50 metres freestyle
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Seoul | Matt Biondi | Tom Jager | Gennadiy Prigoda |
| United States | United States | Soviet Union | |
| 1992 Barcelona | Alexander Popov | Matt Biondi | Tom Jager |
| Unified Team | United States | United States | |
| 1996 Atlanta | Alexander Popov | Gary Hall Jr. | Fernando Scherer |
| Russia | United States | Brazil | |
| 2000 Sydney | Anthony Ervin | none awarded | Pieter van den Hoogenband |
| United States | Netherlands | ||
| Gary Hall Jr. | |||
| United States | |||
| 2004 Athens | Gary Hall Jr. | Duje Draganja | Roland Mark Schoeman |
| United States | Croatia | South Africa | |
| 2008 Beijing | César Cielo | Amaury Leveaux | Alain Bernard |
| Brazil | France | France | |
| 2012 London | Florent Manaudou | Cullen Jones | César Cielo |
| France | United States | Brazil | |
| 2016 Rio | Anthony Ervin | Florent Manaudou | Nathan Adrian |
| United States | France | United States | |
| 2020 Tokyo | |||
100 metres freestyle
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1896 Athens | Alfréd Hajós | Otto Herschmann | none awarded |
| Hungary | Austria | ||
| 1900–1904 | not included in the Olympic program | ||
| 1908 London | Charles Daniels | Zoltán Halmay | Harald Julin |
| United States | Hungary | Sweden | |
| 1912 Stockholm | Duke Kahanamoku | Cecil Healy | Ken Huszagh |
| United States | Australasia | United States | |
| 1920 Antwerp | Duke Kahanamoku | Pua Kealoha | Bill Harris |
| United States | United States | United States | |
| 1924 Paris | Johnny Weissmuller | Duke Kahanamoku | Samuel Kahanamoku |
| United States | United States | United States | |
| 1928 Amsterdam | Johnny Weissmuller | István Bárány | Katsuo Takaishi |
| United States | Hungary | Japan | |
| 1932 Los Angeles | Yasuji Miyazaki | Tatsugo Kawaishi | Albert Schwartz |
| Japan | Japan | United States | |
| 1936 Berlin | Ferenc Csik | Masanori Yusa | Shigeo Arai |
| Hungary | Japan | Japan | |
| 1948 London | Wally Ris | Alan Ford | Géza Kádas |
| United States | United States | Hungary | |
| 1952 Helsinki | Clarke Scholes | Hiroshi Suzuki | Göran Larsson |
| United States | Japan | Sweden | |
| 1956 Melbourne | Jon Henricks | John Devitt | Gary Chapman |
| Australia | Australia | Australia | |
| 1960 Rome | John Devitt | Lance Larson | Manuel dos Santos |
| Australia | United States | Brazil | |
| 1964 Tokyo | Don Schollander | Robert McGregor | Hans-Joachim Klein |
| United States | Great Britain | United Team of Germany | |
| 1968 Mexico City | Michael Wenden | Ken Walsh | Mark Spitz |
| Australia | United States | United States | |
| 1972 Munich | Mark Spitz | Jerry Heidenreich | Vladimir Bure |
| United States | United States | Soviet Union | |
| 1976 Montreal | Jim Montgomery | Jack Babashoff | Peter Nocke |
| United States | United States | West Germany | |
| 1980 Moscow | Jörg Woithe | Per Holmertz | Per Johansson |
| East Germany | Sweden | Sweden | |
| 1984 Los Angeles | Rowdy Gaines | Mark Stockwell | Per Johansson |
| United States | Australia | Sweden | |
| 1988 Seoul | Matt Biondi | Chris Jacobs | Stéphan Caron |
| United States | United States | France | |
| 1992 Barcelona | Alexander Popov | Gustavo Borges | Stéphan Caron |
| Unified Team | Brazil | France | |
| 1996 Atlanta | Alexander Popov | Gary Hall Jr. | Gustavo Borges |
| Russia | United States | Brazil | |
| 2000 Sydney | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Alexander Popov | Gary Hall Jr. |
| Netherlands | Russia | United States | |
| 2004 Athens | Pieter van den Hoogenband | Roland Mark Schoeman | Ian Thorpe |
| Netherlands | South Africa | Australia | |
| 2008 Beijing | Alain Bernard | Eamon Sullivan | César Cielo |
| France | Australia | Brazil | |
| Jason Lezak | |||
| United States | |||
| 2012 London | Nathan Adrian | James Magnussen | Brent Hayden |
| United States | Australia | Canada | |
| 2016 Rio | Kyle Chalmers | Pieter Timmers | Nathan Adrian |
| Australia | Belgium | United States | |
| 2021 Tokyo | |||