Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle

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Women's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 13, 2008 (heats)
August 14, 2008(semifinals)
August 15, 2008 (final)
Competitors49 from 41 nations
Winning time53.12 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Silver medal icon.svg Lisbeth Trickett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
Bronze medal icon.svg Natalie Coughlin Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  2004
2012  

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–15 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. [1]

Germany's Britta Steffen blasted a new Olympic record to claim a gold medal in the event. Coming from eighth place in the turn, she posted a time of 53.12 to edge out Australia's world record holder and top favorite Lisbeth Trickett by 0.04 of a second. Swimming in lane eight, Trickett earned a silver with an outside record time of 53.16. [2] [3] [4] She narrowly reached the final as the eighth seed, when China's Pang Jiaying was disqualified for a false start in the semifinals. [5] Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin powered home with a bronze in a matching American record of 53.39 for the second consecutive Olympics. It was Coughlin's fifth medal of these Games, matching her total from Athens four years earlier. [6]

Competing at her third straight Olympics with Steffen, Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppälä finished outside the medals in fourth place at 53.97. Earlier, she posted a top-seeded time of 53.60 from the sixth heat to lead the prelims. [7] She was followed in fifth place by Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen (54.06), and host nation China's Zhu Yingwen, who shared a sixth-place tie with the Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis in 54.21. Great Britain's Francesca Halsall (54.29) closed out the field. [2]

Records

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

World recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Lisbeth Trickett  (AUS)52.88 Sydney, Australia 27 March 2008 [8]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Jodie Henry  (AUS)53.52 Athens, Greece 18 August 2004-

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 10Final leadoff* Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 53.38 OR
August 15Final Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 53.12 OR

* Olympic record split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
163 Hanna-Maria Seppälä Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 53.60Q, NR
264 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 53.67Q
365 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 53.76Q
475 Natalie Coughlin Flag of the United States.svg  United States 53.82Q
556 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 53.93Q
674 Lisbeth Trickett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 53.99Q
766 Pang Jiaying Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 54.01Q, =AS
77 Zhu Yingwen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Q, =AS
945 Jeanette Ottesen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 54.04Q
1062 Josefin Lillhage Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 54.07Q
1173 Malia Metella Flag of France.svg  France 54.12Q
1257 Aliaksandra Herasimenia Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 54.52Q
1354 Cate Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 54.55Q
1453 Lacey Nymeyer Flag of the United States.svg  United States 54.62Q
1576 Erica Morningstar Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 54.66Q
1667 Petra Dallmann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 54.70Q*
71 Julia Wilkinson Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
1852 Alena Popchanka Flag of France.svg  France 54.86
1978 Tatiana Barbosa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 55.01
2061 Agata Ewa Korc Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 55.14 NR
2168 Lize-Mari Retief Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 55.17
2243 Anna Gostomelsky Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 55.18
2351 Martina Moravcová Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 55.20
2455 Inge Dekker Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 55.23
2544 Anastasia Aksenova Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 55.29
2633 Hannah Wilson Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 55.32
2748 Darya Stepanyuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 55.51
2834 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 55.61
2932 Birgit Koschischek Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 55.62
3042 Arlene Semeco Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 55.70
3158 Jana Klusáčková Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 55.92
3231 Chang Hee-jin Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 55.96
3347 Triin Aljand Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 56.10
3425 Quah Ting Wen Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 56.14
3535 Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 56.35
3638 Anna Stylianou Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 56.38
3737 Eleni Kosti Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 56.44
3841 Miroslava Najdanovski Flag of Serbia (2004-2010).svg  Serbia 56.50
3926 Natthanan Junkrajang Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 56.56
4024 Orsolya Tompa Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 56.57
4127 Christel Simms Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 56.67 NR
4246 Maria Laura Simonetto Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 56.72
4323 Nieh Pin-chieh Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg  Chinese Taipei 57.28
4436 Nina Sovinek Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 57.30
4514 Madeleine Scerri Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 57.97 NR
4622 Irina Shlemova Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan 58.77
4715 Elena Popovska Flag of Macedonia.svg  Macedonia 59.93
4816 Olga Hachatryan Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan 1:14.77
72 Caitlin McClatchey Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain DNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
15 Natalie Coughlin Flag of the United States.svg  United States 53.70Q
26 Zhu Yingwen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 53.84Q, AS
34 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 53.96Q
43 Lisbeth Trickett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 54.10Q
52 Josefin Lillhage Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 54.59
61 Lacey Nymeyer Flag of the United States.svg  United States 54.74
78 Petra Dallmann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 55.05
87 Aliaksandra Herasimenia Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 55.31

Semifinal 2

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
15 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 53.81Q
24 Hanna-Maria Seppälä Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 53.84Q
33 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 53.94Q
42 Jeanette Ottesen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 54.05Q
57 Malia Metella Flag of France.svg  France 54.20
61 Cate Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 54.54
78 Erica Morningstar Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 55.36
6 Pang Jiaying Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China DSQ

Note: Lisbeth Trickett advanced to the final only when Chinese swimmer Pang Jiaying, who had finished first in the semifinals, was disqualified for a false start.

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg7 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 53.12 OR
Silver medal icon.svg8 Lisbeth Trickett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 53.16
Bronze medal icon.svg4 Natalie Coughlin Flag of the United States.svg  United States 53.39 =AM
46 Hanna-Maria Seppälä Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 53.97
51 Jeanette Ottesen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 54.06
63 Zhu Yingwen Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 54.21
5 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
82 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 54.29

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References

  1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Worst to First, Britta Steffen Wins 100 Free in Olympic Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. "Steffen wins first swimming gold for Germany". NBC Olympics. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  4. "Steffen edges Trickett for gold". BBC Sport. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. Lohn, John (13 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Natalie Coughlin Tops 100 Free Semis". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  6. "Coughlin claims bronze in 100 free". NBC News. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  7. Lohn, John (13 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppala Leads Qualifying in Women's 100 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  8. "Trickett, Sullivan set pool alight". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 February 2008. Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.