Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 1200 metre freestyle

Men's 1200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Men's 1200 metre freestyle; at the Games of the I Olympiad
	Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Venue	Bay of Zea
Date	April 11
Competitors	6 from 4 nations
Winning time	18:22.2
Medalists

The men's 1200 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.

The final swimming race was the longest. Despite having already won the 100 metre race, Hajós competed again in the 1200 metres along with five other swimmers: he won this race, finishing nearly 100 metres clear of the rest of the field. Neumann, who had won the 500 metres, was unable to finish the 1200 metres.

The finishing places of Williams and the two Greeks are unknown, as is the first name of one of the Greeks.

Background

This was the only appearance of a 1200-metre event. The 1900 Games had a 1000-metre freestyle, before the 1 mile (1609.344-metre)/1500-metre length became standard in 1904.^[1]

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition involved a single race, with all swimmers competing at the same time. The swimmers were taken out by ship into the bay, where they would swim toward shore.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Schedule

The 1,200 metre freestyle was the fourth and final swimming event.^[2]

Date		Time	Round
Gregorian	Julian	Time	Round
Saturday, 11 April 1896	Saturday, 30 March 1896	11:00	Final

Results

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	Alfréd Hajós	Hungary	18:22.2
	Ioannis Andreou	Greece	21:03.4
3–5	Efstathios Chorafas	Greece	Unknown
	N. Katravas	Greece	Unknown
	Gardner Williams	United States	Unknown
—	Paul Neumann	Austria	DNF

References

^ ^a ^b "1,200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b Official Report, part 2, p. 97.
^ "Athens 1896 Swimming 1200m Freestyle Men Result". Olympics.com. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J. & Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at [1])
Mallon, Bill & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at [2])
Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.

[Olympedia-1] "1,200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.

[OR97-2] Official Report, part 2, p. 97.

[3] "Athens 1896 Swimming 1200m Freestyle Men Result". Olympics.com. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

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