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Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

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Men's 1500 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 15, 2008 (heats)
August 17, 2008 (final)
Competitors37 from 29 nations
Winning time14:40.84 AF
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Grant Hackett  Australia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ryan Cochrane  Canada
← 2004
2012 →

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

The winning margin was 0.69 seconds which as of 2023 remains the only time this event was won by less than one second at the Olympics.

Competing at his third Games, Oussama Mellouli made an Olympic milestone to become Tunisia's first ever gold medalist in 48 years. He denied Australia's Grant Hackett a third straight title in the event, touching the wall first in an African record of 14:40.84. Hanging with the leaders through the first two-thirds of the race, Mellouli moved into the lead at the 1,100-metre mark, and held off Hackett's sprinted finish on the final lap. This was also a retribution for Mellouli, who served an 18-month doping ban from FINA for using the banned stimulant Adderall.[2][3][4]

Trying to become the first male swimmer to win three gold medals in the same event, Hackett collected a silver in 14:41.53.[5] Meanwhile, Canada's Ryan Cochrane powered home with a bronze in 14:42.69, finishing ahead of Russia's Yuri Prilukov (14:43.21). U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen, silver medalist in Athens four years earlier, placed fifth with a time 14:48.16, and was followed in the sixth spot by Great Britain's David Davies in 14:52.11.[3][6] Chinese duo Zhang Lin (14:55.20) and Sun Yang (15:05.12) rounded out the finale.[4]

Earlier in the prelims, Cochrane established a new Olympic record of 14:40.84 in heat three, until Hackett cleared the 14:40 barrier, and lowered the record to 14:38.92 in the final heat of five.[7]

Records

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Grant Hackett was the world record holder and aiming to be the first male to complete a hat-trick in swimming events.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Grant Hackett (AUS) 14:34.56 Fukuoka, Japan 29 July 2001 [8]
Olympic record  Grant Hackett (AUS) 14:43.40 Athens, Greece 21 August 2004 -

The following new Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 15 Heat 3 Ryan Cochrane  Canada 14:40.84 OR
August 15 Heat 5 Grant Hackett  Australia 14:38.92 OR

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 5 Grant Hackett  Australia 14:38.92 Q, OR
2 3 5 Ryan Cochrane  Canada 14:40.84 Q, AM
3 3 4 Yuri Prilukov  Russia 14:41.13 Q, EU
4 5 6 Zhang Lin  China 14:45.84 Q, AS
5 3 3 David Davies  Great Britain 14:46.11 Q
6 4 6 Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia 14:47.76 Q
7 4 2 Sun Yang  China 14:48.39 Q
8 5 3 Larsen Jensen  United States 14:49.53 Q
9 4 4 Mateusz Sawrymowicz  Poland 14:50.30
10 4 5 Federico Colbertaldo  Italy 14:51.44
11 5 4 Peter Vanderkaay  United States 14:52.11
12 5 1 Spyridon Gianniotis  Greece 14:53.32 NR
13 2 3 Nicolas Rostoucher  France 15:00.58
14 2 5 Mads Glæsner  Denmark 15:03.33
15 4 3 Craig Stevens  Australia 15:04.82
16 3 6 Park Tae-Hwan  South Korea 15:05.55
17 4 7 Samuel Pizzetti  Italy 15:07.02
18 3 7 Takeshi Matsuda  Japan 15:09.17
19 5 8 Gergő Kis  Hungary 15:09.67
20 2 2 Tom Vangeneugden  Belgium 15:11.04 NR
21 1 5 Florian Janistyn  Austria 15:12.46 NR
22 5 7 Troyden Prinsloo  South Africa 15:12.64
23 3 1 Sergey Fesenko  Ukraine 15:13.03
24 2 4 Maciej Hreniak  Poland 15:16.16
25 3 8 Richard Charlesworth  Great Britain 15:17.27
26 4 8 Marcos Rivera  Spain 15:18.98
27 3 2 Sébastien Rouault  France 15:21.14
28 2 1 Dragoș Coman  Romania 15:24.05
29 2 7 Fernando Costa  Portugal 15:26.21
30 1 3 Petar Stoychev  Bulgaria 15:28.84
31 5 2 Nikita Lobintsev  Russia 15:35.47
32 1 6 Ryan Arabejo  Philippines 15:42.77
33 2 8 Ricardo Monasterio  Venezuela 15:45.98
34 1 4 Juan Martín Pereyra  Argentina 15:49.57
35 1 2 Ediz Yildirimer  Turkey 16:28.79
2 6 Christian Kubusch  Germany DNS
4 1 Luka Turk  Slovenia DNS

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 7 Oussama Mellouli  Tunisia 14:40.84 AF
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 Grant Hackett  Australia 14:41.53
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Ryan Cochrane  Canada 14:42.69
4 3 Yuri Prilukov  Russia 14:43.21
5 8 Larsen Jensen  United States 14:48.16
6 2 David Davies  Great Britain 14:52.11
7 6 Zhang Lin  China 14:55.20
8 1 Sun Yang  China 15:05.12

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Mellouli shatters Hackett's hat-trick bid". South China Morning Post. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Mellouli claims 1500m swim gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Ous Mellouli Claims Olympic Gold for Tunisia in Men's 1500 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ Colman, Mike (17 August 2008). "Grant Hackett gives his all for silver medal in 1500m". The Australian. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  6. ^ Goffa, Debbie (17 August 2008). "Larsen Jensen places 5th in 1500m freestyle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  7. ^ Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Grant Hackett Leads 1500 Free Qualifying With Olympic Standard". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Hackett shatters world record". BBC News. 29 July 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
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