In the lead-up to the Men's 200 metre freestyle Final at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the race was billed as The Race of the Century due to its significance and high-class field.

The final contained the four fastest men in the event in history: Ian Thorpe

Ian Thorpe

Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, world record holder in the event at the time), Pieter van den Hoogenband

Pieter van den Hoogenband

Pieter Cornelis Ruud Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch former swimmer and a triple Olympic champion.-Personal life:...

 (Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, aiming to defend his title from Sydney), Grant Hackett

Grant Hackett

Grant Hackett OAM is an Australian former swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, former world record holder in the event) and Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps

Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...

 (USA).

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World Record	Ian Thorpe Ian Thorpe Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...  (AUS)	Fukuoka, Japan	1:44.06 s	25 July 2001
Olympic Record	Pieter van den Hoogenband Pieter van den Hoogenband Pieter Cornelis Ruud Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch former swimmer and a triple Olympic champion.-Personal life:... (NED)	Sydney, Australia	1:45.35 s	18 September 2000

Heat Rankings

1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:47.22 -Q
2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:47.32 -Q
3. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.95 -Q
4. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.97 -Q
5. Michael Phelps, United States 1:48.43 -Q
6. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:48.68 -Q
7. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:48.90 -Q
8. Jens Schreiber, Germany 1:49.00 -Q
9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.25 -Q
10. Rick Say, Canada 1:49.32 -Q
11. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:49.45 -Q
12. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.48 -Q
13. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.54 -Q
14. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:49.56 -Q
15. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.60 -Q
16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:49.91 -Q
17. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.01
18. Jacob Carstensen, Denmark 1:50.15
19. Stefan Herbst, Germany 1:50.23
20. Rodrigo Castro, Brazil 1:50.27
21. Saulius Binevicius, Lithuania 1:50.50
22. Peter Mankoc, Slovenia 1:50.72
23. Romans Miloslavskis, Latvia 1:50.83
24. Maxim Kuznetsov, Russia 1:50.93
25. Nicolas Rostoucher, France 1:50.96
26. Dominik Koll, Austria 1:51.36
27. Dmytro Vereitinov, Ukraine 1:51.38
28. Josh Ilika Brenner, Mexico 1:51.66
29. Luis Monteiro, Portugal 1:51.78
30. Łukasz Drzewiński, Poland 1:51.90
31. Mihail Alexandrov, Bulgaria 1:52.12
32. Tamas Szucs, Hungary 1:52.26
33. Kyu-Chul Han, Korea 1:52.28
34. Damian Alleyne, Barbados 1:52.89
35. Aleksandar Malenko, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 1:53.00
36. Mahrez Mebarek, Algeria 1:53.00
37. Yahor Salabutau, Belarus 1:53.03
38. Albert Subirats, Venezuela 1:53.11
39. Giancarlo Zolezzi, Chile 1:53.18
40. Juan Martín Pereyra, Argentina 1:53.19
41. Shaune Fraser, Cayman Islands 1:53.19
42. Miguel Molina, Philippines 1:53.81
43. Zhang Lin, China 1:53.84
44. Alexandros Aresti, Cyprus 1:53.90
45. Martín Kutscher, Uruguay 1:53.91
46. Andrea Beccari, Italy 1:54.00
47. Te Tung Chen, Chinese Taipei 1:54.14
48. Igor Erhartic, Serbia and Montenegro 1:54.21
49. Stepan Pinciuc, Republic of Moldova 1:54.56
50. Anouar Ben Naceur, Tunisia 1:54.69
51. Mark Chay, Singapore 1:54.70
52. Aytekin Mindan, Turkey 1:55.65
53. Adil Bellaz, Morocco 1:55.79
54. Mario Delac, Croatia 1:55.82
55. Vitaliy Khan, Kazakhstan 1:56.11
56. Diego Mularoni, San Marino 1:56.18
57. Petr Vasilev, Uzbekistan 1:56.93
58. Zurab Khomasuridze, Georgia 1:58.02
59. Ruslan Ismailov, Kyrgyzstan 2:01.53

Semi-final 1

1. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:46.00
2. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.28
3. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:47.72
4. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.27
5. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.49
6. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.76
7. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:50.02
8. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.61

Semi-final 2

1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:46.65
2. Michael Phelps, United States 1:47.08
3. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:47.61
4. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.93
5. Rick Say, Canada 1:48.16
6. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.59
7. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:50.00
8. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:51.35

Semi-final rankings

1. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:46.00 -Q
2. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:46.65 -Q
3. Michael Phelps, United States 1:47.08 -Q
4. Klete Keller, United States 1:47.28 -Q
5. Grant Hackett, Australia 1:47.61 -Q
6. Simon Burnett, Great Britain 1:47.72 -Q
7. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy 1:47.93 -Q
8. Rick Say, Canada 1:48.16 -Q
9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic 1:49.27
10. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan 1:49.49
11. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago 1:49.59
12. Andreas Zisimos, Greece 1:49.76
13. Brent Hayden, Canada 1:50.00
14. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland 1:50.02
15. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain 1:50.61
16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia 1:51.35

Final

1. Ian Thorpe, Australia 1:44.71 Olympic Record
2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands 1:45.23
3. Michael Phelps, United States 1:45.32 American 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