| | Event type

100 metres Backstroke, Men

Date	23 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	50 from 43 countries

Since the Seoul Olympics America’s Jeff Rouse had been the world’s outstanding sprint backstroker. His career had however been blighted by defeats in the two most high profile races, the 1992 Olympic final and the 1994 World Championship final and his critics saw this as proof that he was a choker. In Atlanta he got rid of that unwanted title once and for all.

Rouse was the fastest in the heats then imposed himself on the final by blasting ahead straight from the gun and was untroubled in winning the gold medal. The big surprises of the event were a duo from Cuba, Rodolfo Falcón and Neisser Bent. Both men took large chunks of time off their previous best times to finish on the podium. Cuba had never before, and as of 2012, has never again, won an Olympic swimming medal.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	R1	B Final	Final
1	Jeff Rouse	USA	54.20 (1 h7)	–	54.10 (1)	Gold
2	Rodolfo Falcón	CUB	55.29 (1 h6)	–	54.98 (2)	Silver
3	Neisser Bent	CUB	54.83 (1 h5)	–	55.02 (3)	Bronze
4	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	55.36 (2 h5)	–	55.22 (4)
5	Tripp Schwenk	USA	55.71 (2 h6)	–	55.30 (5)
6	Emanuele Merisi	ITA	55.82 (3 h7)	–	55.53 (6)
7	Ralf Braun	GER	55.73 (2 h7)	–	55.56 (7)
8	Franck Schott	FRA	55.77 (3 h5)	–	55.76 (8)
9	Keitaro Konnai	JPN	56.35 (5 h7)	55.74 (1)	–
10	Neil Willey	GBR	56.27 (5 h5)	56.07 (2)	–
11	Hajime Itoi	JPN	56.22 (4 h6)	56.23 (3)	–
12	Mariusz Siembida	POL	56.16 (4 h7)	56.31 (4)	–
13	Darius Grigalionis	LTU	56.20 (1 h4)	56.33 (5)	–
14	Stev Theloke	GER	56.26 (5 h6)	56.63 (6)	–
15	Steven Dewick	AUS	56.35 (6 h6)	56.82 (7)	–
16	Rob Braknis	CAN	56.14 (3 h6)	57.00 (8)	–
17	Vladimir Selkov	RUS	55.87 (4 h5)	–	–		1
18	Chris Renaud	CAN	56.52 (7 h6)	–	–
=19	Derya Büyükuncu	TUR	56.71 (=2 h4)	–	–
=19	Volodymyr Nikolaichuk	UKR	56.71 (=2 h4)	–	–
21	Nicolae Butacu	ROU	56.73 (6 h5)	–	–
22	Eithan Urbach	ISR	56.74 (1 h3)	–	–
23	Jonathan Winter	NZL	56.92 (7 h5)	–	–
24	Rogério Romero	BRA	56.94 (4 h4)	–	–
25	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	56.96 (8 h5)	–	–
=26	Zhao Yi	CHN	57.17 (5 h4)	–	–
=26	Martin Harris	GBR	57.17 (6 h7)	–	–
28	Mindaugas Špokas	LTU	57.20 (7 h7)	–	–
29	Carlos Arena	MEX	57.40 (6 h4)	–	–
30	Nuno Laurentino	POR	57.59 (7 h4)	–	–
31	Raymond Papa	PHI	57.67 (2 h3)	–	–
32	Alex Lim	MAS	57.68 (1 h1)	–	–
33	Miroslav Machovič	SVK	57.78 (3 h3)	–	–
34	Tomislav Karlo	CRO	57.89 (4 h3)	–	–
35	Nicky Neckles	BAR	57.91 (1 h2)	–	–
36	Panagiotis Adamidis	GRE	58.12 (8 h4)	–	–
37	Rastislav Bizub	CZE	58.29 (5 h3)	–	–
38	Dulyarit Phuangthong	THA	58.32 (2 h2)	–	–
39	Kim Min-Seok	KOR	58.43 (3 h2)	–	–
40	Logi Jes Kristjánsson	ISL	58.53 (6 h3)	–	–
41	Adrian O'Connor	IRL	58.56 (7 h3)	–	–
42	Sergey Ushkalov	KAZ	58.61 (4 h2)	–	–
43	Artur Elizarov	MDA	59.24 (8 h3)	–	–
44	Nicolás Rajcevich	CHI	59.90 (5 h2)	–	–
45	Konstantin Pryakhin	KGZ	1:00.26 (2 h1)	–	–
46	Gerald Koh	SGP	1:00.29 (6 h2)	–	–
47	Mike Fung-a-Wing	SUR	1:01.24 (7 h2)	–	–
48	Leandro Jorge	MOZ	1:03.86 (3 h1)	–	–
49	Fahad Al-Otaibi	KUW	1:04.27 (8 h2)	–	–
50	Sitaram Shahi	NEP	1:14.58 (4 h1)	–	–
DNS	Jani Sievinen	FIN	– (DNS h6)	–	–
DNS	Aleksandr Popov	RUS	– (DNS h7)	–	–

