The Closest Finishes In Olympic History

by Corey He 22

November 09th, 2024 International, News

While the Paris Olympics are now in the rear view mirror, the competition brought us two of the closest finishes we have ever seen in Olympic swimming. With that in mind, weā€™re now taking a look at some of the closest finishes that weā€™ve ever witnessed on the Olympic swimming stage.

Of course, there are many ways you can go about quantifying this: you can look at the time differential across the podium (from 1st to 3rd); you can look at the time differential between 1st and 8th place; or you can take a ratio of either of these prior methods over the total time swum to get some percentage.

Iā€™m a fan of simplicity, though, and so weā€™ll go with the first method and look at the gap (in seconds) from 1st to 3rd place ā€” just so we donā€™t get too complicated with the numbers. Letā€™s cap the time differential at 0.20 seconds for nowā€¦

Thank you to Daniel Takata for verifying the data.

Paris 2024: Menā€™s 100 Breaststroke

Podium Spread: 0.02s

*Note: The top 4 were separated by just 0.08s ā€” with Germanyā€™s Melvin Imoudu in 4th (59.11).

Rio 2016: Womenā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.04s

*Note: The top 6 were separated by just 0.12s ā€” with Great Britainā€™s Francesca Halsall in 4th (24.13), Australiaā€™s Cate Campbell in 5th (24.15), and the Netherlandsā€™ Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 6th (24.19).

Sydney 2000: Menā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.05s

*Note: The top 6 were separated by just 0.26s ā€” with Italyā€™s Lorenzo Visrama in 4th (22.11), Polandā€™s Bartosz Kizierowski in 5th (22.22), and Russiaā€™s Alexander Popov in 6th (22.24).

Paris 2024: Menā€™s 200 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.07s

*Note: The top 4 were separated by just 0.15s ā€” with Great Britainā€™s Duncan Scott in 4th (1:44.87).

Athens 2004: Menā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.09s

*Note: The top 5 were separated by just 0.18s ā€” with Swedenā€™s Stefan Nystrand in 4th (22.08) and the U.S.ā€™s Jason Lezak in 5th (22.11).

Rio 2016: Menā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.09s

Barcelona 1992: Menā€™s 100 Butterfly

Podium Spread: 0.09s

Atlanta 1996: Womenā€™s 100 Butterfly

Podium Spread: 0.10s

Athens 2004: Menā€™s 100 Butterfly

Podium Spread: 0.11s

Beijing 2008: Womenā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.11s

*Note: The top 5 were separated by just 0.20s ā€” with Australiaā€™s Lisbeth Trickett in 4th (24.25) and the Netherlandsā€™ Marleen Veldhuis in 5th (24.26).

Tokyo 2020: Womenā€™s 100 Butterfly

Podium Spread: 0.13s

*Note: The top 4 were separated by just 0.14s ā€” with the U.S.ā€™s Torri Huske in 4th (55.73).

Seoul 1988: Menā€™s 100 Backstroke

Podium Spread: 0.15s

Los Angeles 1984: Womenā€™s 100 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.16s

*Note: This is just one of two instances in the history of the womenā€™s 100 freestyle where we saw a dead heat in an Olympic final ā€” the other being Rio 2016.

Atlanta 1996: Menā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.16s

*Note: The top 4 were separated by just 0.20s ā€” with Chinaā€™s Jiang Chengji in 4th (22.33).

Seoul 1988: Menā€™s 100 Breaststroke

Podium Spread: 0.16s

*Note: This is the smallest margin of victory ever in an Olympic 100m breaststroke final.

Paris 2024: Womenā€™s 100 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.17s

*Note: The top 4 were separated by just 0.18s ā€” with Australiaā€™s Molly Oā€™Callaghan in 4th (52.34).

Beijing 2008: Menā€™s 50 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.19s

*Note: While the top 3 were decided by 0.19, the rest of the field was decided by just a tenth (21.62 earned 4th, while 21.72 earned 8th).

Melbourne 1956: Womenā€™s 100 Backstroke

Podium Spread: 0.20s

  • Gold: 1:12.9, Judy Grinham (Great Britain)
  • Silver: 1:12.9, Carin Cone (U.S.)
  • Bronze: 1:13.1, Margaret Edwards (Great Britain)

Rome 1960: Menā€™s 100 Freestyle

Podium Spread: 0.20s

*Note: This race also happens to be one of the most controversial race results and is often credited as one of the races that paved the way for touchpads. You can find more details about this race here.

