)	3:23.11 (1) 29.16 (5)	3:52.27	0.79	Q
3	3	Sebastian Wiese	GER	27.32 (3) 29.19 (3)	56.51 (3) 29.65 (=5)	1:26.16 (3) 29.50 (2)	1:55.66 (3) 29.92 (4)	2:25.58 (3) 29.72 (2)	2:55.30 (3) 29.92 (3)	3:25.22 (3) 28.33 (2)	3:53.55	0.94	q
4	2	Dimitrios Manganas	GRE	27.52 (4) 29.50 (6)	57.02 (5) 29.64 (4)	1:26.66 (5) 29.88 (4)	1:56.54 (5) 29.15 (1)	2:25.69 (4) 29.98 (5)	2:55.67 (4) 30.00 (4)	3:25.67 (4) 29.18 (6)	3:54.85	0.82	q
5	6	Aleksey Akatyev	RUS	27.87 (=7) 29.37 (5)	57.24 (6) 29.65 (=5)	1:26.89 (6) 30.10 (7)	1:56.99 (6) 29.84 (3)	2:26.83 (6) 30.33 (7)	2:57.16 (6) 30.35 (5)	3:27.51 (6) 28.89 (4)	3:56.40	0.93
6	7	Luiz Lima	BRA	27.68 (6) 29.57 (7)	57.25 (7) 30.00 (8)	1:27.25 (7) 29.96 (6)	1:57.21 (7) 30.29 (7)	2:27.50 (7) 29.92 (4)	2:57.42 (7) 30.39 (6)	3:27.81 (7) 28.62 (3)	3:56.43	0.89
7	1	Jure Bučar	SLO	27.59 (5) 29.23 (4)	56.82 (4) 29.59 (3)	1:26.41 (4) 29.94 (5)	1:56.35 (4) 30.28 (6)	2:26.63 (5) 30.14 (6)	2:56.77 (5) 30.42 (7)	3:27.19 (5) 30.17 (7)	3:57.36	0.80
8	8	U Cheol	KOR	27.87 (=7) 29.67 (8)	57.54 (8) 29.93 (7)	1:27.47 (8) 30.32 (8)	1:57.79 (8) 30.64 (8)	2:28.43 (8) 31.16 (8)	2:59.59 (8) 32.14 (8)	3:31.73 (8) 31.38 (8)	4:03.11	0.72

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	6	Emiliano Brembilla	ITA	27.98 (6) 29.37 (5)	57.35 (5) 29.25 (3)	1:26.60 (4) 29.29 (1)	1:55.89 (3) 28.95 (1)	2:24.84 (3) 29.21 (2)	2:54.05 (2) 27.87 (1)	3:21.92 (1) 27.43 (1)	3:49.35	0.88	Q
2	5	Massi Rosolino	ITA	27.70 (5) 29.23 (3)	56.93 (3) 29.57 (4)	1:26.50 (3) 29.51 (4)	1:56.01 (4) 29.07 (2)	2:25.08 (4) 29.14 (1)	2:54.22 (4) 28.75 (2)	3:22.97 (2) 28.08 (2)	3:51.05	0.83	Q
3	3	Jörg Hoffmann	GER	27.46 (2) 28.48 (1)	55.94 (2) 28.84 (1)	1:24.78 (2) 29.47 (=2)	1:54.25 (2) 29.83 (4)	2:24.08 (1) 29.67 (4)	2:53.75 (1) 29.42 (3)	3:23.17 (3) 28.09 (3)	3:51.26	0.94	Q
4	4	John Piersma	USA	27.03 (1) 28.50 (2)	55.53 (1) 29.01 (2)	1:24.54 (1) 29.61 (5)	1:54.15 (1) 29.96 (5)	2:24.11 (2) 30.03 (5)	2:54.14 (3) 29.80 (5)	3:23.94 (4) 29.64 (=5)	3:53.58	0.72	q
5	7	Yann de Fabrique	FRA	27.64 (=3) 29.35 (4)	56.99 (4) 29.70 (5)	1:26.69 (5) 29.47 (=2)	1:56.16 (5) 29.40 (3)	2:25.56 (5) 29.51 (3)	2:55.07 (5) 29.85 (6)	3:24.92 (5) 30.50 (7)	3:55.42	0.83	q
6	1	Torlarp Sethsothorn	THA	28.43 (8) 30.13 (7)	58.56 (8) 29.83 (6)	1:28.39 (7) 30.03 (6)	1:58.42 (7) 30.07 (6)	2:28.49 (6) 30.27 (6)	2:58.76 (6) 29.63 (4)	3:28.39 (6) 28.69 (4)	3:57.08	0.84
7	2	Béla Szabados	HUN	27.64 (=3) 30.23 (8)	57.87 (6) 29.94 (7)	1:27.81 (6) 30.59 (7)	1:58.40 (6) 30.12 (7)	2:28.52 (7) 30.66 (7)	2:59.18 (7) 30.54 (7)	3:29.72 (7) 29.64 (=5)	3:59.36	0.79
