Medalists
| Gold |
 Alain Bernard
France (FRA) |
| Silver |
 Eamon Sullivan
Australia (AUS) |
| Bronze |
 Jason Lezak
United States (USA) |
 César Cielo Filho
Brazil (BRA) |
ecords
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World Record |
Alain Bernard (FRA) |
47.50 |
Eindhoven, Netherlands |
22 March 2008 |
| Olympic Record |
Pieter van den Hoogenband (NED) |
47.84 |
Sydney, Australia |
19 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date |
Event |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
OR |
WR |
| 12 August |
4×100 m relay heat 1 lead off |
Amaury Leveaux |
France |
47.76 |
OR |
|
| 12 August |
4×100 m relay final lead off |
Eamon Sullivan |
Australia |
47.24 |
OR |
WR |
| 13 August |
Semifinal 1 |
Alain Bernard |
France |
47.20 |
OR |
WR |
| 13 August |
Semifinal 2 |
Eamon Sullivan |
Australia |
47.05 |
OR |
WR |
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
3 |
Emile Rony Bakale |
Congo |
55.08 |
|
| 2 |
4 |
Miguel Angel Navarro |
Bolivia |
56.96 |
|
| 3 |
5 |
Sofyan El Gadi |
Libya |
57.89 |
|
Heat 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Jan Roodzant |
Aruba |
51.69 |
|
| 2 |
3 |
Mikayel Koloyan |
Armenia |
51.89 |
|
| 3 |
2 |
Gael Adam |
Mauritius |
52.35 |
|
| 4 |
5 |
Carl Probert |
Fiji |
52.37 |
|
| 5 |
4 |
Roy-Allan Burch |
Bermuda |
52.65 |
|
| 6 |
7 |
Obaid Ahmed Aljesmi |
United Arab Emirates |
53.29 |
|
Heat 3
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Virdhawal Khade |
India |
50.07 |
|
| 2 |
2 |
Romans Miloslavskis |
Latvia |
50.40 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
Terrence Haynes |
Barbados |
50.50 |
|
| 4 |
7 |
Alexandr Sklyar |
Kazakhstan |
51.24 |
|
| 5 |
6 |
Namgyun Lim |
South Korea |
51.80 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Petr Romashkin |
Uzbekistan |
51.83 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Christopher Duenas |
Guam |
52.64 |
|
Heat 4
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Jason Dunford |
Kenya |
49.06 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or |
Israel |
49.10 |
|
| 3 |
6 |
Peter Mancok |
Slovenia |
49.33 |
|
| 4 |
1 |
Ryan Pini |
Papua New Guinea |
49.72 |
|
| 5 |
3 |
Matti Rajakyla |
Finland |
49.91 |
|
| 6 |
8 |
Aristeidis Grigoriadis |
Greece |
50.62 |
|
| 7 |
2 |
Norbert Trandafir |
Romania |
50.74 |
|
| 8 |
7 |
Danil Haustov |
Estonia |
50.92 |
|
Heat 5
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Martin Verner |
Czech Republic |
48.95 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Balázs Makány |
Hungary |
49.27 |
|
| 2 |
7 |
Paulius Viktoravicius |
Lithuania |
49.27 |
|
| 4 |
1 |
Shaune Fraser |
Cayman Islands |
49.56 |
|
| 5 |
2 |
Martin Kutscher |
Uruguay |
50.08 |
|
| 6 |
3 |
Stanislav Neverovsky |
Belarus |
50.14 |
|
| 7 |
4 |
Tiago Venancio |
Portugal |
50.30 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Orn Arnarson |
Iceland |
50.68 |
|
Heat 6
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
8 |
George Bovell III |
Trinidad and Tobago |
48.83 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Albert Subirats Atles |
Venezuela |
48.97 |
|
| 3 |
1 |
Zuo Chen |
China |
49.08 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Nabil Kebbab |
