The men's 500 meter freestyle swimming competition at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens was held on April 11th. The competition took place in the Bay of Zea . Olympic champion was the Austrian Paul Neumann by a large margin . The Greek Antonios Pepanos took second place and won silver. Pepano's compatriot Efstathios Chorafas was the only athlete to take part in the 100-meter freestyle competition due to the cold and the short distance between the races. Choraphas took third place.
The swimmers were brought out to sea with a ship, where the start was between two buoys. The athletes swam to the bank, where the finish line was marked with a red flag.
Swimming competitions at the 
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