8	8	Hicham El-Masry	SYR	28.02 (7) 29.93 (6)	57.95 (7) 31.52 (8)	1:29.47 (8) 31.50 (8)	2:00.97 (8) 32.32 (8)	2:33.29 (8) 32.66 (8)	3:05.95 (8) 32.82 (8)	3:38.77 (8) 31.46 (8)	4:10.23	0.82

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	5	Danyon Loader	NZL	26.52 (1) 29.23 (8)	55.75 (3) 29.28 (2)	1:25.03 (1) 29.65 (4)	1:54.68 (1) 29.49 (1)	2:24.17 (1) 29.55 (1)	2:53.72 (1) 29.67 (3)	3:23.39 (1) 28.15 (2)	3:51.54	0.86	Q
2	3	Paul Palmer	GBR	26.94 (4) 28.61 (1)	55.55 (1) 29.58 (5)	1:25.13 (3) 29.87 (7)	1:55.00 (3) 29.77 (4)	2:24.77 (3) 29.74 (2)	2:54.51 (2) 29.58 (2)	3:24.09 (2) 27.89 (1)	3:51.98	0.81	Q
3	2	Jacob Carstensen	DEN	26.85 (3) 29.08 (2)	55.93 (4) 29.62 (6)	1:25.55 (5) 29.70 (6)	1:55.25 (5) 29.59 (2)	2:24.84 (4) 29.98 (3)	2:54.82 (4) 29.37 (1)	3:24.19 (3) 28.43 (3)	3:52.62	0.82	Q
4	4	Tom Dolan	USA	26.53 (2) 29.18 (6)	55.71 (2) 29.40 (3)	1:25.11 (2) 29.64 (=2)	1:54.75 (2) 29.66 (3)	2:24.41 (2) 30.14 (5)	2:54.55 (3) 30.41 (7)	3:24.96 (4) 28.95 (4)	3:53.91	0.75	q
5	6	Malcolm Allen	AUS	27.12 (5) 29.15 (5)	56.27 (5) 29.16 (1)	1:25.43 (4) 29.63 (1)	1:55.06 (4) 29.83 (5)	2:24.89 (5) 30.15 (6)	2:55.04 (5) 29.99 (4)	3:25.03 (5) 29.31 (6)	3:54.34	0.86	q
6	8	Ihor Snitko	UKR	27.51 (8) 29.10 (3)	56.61 (8) 30.07 (7)	1:26.68 (7) 29.64 (=2)	1:56.32 (7) 30.19 (7)	2:26.51 (7) 30.00 (4)	2:56.51 (7) 30.14 (5)	3:26.65 (7) 29.02 (5)	3:55.67	0.87	q
7	7	Ryk Neethling	RSA	27.30 (6) 29.19 (7)	56.49 (6) 29.51 (4)	1:26.00 (6) 29.66 (5)	1:55.66 (6) 29.91 (6)	2:25.57 (6) 30.36 (7)	2:55.93 (6) 30.40 (6)	3:26.33 (6) 29.86 (7)	3:56.19	0.79	q
8	1	Hisato Yasui	JPN	27.47 (7) 29.12 (4)	56.59 (7) 30.30 (8)	1:26.89 (8) 30.38 (8)	1:57.27 (8) 30.41 (8)	2:27.68 (8) 31.32 (8)	2:59.00 (8) 30.97 (8)	3:29.97 (8) 30.22 (8)	4:00.19	0.83

B Final (23 July 1996)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	5	John Piersma	USA	26.95 (1) 29.33 (3)	56.28 (1) 29.52 (2)	1:25.80 (1) 29.62 (2)	1:55.42 (1) 28.72 (1)	2:24.14 (1) 29.14 (1)	2:53.28 (1) 28.95 (1)	3:22.23 (1) 28.46 (3)	3:50.69	0.70
2	4	Sebastian Wiese	GER	27.26 (3) 29.54 (5)	56.80 (4) 29.38 (1)	1:26.18 (2) 29.60 (1)	1:55.78 (2) 29.29 (2)	2:25.07 (2) 29.41 (2)	2:54.48 (2) 29.54 (4)	3:24.02 (2) 28.35 (1)	3:52.37	0.84
3	1	Ryk Neethling	RSA	27.83 (8) 29.95 (8)	57.78 (8) 29.83 (6)	1:27.61 (8) 29.68 (3)	1:57.29 (7) 29.60 (3)	2:26.89 (6) 29.60 (3)	2:56.49 (4) 29.41 (2)	3:25.90 (4) 28.44 (2)	3:54.34	0.82