Round One

Date	23 July 1996
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Jeff Rouse	USA	54.20	Q
2	–	Neisser Bent	CUB	54.83	Q
3	–	Rodolfo Falcón	CUB	55.29	Q
4	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	55.36	Q
5	–	Tripp Schwenk	USA	55.71	Q
6	–	Ralf Braun	GER	55.73	Q
7	–	Franck Schott	FRA	55.77	Q
8	–	Emanuele Merisi	ITA	55.82	Q
9	–	Vladimir Selkov	RUS	55.87	q
10	–	Rob Braknis	CAN	56.14	q
11	–	Mariusz Siembida	POL	56.16	q
12	–	Darius Grigalionis	LTU	56.20	q
13	–	Hajime Itoi	JPN	56.22	q
14	–	Stev Theloke	GER	56.26	q
15	–	Neil Willey	GBR	56.27	q
=16	–	Steven Dewick	AUS	56.35	q
=16	–	Keitaro Konnai	JPN	56.35	q
18	–	Chris Renaud	CAN	56.52
=19	–	Volodymyr Nikolaichuk	UKR	56.71
=19	–	Derya Büyükuncu	TUR	56.71
21	–	Nicolae Butacu	ROU	56.73
22	–	Eithan Urbach	ISR	56.74
23	–	Jonathan Winter	NZL	56.92
24	–	Rogério Romero	BRA	56.94
25	–	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	56.96
=26	–	Zhao Yi	CHN	57.17
=26	–	Martin Harris	GBR	57.17
28	–	Mindaugas Špokas	LTU	57.20
29	–	Carlos Arena	MEX	57.40
30	–	Nuno Laurentino	POR	57.59
31	–	Raymond Papa	PHI	57.67
32	–	Alex Lim	MAS	57.68
33	–	Miroslav Machovič	SVK	57.78
34	–	Tomislav Karlo	CRO	57.89
35	–	Nicky Neckles	BAR	57.91
36	–	Panagiotis Adamidis	GRE	58.12
37	–	Rastislav Bizub	CZE	58.29
38	–	Dulyarit Phuangthong	THA	58.32
39	–	Kim Min-Seok	KOR	58.43
40	–	Logi Jes Kristjánsson	ISL	58.53
41	–	Adrian O'Connor	IRL	58.56
42	–	Sergey Ushkalov	KAZ	58.61
43	–	Artur Elizarov	MDA	59.24
44	–	Nicolás Rajcevich	CHI	59.90
45	–	Konstantin Pryakhin	KGZ	1:00.26
46	–	Gerald Koh	SGP	1:00.29
47	–	Mike Fung-a-Wing	SUR	1:01.24
48	–	Leandro Jorge	MOZ	1:03.86
49	–	Fahad Al-Otaibi	KUW	1:04.27
50	–	Sitaram Shahi	NEP	1:14.58
DNS	–	Jani Sievinen	FIN	–
DNS	–	Aleksandr Popov	RUS	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Alex Lim	MAS	57.68	27.84 (1)	29.84 (1)
2	–	Konstantin Pryakhin	KGZ	1:00.26	28.16 (2)	32.10 (2)
3	–	Leandro Jorge	MOZ	1:03.86	30.46 (3)	33.40 (3)
4	–	Sitaram Shahi	NEP	1:14.58	35.47 (4)	39.11 (4)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Nicky Neckles	BAR	57.91	28.24 (2)	29.67 (1)
2	–	Dulyarit Phuangthong	THA	58.32	28.18 (1)	30.14 (4)
3	–	Kim Min-Seok	KOR	58.43	28.68 (3)	29.75 (2)
4	–	Sergey Ushkalov	KAZ	58.61	28.71 (4)	29.90 (3)
5	–	Nicolás Rajcevich	CHI	59.90	29.13 (6)	30.77 (5)
6	–	Gerald Koh	SGP	1:00.29	28.93 (5)	31.36 (6)
7	–	Mike Fung-a-Wing	SUR	1:01.24	29.24 (7)	32.00 (7)
8	–	Fahad Al-Otaibi	KUW	1:04.27	30.77 (8)	33.50 (8)

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Eithan Urbach	ISR	56.74	27.62 (2)	29.12 (1)
2	–	Raymond Papa	PHI	57.67	28.25 (4)	29.42 (2)
3	–	Miroslav Machovič	SVK	57.78	28.26 (5)	29.52 (4)
4	–	Tomislav Karlo	CRO	57.89	27.09 (1)	30.80 (7)
5	–	Rastislav Bizub	CZE	58.29	28.79 (7)	29.50 (3)
6	–	Logi Jes Kristjánsson	ISL	58.53	28.66 (6)	29.87 (5)
7	–	Adrian O'Connor	IRL	58.56	27.70 (3)	30.86 (8)
8	–	Artur Elizarov	MDA	59.24	28.92 (8)	30.32 (6)

