Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle
The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband stormed home on the final lap to claim his second Olympic gold medal at these Games. He posted a time of 48.30 to hold off Russia's defending Olympic champion Alexander Popov by almost two-fifths of a second. Failing to attain a third straight triumph in the same event, Popov settled only for the silver in 48.69. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. powered home with a bronze in 48.73.
After breaking a split world record in the 4×100 m freestyle relay on the opening night, Australia's overwhelming favorite Michael Klim missed out the podium in a close race against Hall by a hundredth of a second, finishing with a time of 48.74. Klim was followed in fifth by Hall's teammate Neil Walker, and in sixth by Sweden's three-time Olympian Lars Frölander. Russia's Denis Pimankov and another Aussie Chris Fydler rounded out the finale.
Earlier in the semifinals, Van den Hoogenband cleared a 48-second barrier to set a new world record of 47.84, slashing 0.34 seconds off the mark set by Klim from the relay.
One of the most popular highlights in the event took place in the first heat. Dubbed as Eric the Eel, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani received a dubious honor of being the slowest Olympic swimmer in history. Two other swimmers, Niger's Karim Bare and Tajikistan's Farkhod Oripov, plunged into the pool and were cast out of the race under a no false-start rule, leaving Moussambani as the last man standing. Cheering by a large crowd, he finished a one-man heat in 1:52.72, nearly seven seconds slower than a winning time by Van den Hoogenband over double the distance a day before.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 19 September | Semifinal 2 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | 47.84 |
Competition format
The competition returned to the three-round format used from 1948 to 1980, abandoning the A/B final format used between 1984 and 1996. The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.Results
Heats
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 9 | 4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | 48.64 | Q | |
| 2 | 10 | 5 | Michael Klim | 49.09 | Q | |
| 3 | 10 | 6 | Lars Frölander | 49.16 | Q, NR | |
| 4 | 10 | 4 | Alexander Popov | 49.29 | Q | |
| 5 | 9 | 5 | Gary Hall, Jr. | 49.32 | Q | |
| 6 | 8 | 2 | Denis Pimankov | 49.45 | Q | |
| 6 | 8 | 5 | Chris Fydler | 49.45 | Q | |
| 8 | 9 | 7 | Salim Iles | 49.70 | Q, NR | |
| 9 | 8 | 4 | Neil Walker | 49.73 | Q | |
| 10 | 10 | 2 | Lorenzo Vismara | 49.74 | Q | |
| 10 | 10 | 1 | Roland Mark Schoeman | 49.74 | Q | |
| 12 | 10 | 8 | José Meolans | 49.75 | Q, NR | |
| 13 | 9 | 3 | Gustavo Borges | 49.76 | Q | |
| 13 | 8 | 7 | Christian Tröger | 49.76 | Q | |
| 15 | 9 | 6 | Attila Zubor | 49.79 | Q | |
| 16 | 7 | 8 | Duje Draganja | 49.83 | Q, NR | |
| 17 | 10 | 7 | Bartosz Kizierowski | 49.84 | ||
| 18 | 8 | 6 | Johan Kenkhuis | 49.93 | ||
| 19 | 8 | 1 | Stefan Nystrand | 50.19 | ||
| 19 | 9 | 2 | Karel Novy | 50.19 | ||
| 21 | 6 | 3 | Peter Mankoč | 50.28 | ||
| 22 | 8 | 3 | Romain Barnier | 50.32 | ||