4	7	Ihor Snitko	UKR	27.49 (4) 29.07 (1)	56.56 (2) 29.73 (5)	1:26.29 (3) 29.83 (4)	1:56.12 (3) 29.88 (5)	2:26.00 (3) 29.86 (4)	2:55.86 (3) 29.88 (6)	3:25.74 (3) 28.89 (4)	3:54.63	0.90
5	3	Malcolm Allen	AUS	27.66 (6) 29.61 (6)	57.27 (6) 29.64 (4)	1:26.91 (6) 30.03 (7)	1:56.94 (5) 29.86 (4)	2:26.80 (5) 30.18 (6)	2:56.98 (6) 29.59 (5)	3:26.57 (5) 28.91 (5)	3:55.48	0.88
6	8	Aleksey Akatyev	RUS	27.75 (7) 29.14 (2)	56.89 (5) 29.58 (3)	1:26.47 (4) 29.84 (5)	1:56.31 (4) 30.02 (8)	2:26.33 (4) 30.24 (7)	2:56.57 (5) 30.18 (7)	3:26.75 (7) 28.97 (7)	3:55.72	0.90
7	2	Yann de Fabrique	FRA	27.54 (5) 29.76 (7)	57.30 (7) 29.87 (7)	1:27.17 (7) 30.02 (6)	1:57.19 (6) 30.01 (7)	2:27.20 (7) 29.94 (5)	2:57.14 (7) 29.49 (3)	3:26.63 (6) 29.83 (8)	3:56.46	0.82
8	6	Dimitrios Manganas	GRE	27.24 (2) 29.38 (4)	56.62 (3) 30.15 (8)	1:26.77 (5) 30.72 (8)	1:57.49 (8) 30.00 (6)	2:27.49 (8) 30.69 (8)	2:58.18 (8) 30.26 (8)	3:28.44 (8) 28.95 (6)	3:57.39	0.80

Final (23 July 1996)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	200 m	250 m	300 m	350 m	Time	Reaction
1	6	Danyon Loader	NZL	26.75 (4) 28.74 (6)	55.49 (4) 29.11 (5)	1:24.60 (5) 29.13 (3)	1:53.73 (3) 29.45 (5)	2:23.18 (4) 28.96 (1)	2:52.14 (1) 28.90 (2)	3:21.04 (1) 26.93 (1)	3:47.97	0.84
2	7	Paul Palmer	GBR	26.72 (3) 28.59 (4)	55.31 (3) 29.02 (2)	1:24.33 (3) 29.11 (2)	1:53.44 (2) 29.44 (4)	2:22.88 (2) 29.34 (3)	2:52.22 (2) 29.11 (4)	3:21.33 (2) 27.67 (3)	3:49.00	0.84
3	2	Daniel Kowalski	AUS	26.41 (2) 28.50 (2)	54.91 (2) 29.24 (7)	1:24.15 (2) 29.69 (8)	1:53.84 (5) 29.51 (6)	2:23.35 (5) 29.47 (5)	2:52.82 (5) 29.02 (3)	3:21.84 (4) 27.55 (2)	3:49.39	0.79
4	4	Emiliano Brembilla	ITA	27.69 (8) 28.88 (8)	56.57 (8) 28.94 (1)	1:25.51 (8) 29.10 (1)	1:54.61 (7) 29.35 (3)	2:23.96 (6) 29.24 (2)	2:53.20 (6) 28.86 (1)	3:22.06 (5) 27.81 (4)	3:49.87	0.88
5	1	Anders Holmertz	SWE	26.27 (1) 28.56 (3)	54.83 (1) 29.03 (3)	1:23.86 (1) 29.46 (6)	1:53.32 (1) 29.31 (2)	2:22.63 (1) 29.66 (6)	2:52.29 (3) 29.43 (5)	3:21.72 (3) 28.96 (7)	3:50.68	0.78
6	5	Massi Rosolino	ITA	26.84 (5) 28.68 (5)	55.52 (5) 29.07 (4)	1:24.59 (4) 29.18 (4)	1:53.77 (4) 29.26 (1)	2:23.03 (3) 29.45 (4)	2:52.48 (4) 29.72 (7)	3:22.20 (6) 28.84 (6)	3:51.04	0.84
7	3	Jörg Hoffmann	GER	27.17 (7) 28.45 (1)	55.62 (6) 29.14 (6)	1:24.76 (6) 29.59 (7)	1:54.35 (6) 29.62 (7)	2:23.97 (7) 29.85 (7)	2:53.82 (7) 29.62 (6)	3:23.44 (7) 28.71 (5)	3:52.15	0.90
8	8	Jacob Carstensen	DEN	26.99 (6) 28.85 (7)	55.84 (7) 29.37 (8)	1:25.21 (7) 29.43 (5)	1:54.64 (8) 29.72 (8)	2:24.36 (8) 30.11 (8)	2:54.47 (8) 30.25 (8)	3:24.72 (8) 29.73 (8)	3:54.45	0.82