Heat #4

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Darius Grigalionis	LTU	56.20	27.41 (=1)	28.79 (1)	q
=2	–	Volodymyr Nikolaichuk	UKR	56.71	27.79 (6)	28.92 (2)
=2	–	Derya Büyükuncu	TUR	56.71	27.41 (=1)	29.30 (5)
4	–	Rogério Romero	BRA	56.94	27.76 (5)	29.18 (4)
5	–	Zhao Yi	CHN	57.17	28.08 (8)	29.09 (3)
6	–	Carlos Arena	MEX	57.40	27.91 (7)	29.49 (6)
7	–	Nuno Laurentino	POR	57.59	27.42 (3)	30.17 (7)
8	–	Panagiotis Adamidis	GRE	58.12	27.73 (4)	30.39 (8)

Heat #5

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Neisser Bent	CUB	54.83	26.90 (1)	27.93 (1)	Q
2	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	55.36	27.31 (4)	28.05 (2)	Q
3	–	Franck Schott	FRA	55.77	27.54 (6)	28.23 (3)	Q
4	–	Vladimir Selkov	RUS	55.87	27.20 (3)	28.67 (4)	q
5	–	Neil Willey	GBR	56.27	27.05 (2)	29.22 (7)	q
6	–	Nicolae Butacu	ROU	56.73	27.85 (8)	28.88 (5)
7	–	Jonathan Winter	NZL	56.92	27.53 (5)	29.39 (8)
8	–	Tamás Deutsch	HUN	56.96	27.83 (7)	29.13 (6)

Heat #6

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Rodolfo Falcón	CUB	55.29	26.61 (1)	28.68 (1)	Q
2	–	Tripp Schwenk	USA	55.71	26.77 (2)	28.94 (4)	Q
3	–	Rob Braknis	CAN	56.14	27.11 (4)	29.03 (5)	q
4	–	Hajime Itoi	JPN	56.22	27.32 (6)	28.90 (3)	q
5	–	Stev Theloke	GER	56.26	26.96 (3)	29.30 (7)	q
6	–	Steven Dewick	AUS	56.35	27.16 (5)	29.19 (6)	q
7	–	Chris Renaud	CAN	56.52	27.64 (7)	28.88 (2)
DNS	–	Jani Sievinen	FIN	–	– (–)	–

Heat #7

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Jeff Rouse	USA	54.20	26.52 (1)	27.68 (1)	Q
2	–	Ralf Braun	GER	55.73	27.09 (4)	28.64 (2)	Q
3	–	Emanuele Merisi	ITA	55.82	27.07 (3)	28.75 (3)	Q
4	–	Mariusz Siembida	POL	56.16	27.13 (6)	29.03 (4)	q
5	–	Keitaro Konnai	JPN	56.35	27.05 (2)	29.30 (5)	q
6	–	Martin Harris	GBR	57.17	27.11 (5)	30.06 (7)
7	–	Mindaugas Špokas	LTU	57.20	27.56 (7)	29.64 (6)
DNS	–	Aleksandr Popov	RUS	–	– (–)	–

B Final

Date	23 July 1996

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Keitaro Konnai	JPN	55.74	27.41 (3)	28.33 (1)
2	–	Neil Willey	GBR	56.07	26.69 (1)	29.38 (7)
3	–	Hajime Itoi	JPN	56.23	27.52 (5)	28.71 (2)
4	–	Mariusz Siembida	POL	56.31	27.44 (4)	28.87 (4)
5	–	Darius Grigalionis	LTU	56.33	27.58 (8)	28.75 (3)
6	–	Stev Theloke	GER	56.63	27.34 (2)	29.29 (6)
7	–	Steven Dewick	AUS	56.82	27.57 (7)	29.25 (5)
8	–	Rob Braknis	CAN	57.00	27.55 (6)	29.45 (8)

Final Round

Date	23 July 1996

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	50 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Jeff Rouse	USA	54.10	26.30 (1)	27.80 (1)
2	–	Rodolfo Falcón	CUB	54.98	27.01 (7)	27.97 (2)
3	–	Neisser Bent	CUB	55.02	26.82 (3)	28.20 (3)
4	–	Martín López-Zubero	ESP	55.22	26.90 (5)	28.32 (4)
5	–	Tripp Schwenk	USA	55.30	26.76 (2)	28.54 (6)
6	–	Emanuele Merisi	ITA	55.53	26.89 (4)	28.64 (8)
7	–	Ralf Braun	GER	55.56	26.98 (6)	28.58 (7)
8	–	Franck Schott	FRA	55.76	27.35 (8)	28.41 (5)