| 23 | 7 | 2 | Rolandas Gimbutis | 50.46 | ||
| 24 | 6 | 1 | Kim Min-suk | 50.49 | ||
| 25 | 7 | 4 | Torsten Spanneberg | 50.56 | ||
| 26 | 9 | 8 | Yannick Lupien | 50.62 | ||
| 27 | 8 | 8 | Pavlo Khnykin | 50.63 | ||
| 28 | 7 | 3 | Javier Botello | 50.87 | ||
| 29 | 7 | 5 | Craig Hutchison | 50.90 | ||
| 30 | 9 | 1 | Aleh Rukhlevich | 50.96 | ||
| 30 | 7 | 1 | Marcos Hernández | 50.96 | ||
| 32 | 7 | 7 | Thierry Wouters | 51.07 | ||
| 33 | 7 | 6 | Jere Hård | 51.11 | ||
| 34 | 6 | 5 | Spyridon Bitsakis | 51.28 | ||
| 34 | 6 | 8 | Sergey Ashihmin | 51.28 | ||
| 36 | 4 | 2 | Carl Probert | 51.34 | NR | |
| 37 | 6 | 7 | Richard Sam Bera | 51.52 | ||
| 38 | 6 | 6 | Yoav Bruck | 51.62 | ||
| 39 | 5 | 1 | Nikola Kalabić | 51.82 | ||
| 40 | 4 | 5 | Christopher Murray | 51.93 | ||
| 40 | 5 | 2 | Allen Ong | 51.93 | ||
| 42 | 5 | 7 | George Gleason | 52.00 | ||
| 43 | 4 | 7 | Indrek Sei | 52.09 | ||
| 44 | 4 | 6 | Tamer Hamed | 52.14 | ||
| 45 | 5 | 3 | Květoslav Svoboda | 52.18 | ||
| 46 | 3 | 4 | Paul Kutscher | 52.22 | ||
| 47 | 4 | 8 | Fernando Jácome | 52.24 | ||
| 47 | 4 | 4 | Mark Chay | 52.24 | ||
| 49 | 6 | 2 | Željko Panić | 52.40 | ||
| 50 | 6 | 4 | Francisco Sánchez | 52.43 | ||
| 51 | 3 | 2 | Howard Hinds | 52.52 | ||
| 52 | 4 | 3 | Glen Walshaw | 52.53 | ||
| 53 | 5 | 6 | Igor Sitnikov | 52.57 | ||
| 54 | 3 | 3 | Aleksandr Agafonov | 52.58 | ||
| 55 | 5 | 4 | Wu Nien-pin | 52.72 | ||
| 56 | 5 | 5 | Felipe Delgado | 52.78 | ||
| 57 | 5 | 8 | Chrysanthos Papachrysanthou | 52.82 | ||
| 58 | 3 | 5 | Ríkardur Ríkardsson | 52.85 | ||
| 59 | 3 | 6 | George Bovell | 52.90 | ||
| 60 | 3 | 1 | Gentle Offoin | 52.91 | NR | |
| 61 | 3 | 7 | Kenny Roberts | 53.40 | ||
| 62 | 4 | 1 | Rodrigo Olivares | 53.50 | ||
| 63 | 2 | 3 | Gregory Arkhurst | 53.55 | ||
| 64 | 3 | 8 | Alejandro Castellanos | 54.06 | ||
| 65 | 2 | 4 | Hamid Reza Mobarez | 54.12 | ||
| 66 | 2 | 5 | Christophe Lim Wen Ying | 54.33 | ||
| 67 | 2 | 6 | Ganaagiin Galbadrakh | 58.79 | ||
| 68 | 2 | 2 | Ragi Edde | 59.26 | ||
| 69 | 2 | 7 | Marien Michel Ngouabi | 1:00.39 | ||
| 70 | 2 | 1 | Dawood Youssef Mohamed Jassim | 1:02.45 | ||
| 71 | 1 | 5 | Eric Moussambani | 1:52.72 | NR | |
| 1 | 3 | Karim Bare | ||||
| 1 | 4 | Farkhod Oripov | ||||
| 10 | 3 | Fernando Scherer |
Semifinals
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | 47.84 | , | |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Michael Klim | 48.80 | ||
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Alexander Popov | 48.84 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Lars Frölander | 48.93 | , NR | |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | Neil Walker | 49.04 | ||
| 6 | 2 | 3 | Gary Hall, Jr. | 49.13 | ||
| 7 | 1 | 3 | Denis Pimankov | 49.43 | ||
| 8 | 2 | 6 | Chris Fydler | 49.55 | ||
| 9 | 2 | 8 | Attila Zubor | 49.58 | ||
| 10 | 1 | 7 | José Meolans | 49.66 | NR | |
| 11 | 1 | 2 | Lorenzo Vismara | 49.67 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 8 | Duje Draganja | 49.67 | NR | |
| 13 | 1 | 6 | Salim Iles | 49.70 | =NR | |
| 14 | 1 | 1 | Christian Tröger | 49.80 | ||
| 15 | 2 | 7 | Roland Mark Schoeman | 49.84 | ||
| 16 | 2 | 1 | Gustavo Borges | 49.93 |