Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's 500 metre freestyle

The men's 500 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme.

Only three swimmers entered the 500 metre freestyle. Paul Neumann added Austria's first gold medal to Herschmann's silver. Alfréd Hajós, the winner of the 100m, had intended to sweep the three open swimming events, but did not compete in the 500m because it was begun immediately after the 100 metres. Chorophas was the only swimmer to compete in all three events.

Background
This was the only appearance of a 500-metre freestyle event, with 1900 having 200- and 1000-metre events: the now-standard 400-metre event debuted in 1904 (as 440 yards for that Games only).

Competition format
This freestyle swimming competition involved a single race, with all swimmers competing at the same time. The swimmers were taken out by ship into the bay, where they would swim toward shore.

Schedule
The 500 metre freestyle was the third of the swimming events, held shortly after the 100 metre freestyle and the sailor-only 100 metre freestyle.