Women's 50 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | ||||||||||||
Date | August 15, 2008 (heats) August 16, 2008(semifinals) August 17, 2008 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 92 from 83 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 24.06 OR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
Freestyle | ||
50 m | men | women |
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | women | |
1500 m | men | |
Backstroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Breaststroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Butterfly | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Individual medley | ||
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
Freestyle relay | ||
4 × 100 m | men | women |
4 × 200 m | men | women |
Medley relay | ||
4 × 100 m | men | women |
Marathon | ||
10 km | men | women |
The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15–17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. [1]
Germany's Britta Steffen blasted a new Olympic record to strike a sprint freestyle double. She posted a time of 24.06, the second-fastest ever in the event, to erase Inge de Bruijn's 2000 record, and to hold off U.S. swimmer Dara Torres in a close race by a hundredth of a second (0.01). [2] [3] Returning from an eight-year absence, Torres became the first woman in Olympic history to swim past the age of 40. [4] She established both a personal best and an American record of 24.07 to earn a silver medal and eleventh overall in her fifth Olympics since 1984. [5] Meanwhile, Australian teenager Cate Campbell picked up a bronze in 24.17, edging out her teammate Lisbeth Trickett (24.25) by 0.08 of a second. [6]
Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis finished fifth with a time of 24.26, and was followed in the sixth spot by American Kara Lynn Joyce in 24.63. Veldhuis' teammate Hinkelien Schreuder (24.65) and Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (24.77) rounded out the finale. [2]
Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Sweden's Therese Alshammar, four-time Olympian and silver medalist in Sydney eight years earlier, and Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppälä, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m freestyle. [7]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | Lisbeth Trickett (AUS) | 23.97 | Sydney, Australia | 29 March 2008 | [8] |
Olympic record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 24.13 | Sydney, Australia | 22 September 2000 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 17 | Final | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.06 | OR |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.43 | Q |
2 | 4 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.46 | Q |
3 | 5 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 24.47 | Q |
4 | 7 | Hinkelien Schreuder | Netherlands | 24.52 | Q |
5 | 1 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 24.63 | Q |
6 | 8 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.72 | Q |
7 | 6 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.80 | |
8 | 2 | Malia Metella | France | 24.89 |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Dara Torres | United States | 24.27 | Q |
2 | 4 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.42 | Q |
3 | 6 | Zhu Yingwen | China | 24.76 | |
4 | 3 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.86 | |
5 | 1 | Li Zhesi | China | 24.90 | |
6 | 2 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.96 | |
7 | 7 | Arlene Semeco | Venezuela | 25.05 | |
8 | 8 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 25.19 |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.06 | OR | |
4 | Dara Torres | United States | 24.07 | AM | |
5 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.17 | ||
4 | 2 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 24.25 | |
5 | 6 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.26 | |
6 | 1 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 24.63 | |
7 | 7 | Hinkelien Schreuder | Netherlands | 24.65 | |
8 | 8 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.77 |
Lisbeth Constance Trickett, OAM is a retired Australian swimmer. She was a gold medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the world record holder in the short-course (25m) 100-metre freestyle.
Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.
Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events. Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medals and 20 European championships gold medals. In the Olympics, she won a bronze medal in London 2012 in the 50 m freestyle, as well as three relay medals: bronze in Athens 2004, gold in Beijing 2008, and silver in London 2012.
Britta Steffen is a German competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle sprint events.
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