Algeria |
49.38 |
|
| 5 |
2 |
Jose Martin Meolans |
Argentina |
49.50 |
|
| 6 |
7 |
Yuriy Yegoshin |
Ukraine |
49.56 |
|
| 7 |
4 |
Mitja Zastrow |
Netherlands |
49.61 |
|
| 8 |
6 |
Hisayoshi Sato |
Japan |
49.85 |
|
Heat 7
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Brent Hayden |
Canada |
47.84 |
Q |
| 2 |
8 |
Milorad Čavić |
Serbia |
48.15 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
Filippo Magnini |
Italy |
48.30 |
Q |
| 4 |
4 |
Jason Lezak |
United States |
48.33 |
Q |
| 5 |
5 |
Fabien Gilot |
France |
48.42 |
Q |
| 6 |
7 |
Dominik Meichtry |
Switzerland |
48.55 |
Q |
| 7 |
1 |
Yoris Grandjean |
Belgium |
48.82 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Duje Draganja |
Croatia |
49.49 |
|
Heat 8
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Eamon Sullivan |
Australia |
47.80 |
Q |
| 2 |
5 |
Stefan Nystrand |
Sweden |
47.83 |
Q |
| 3 |
6 |
Pieter Van Den Hoogenband |
Netherlands |
47.97 |
Q |
| 4 |
3 |
César Cielo Filho |
Brazil |
48.16 |
Q |
| 5 |
2 |
Andrey Grechin |
Russia |
48.50 |
Q |
| 6 |
8 |
Christian Galenda |
Italy |
48.55 |
Q |
| 7 |
1 |
Joel Greenshields |
Canada |
49.04 |
|
| 8 |
7 |
Ryk Neethling |
South Africa |
49.28 |
|
Heat 9
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Alain Bernard |
France |
47.85 |
Q |
| 2 |
5 |
Garrett Weber-Gale |
United States |
48.19 |
Q |
| 3 |
7 |
Lyndon Ferns |
South Africa |
48.26 |
Q |
| 4 |
6 |
Matt Targett |
Australia |
48.40 |
Q |
| 5 |
8 |
Jonas Persson |
Sweden |
48.51 |
Q |
| 6 |
3 |
Evgeniy Lagunov |
Russia |
48.59 |
|
| 7 |
1 |
Jakob Schioett Andkjaer |
Denmark |
49.25 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Steffen Deibler |
Germany |
49.39 |
|
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Alain Bernard |
France |
47.20 |
Q, WR |
| 2 |
4 |
Stefan Nystrand |
Sweden |
47.91 |
Q |
| 3 |
2 |
Jason Lezak |
United States |
47.98 |
Q |
| 4 |
6 |
Lyndon Ferns |
South Africa |
48.00 |
Q, AF |
| 5 |
3 |
César Cielo Filho |
Brazil |
48.07 |
Q |
| 6 |
8 |
Christian Galenda |
Italy |
48.47 |
|
| 7 |
1 |
Jonas Persson |
Sweden |
48.59 |
|
| 8 |
7 |
Fabien Gilot |
France |
49.00 |
|
Semifinal 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Eamon Sullivan |
Australia |
47.05 |
Q, WR |
| 2 |
3 |
Pieter van den Hoogenband |
Netherlands |
47.68 |
Q |
| 3 |
7 |
Matt Targett |
Australia |
47.88 |
Q |
| 4 |
2 |
Filippo Magnini |
Italy |
48.11 |
S |
| 5 |
6 |
Garrett Weber-Gale |
> United States |
48.12 |
S |
| 6 |
5 |
Brent Hayden |
Canada |
48.20 |
|
| 7 |
1 |
Andrey Grechin |
Russia |
48.71 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Dominik Meichtry |
Switzerland |
49.58 |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| |
5 |
Alain Bernard |
France |
47.21 |
|
| |
4 |
Eamon Sullivan |
Australia |
47.32 |
|
| |
7 |
Jason Lezak |
United States |
47.67 |
|
| |
8 |
César Cielo Filho |
Brazil |
47.67 |
|
| 5 |
3 |
Pieter van den Hoogenband |
Netherlands |
47.75 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Lyndon Ferns |
South Africa |
48.04 |
|
| 7 |
6 |
Matt Targett |
Australia |
48.20 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Stefan Nystrand |
Sweden |
48.33 |
|
|
