Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Men's 100 metre freestyle at the Games of the IV Olympiad | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Venue | White City Stadium | |||||||||
Dates | 17 July 20 July | |||||||||
Competitors | 34 from 12 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 1:05.6 WR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The men's 100 metre freestyle was one of six swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was the shortest of the three individual freestyle events, as the 50 yard freestyle had been dropped after its one appearance on the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. The 100 metre event was contested for the third time after it had been held at the 1896 and 1906 Olympics. The 1904 Olympics saw a 100-yard event. The competition was held on Friday 17 July 1908 and Monday 20 July 1908. Thirty-four swimmers from twelve nations competed. Each nation was limited to 12 swimmers.[2]
The event was won by Charles Daniels of the United States, the first time Hungary had been beaten in the event (excluding Intercalated Games). Zoltán Halmay of Hungary, the winner in 1900, finished second. Harald Julin's bronze was Sweden's first medal in the event.
These were the first Olympic Games in which a 100-metre pool had been especially constructed (inside the main stadium's track and field oval). Previous Olympic events were swum in open water (1896: The Mediterranean Sea, 1900: The Seine River, 1904: an artificial lake).[citation needed]