By Ben Dornan on SwimSwam
2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
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Caeleb Dressel has delivered his 4th gold medal performance of the meet, topping the podium in the men’s 50 freestyle with a 21.07 to take out the Olympic record. The mark was held previously by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo who swam a 21.30 for gold back in 2008.
Dressel was close to that 21.30 record during his first 2 50 freestyles in Tokyo where he hit a 21.30 in the finals and 21.42 during semis.
Dressel was joined on the podium by 2012 Olympic Champion Florent Manaudou and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus who touched with a 21.55 for silver and 21.57 for bronze, respectively. Dressel won the event by 0.48 seconds which is the largest margin by which a men’s Olympic 50 freestyle has been won in history.
Notably, the amount of time between Dressel’s and Manaudou’s finish here is more than the sum of the last 6 Olympic 50 freestyle victory margins.
| Gold | Silver | Margin | |
| Seoul 1988 | Matt Biondi, USA – 22.14 | Tom Jager, USA – 22.36 | 0.22 |
| Barcelona 1992 | Aleksander Popov, Unified Team – 21.91 | Matt Biondi, USA – 22.09 | 0.18 |
| Atlanta 1996 | Aleksander Popov, Russia – 22.13 | Gary Hall, Jr., USA – 22.16 | 0.13 |
| Sydney 2000 | (TIE) Anthony Ervin, USA – 21.98/Gary Hall, Jr., USA – 21.98 | — | |
| Athens 2004 | Gary Hall, Jr., USA – 21.93 | Duje Draganja, Croatia – 21.94 | 0.01 |
| Beijing 2008 | Cesar Cielo, Brazil – 21.30 | Amaury Leveaux, France – 21.45 | 0.15 |
| London 2012 | Florent Manaudou, France – 21.34 | Cullen Jones, USA – 21.54 | .20 |
| Rio 2016 | Anthony Ervin, USA – 21.40 | Florent Manaudou, France – 21.41 | 0.01 |
| Tokyo 2020 | Caeleb Dressel, USA – 21.07 | Florent Manaduou, France – 21.55 | 0.48 |
The widest margin that had been seen in the event’s Olympic history prior to Dressel’s win was the 0.22 seconds that Matt Biondi won by in 1988. During the first-ever Olympic 50 freestyle final, Biondi won with a 22.12 to American teammate Tom Jager.
2020 silver medalist Florent Manaudou of France now holds the third-highest win margin of 0.20 seconds from back in 2012 when he took gold with a 21.34 to American Cullen Jones‘ 21.54. Manaudou has now delivered a podium finish in the 50 freestyle at 3 straight Games, having followed his 2012 win with a silver medal in 2016.
Manaudou’s 2016 time of 21.41 for silver was just 0.01 seconds slower than Anthony Ervin of the USA who won gold with a 21.41. That 0.01 is tied for the narrowest margin in Olympic 50 freestyle history that Gary Hall Jr. won with in 2004. Hall won the event with a 21.93 to Duje Draganja of Croatia’s 21.94.
This marks Caeleb Dressel‘s 4th gold medal of the Games, adding to his 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 4×100 freestyle relay wins. This win also represents the 6th Olympic gold medal that Dressel has won, having contributed to the USA’s 4×100 free and 4×100 medley relay wins in 2016.
While he downed Cielo’s Olympic record, Dressel wasn’t quite fast enough to beat the Brazilian’s 2009 world record of 20.91. The swim was Dressel’s 3rd fastest performance in history and was the 5th fastest 50 freestyle swim in history. He now holds 3 of the top times in the history of the event.
Men’s 50 Freestyle All-time Performances
- Cesar Cielo (BRA) – 21.91 (2009)
- Frederick Bousquet (FRA) – 20.94 (2009)
- Caeleb Dressel / Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 21.04 (2019/2021)
- Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 21.07 (2021)
- Cesar Cielo (BRA) – 21.08 (2009)
- Ben Proud (GBR) – 21.11 (2018)
- Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 21.15 (2017)
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Caeleb Dressel Breaks 50 Freestyle Olympic Record, Wins 4th Gold Medal