Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle
| Men's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the IV Olympiad
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| Venue | White City Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Dates | July 13–16 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 25 from 10 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Henry Taylor |
 Great Britain
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Frank Beaurepaire |
 Australasia
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Otto Scheff |
 Austria
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The men's 400 metre freestyle was one of six swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the median of the 3 individual freestyle event distances. It was the first time an event over 400 metres was held at the Olympics (after a 440-yard contest was held in 1904). The competition was held from Monday July 13, 1908 to Thursday July 16, 1908.
Twenty-five swimmers from ten nations competed.
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.
(*) 440 yards (= 402.34 m)
In the final Henry Taylor set the first official world record for this distance in 5:36.8 minutes.
The fastest swimmer in each heat and the fastest loser advanced, qualifying 10 swimmers for the semifinals.
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Tartakover had no competition in the third heat.
Heat 4
Heat 5
Heat 6
Heat 7
Heat 8
Zachár had no competition in the eighth heat.
Heat 9
The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
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