The Men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place between August 12 and 14 at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated. Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool. Nine heats were held, with most containing the maximum number of swimmers. The heat in which a swimmer competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the swimmers with the top sixteen times from the entire field qualified for the semifinals. Two semifinal heats of eight swimmers each were held. The swimmers with the eight fastest times again advanced to the finals; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements. The qualifying norms were for the 2008 event were 49.23 seconds and 50.95 seconds. NOCs with two or more swimmers meeting the A standard could enter any two such swimmers; otherwise, they could enter a single swimmer meeting the B standard. Wikipedia [ - ]

The Men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place between August 12 and... [ + ]