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

This was the only appearance of a 500-metre freestyle event, with 1900 having 200- and 1000-metre events and the now-standard 400 metre event debuting in 1904 (in 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. ==Results==