The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. There were 73 competitors from 66 nations. Nations have been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games. Summary Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband stormed home on the final length to claim his second Olympic gold medal at these Games. He posted a time of 48.30 to hold off Russia's defending Olympic champion Alexander Popov by almost two-fifths of a second (0.40). It was the Netherlands' first medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle. Failing to attain a third straight triumph in the same event, Popov settled for the silver in 48.69. Popov became only the second man to win three medals in the 100 metre freestyle, the first since Duke Kahanamoku in 1912–1924. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. took bronze with a 48.73 time. Hall was the 11th man to win two medals in the event. After breaking a split world record in the 4×100 m freestyle relay on the opening night, Australia's overwhelming favorite Michael Klim missed out the podium in a close race against Hall by a hundredth of a second, finishing with a time of 48.74. Klim was followed in fifth by Hall's teammate Neil Walker (49.09), and in sixth by Sweden's three-time Olympian Lars Frölander (49.22). Russia's Denis Pimankov (49.36) and another Aussie Chris Fydler (49.44) rounded out the finale. Earlier in the semifinals, Van den Hoogenband cleared a 48-second barrier to set a new world record of 47.84, slashing 0.34 seconds off the mark set by Klim from the relay. One of the most popular highlights in the event took place in the first heat. Dubbed as Eric the Eel, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani received a dubious honor of being the slowest Olympic swimmer in history. Two other swimmers, Niger's Karim Bare and Tajikistan's Farkhod Oripov, plunged into the pool and were cast out of the race under a no false-start rule, leaving Moussambani as the last man standing. Cheered by a large crowd, he finished a one-man heat in 1:52.72, nearly seven seconds slower than a winning time by Van den Hoogenband over double the distance a day before. Background This was the 23rd appearance of the men's 100 metre freestyle. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1900 (when the shortest freestyle