Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 1200 metre freestyle

The men's 1200 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.

Men's 1200 metre freestyle at the Games of the I Olympiad
Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Venue	Bay of Zea
Date	April 11
Competitors	9 from 4 nations
Winning time	18:22.2
Medalists
Alfréd Hajós  Hungary Ioannis Andreou  Greece Efstathios Chorafas  Greece

The final swimming race was the longest. Despite having already won the 100 metre race, Hajós competed again in the 1,200 metres along with eight other swimmers. He won once again, finishing nearly 100 metres ahead of the rest of the field. Neumann, who had won the 500 metres, was unable to finish the 1,200. The places of Williams and the four Greeks who did not finish in the top three are unknown, as are the full names of all four of those Greeks and any part of the names of three of them.

Background

This was the only appearance of a 1200 metre event. The 1900 Games had a 1000 metre freestyle before the 1 mile/1500 metre length became standard in 1904.[1]

Competition format

This freestyle swimming competition involved a single race, with all swimmers competing at the same time. The swimmers were taken out by ship into the bay, where they would swim toward shore.[1][2]

Schedule

The 1,200 metre freestyle was the fourth and final swimming event.[2]

Date		Time	Round
Gregorian	Julian
Saturday, 11 April 1896	Saturday, 30 March 1896	11:00	Final

Results

Rank	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	Alfréd Hajós	Hungary	18:22.2
	Ioannis Andreou	Greece	21:03.4
	Efstathios Chorafas	Greece	Unknown
4–8	N. Kartavas	Greece	Unknown
	Gardner Williams	United States	Unknown
	Three others, names unknown	Greece	Unknown
—	Paul Neumann	Austria	DNF

References

1. "1,200 metres Freestyle, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
2. Official Report, part 2, p. 97.

• Lampros, S.P.; Polites, N.G.; De Coubertin, Pierre; Philemon, P.J. & Anninos, C. (1897). The Olympic Games: BC 776 – AD 1896. Athens: Charles Beck. (Digitally available at )
• Mallon, Bill & Widlund, Ture (1998). The 1896 Olympic Games. Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0379-9. (Excerpt available at )
• Smith, Michael Llewellyn (2004). Olympics in Athens 1896. The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games. London: Profile Books. ISBN 1-86197-342-X.