Swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre freestyle
| Men's 100 metre freestyle at the Games of the V Olympiad
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| Venue | Djurgårdsbrunnsviken | ||||||||||||
| Dates | July 6–10 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 34 from 12 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Duke Kahanamoku |
 United States
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Cecil Healy |
 Australasia
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Ken Huszagh |
United States
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The men's 100 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the third appearance of the event, which had not been featured at the 1900 Games. The competition was held from Saturday July 6, 1912, to Wednesday July 10, 1912.
Thirty-four swimmers from twelve nations competed.
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.
(*) 100 yards (= 91.44 m)
In the fourth heat Perry McGillivray set a new Olympic record with 1:04.8 minutes. In the fifth heat Duke Kahanamoku bettered the Olympic record of 1:02.6 minutes. Finally Duke Kahanamoku improved the Olympic record with a time of 1:02.4 minutes in the third semi-final heat.
The fastest two in each heat advanced. A tie for second in the seventh heat resulted in both swimmers advancing. In addition, the fastest third-place swimmer from across the heats also qualified for the quarterfinals.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Heat 4
Heat 5
Heat 6
Heat 7
Heat 8
Again, the top two in each heat advanced along with the fastest loser overall. Four of the qualified swimmers did not take part in their quarterfinal heats, and a fifth (Massa) did not appear due to a misunderstanding. Massa was later allowed to take part in the semifinals.
Quarterfinal 1
Quarterfinal 2
Quarterfinal 3
Further confusion struck the semifinals. Under the belief that the second round of the competition had been the semifinals, the American swimmers did not appear for the third round. This led to both semifinals being essentially walkovers, as the first had three swimmers and the second only one. Since the top two swimmers of each and the fastest third-place swimmer would advance, all four competitors had secured a place in the final before entering the water. Longworth swam in the first heat, despite suffering from what the official report referred to as "suppuration in the head".
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Wikipedia