The greatest swimming race of all time

It was at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the men’s 200m freestyle final.

It pitted four of the fastest swimmers ever over that distance, all imposing figures at that:

Ian “Thorpedo” Thorpe, 21, 1.96m, former world record holder of this event.

Pieter van den “The Flying Dutchman” Hoogenband, 26, 1.93m, 93kg, reigning Olympic champion and former world record holder.

Michael Phelps, 19, 1.93m, 88 kg, rising star who was on a quest for an unprecedented 8 golds in one Olympiad.

Grant Hackett, 24, 1.97m, 89kg, former world record holder of this event.

How did the race go:

Thorpe in lane 5, van den Hoogenband in lane 4, Phelps in lane 3 & Hackett in lane 2.

Van den Hoogenband started in his usual way: blinding pace, controlling the first 100 m, but in the last 100, Thorpe was able to catch up, and a perfect turn on the final wall enabled him to pass his great Dutch rival.

2 hours after winning the race, Thorpe said he wanted to race the other 2 again in Beijing. Sadly, it was not to be as he retired in 2006, citing lack of motivation.

Result:

1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:44.71, Olympic Record
2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:45.23, bettered Olympic Record
3. Michael Phelps, United States 1:45.32, US Record, bettered Olympic Record
4. Klete Keller, United States 1:46.13
5. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:46.56
6. Rick Say, Canada 1:47.55
7. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:48.02
8. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:48.40

At that time, the world record was 1:44.06, set by Thorpe in 2001. It would only be broken almost 6 years later by none other than Phelps at 1:43.86 in March 2007.

At that time, the Olympic record was 1:45.35 set by van den Hoogenband in 2000.

Source
The BBC, 17th Aug 2004