Hereā€™s a quick recap on these close racesā€¦

  • Most Common Podium Spread: 0.09s and 0.17s (3 times each)
  • Most Common Event: 50 freestyle (7 times)
  • Most Common Event NOT the 50 Freestyle: 100 butterfly (5 times)
  • Smallest Margin of Victory: 0.00s (dead heat)

On the whole, who doesnā€™t like close races ā€” especially those races that have you at the edge of your seat, with all the medals truly up for grabs as the swimmers duel it out in the last 5 meters? Speaking on behalf of myself, I personally live for close races.

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Connor
29 days ago

Wow, so Anthony Ervin was collectively 0.01 away from getting no gold medals. Wowsers

Not Andrew
Reply to  Connor
28 days ago

.02

gary hall sr
Reply to  Connor
27 days ago

And Gary Jr also won two gold medals by the sum total of .01 seconds. And who said swimming is not a detail sport?

1978wzlyrah
1 month ago

What about Michael Phelps’ 2008 100 fly win? Was 3rd place far behind Phelps & Cavic?

memesupreme
Reply to  1978wzlyrah
1 month ago

Andrew Lauterstein of AUS 0.54 behind Phelps

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  memesupreme
1 month ago

with crocker 0.01 behind in 4th

1978wzlyrah
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
29 days ago

Thank you!

nealnan8
1 month ago

What about the 1972 Olympics – Men’s 400IM? Gunnar Larson beat Tin McKee by .002. I always thought that this was the closest finish in Olympic swimming history. I am going by memory, so hope I’m not wrong.

Walter
Reply to  nealnan8
1 month ago

Thank you.

DerbyContender
1 month ago

For the 1984 womenā€™s 100 free, the scoreboard showed a winner based on thousandths of a second. It took a few minutes for the officials to remember that the rules stated that the .001-.009 was to be disregarded. Hogshead and Steinseiffer realized they were tied before the officials did.

In the 2016 menā€™s 100 fly, you can see who of the three who tied for silver (Phelps, Cheh, leClos) actually hit first, since the TV animations of the places were tied to the Omega system by computer. The ā€œ2ndā€ popped up on the TV in order. Omega still measures down to the .001-.009, with computer code that disregards the thousandths for scoreboard display. The TV animations had not been… Read more Ā»

Last edited 1 month ago by DerbyContender
Argentina on top šŸ‡¦šŸ‡·
Reply to  DerbyContender
29 days ago

What about the womenā€™s 100 free in Rio?

Do you know if it was Oleksiak or Manuel who touched first?

DerbyContender

Manuel. But by the rules, they tied. Omega technicians have secured the paper printout to keep it away from public scrutiny. Not that it matters.

BillPark
1 month ago

What about Suriname Anthony Nesty 100 fly

Spieker Pool Lap Swimmer
Reply to  BillPark
1 month ago

In that race, Nesty out touched Biondi by .01 but third place was about .3 seconds behind those two. Andy Jameson from the UK if I recall correctly.

Khase Calisz
Reply to  BillPark
1 month ago

Wow exact same name as the Florida head coach!

Beach Boy
1 month ago

Crazy to think that PvDH was only 0.05s away from winning the 50,100, and 200. The 100 200 double is already a once in a lifetime achievement but doing all 3 could be a feat as rare as 2 individual golds in 1 night (Like marchand 2024)

Derek
Reply to  Beach Boy
1 month ago

I’d say Popovici could have a chance to replicate this at LA 2028 but I think he’d probably have better cancer in the 400m free than the 50.

Derek
Reply to  Derek
29 days ago

OMG I hate the autocorrect so much smh.

Derek
Reply to  Beach Boy
1 month ago

I could see Popovici going for a freestyle three-peat at LA28 but I think he’d have bigger chances in the 400m free than the 50.

DK99
1 month ago

Too soon šŸ‡¬šŸ‡§ šŸ˜”

Konner Scott
1 month ago

Iā€™d be curious to see the spread weighted by the distance. For example, the 200 free from Paris had a .07 spread, but that would become .175 per 50- which I think is a more valuable metric

Pea brain
Reply to  Konner Scott
1 month ago

They already did that Iā€™m pretty sure