Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

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Women's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue London Aquatics Centre
DatesAugust 3, 2012 (heats &
semifinals)
August 4, 2012 (final)
Competitors73 from 64 nations
Winning time24.05 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Ranomi Kromowidjojo
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
Silver medal icon.svg Aliaksandra Herasimenia
Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus
Bronze medal icon.svg Marleen Veldhuis
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
  2008
2016  

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 3–4 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]

Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo smashed a new Olympic record to strike a fourth sprint freestyle double in history, since East German Kristin Otto did so in 1988, her fellow countrywoman Inge de Bruijn in 2000, and Germany's defending champion Britta Steffen in 2008. She blistered the field with a sterling time and a textile best in 24.05 to slice off Steffen's previous Olympic record by a hundredth of a second (0.01). [2] [3] Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia added a second silver to her Olympic hardware in a national record of 24.28, while Kromowidjojo's teammate Marleen Veldhuis edged out the scorching Steffen (24.46) by 0.07 seconds to snatch the bronze in 24.39, handing over an entire medal haul for the Dutch squad with a one–three finish. [4] [5]

Great Britain's home favorite Francesca Halsall finished behind Steffen by a fingertip with a fifth-place time in 24.47. [6] Meanwhile, Sweden's Therese Alshammar shook off a pinched nerve injury to officially compete in her fifth Olympics, but managed only to claim a sixth spot in 24.61. [5] U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy (24.62) and the Bahamas' Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (24.69) rounded out the field in a splash-and-dash finale. [5] [7]

Notable swimmers missed the top-eight final including Aussie sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell, defending bronze medalist; and Halsall's teammate Amy Smith, who finished outside the roster by 16-hundredths of a second with a ninth-place time in 24.87. [8] [9] Earlier on the morning prelims, Smith picked up a sixteenth spot in a most exciting three-way swim-off against U.S. sprinter Kara Lynn Joyce and Iceland's Sarah Blake Bateman after they each posted a matching time of 25.28. [10] [11]

Records

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

World recordFlag of Germany.svg  Britta Steffen  (GER)23.73 Rome, Italy 2 August 2009 [12] [13]
Olympic recordFlag of Germany.svg  Britta Steffen  (GER)24.06 Beijing, China 17 August 2008 [14]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 4Final Ranomi Kromowidjojo Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.05 OR

Results

Heats

[15]

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
1104 Ranomi Kromowidjojo Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.51Q
2105 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.57Q
394 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 24.61Q
495 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 24.70Q
593 Aliaksandra Herasimenia Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 24.76Q
684 Therese Alshammar Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 24.77Q
7102 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 24.85Q
106 Jeanette Ottesen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Q
983 Bronte Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 24.87Q
1085 Cate Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 24.94Q
96 Sarah Sjöström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Q
12103 Jessica Hardy Flag of the United States.svg  United States 24.99Q
1387 Theodora Drakou Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 25.13Q
1497 Victoria Poon Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 25.15Q
1598 Anna Santamans Flag of France.svg  France 25.23Q
1676 Sarah Blake Bateman Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 25.28QSO
86 Kara Lynn Joyce Flag of the United States.svg  United States QSO
92 Amy Smith Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain QSO
19107 Triin Aljand Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 25.33
20101 Sviatlana Khakhlova Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 25.36
2182 Nery Mantey Niangkouara Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 25.40
2281 Graciele Herrmann Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 25.44
2372 Hayley Palmer Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 25.47
2463 Zhu Qianwei Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 25.54
91 Pernille Blume Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
2654 Rūta Meilutytė Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 25.55 NR
65 Hanna-Maria Seppälä Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
2874 Arlene Semeco Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 25.56
2977 Vanessa García Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 25.58
3073 Anna Dowgiert Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 25.59
3178 Jolien Sysmans Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 25.60
3266 Erika Ferraioli Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 25.69
33108 Darya Stepanyuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 25.70
3475 Burcu Dolunay Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 25.72
3588 Yayoi Matsumoto Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 25.73
3671 Trudi Maree Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 25.78
3768 Alia Atkinson Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 25.98
3862 Miroslava Syllabová Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 26.07
3953 Gabriela Ņikitina Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 26.26
4055 Chinyere Pigot Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 26.30
4161 Farida Osman Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 26.34
4267 Miroslava Najdanovski Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 26.46
4356 Nicola Muscat Flag of Malta.svg  Malta 27.22
4452 Jessica Teixeira Vieira Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 27.39
4557 Talita Baqlah Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan 27.45
4642 Joyce Tafathata Flag of Malawi.svg  Malawi 27.74
4745 Judith Meauri Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 27.84
4851 Faye Sultan Flag of Kuwait.svg  Kuwait 27.92 NR
4944 Ann-Marie Hepler Flag of the Marshall Islands.svg  Marshall Islands 28.06
5043 Keesha Keane Flag of Palau.svg  Palau 28.25
5146 Sabine Hazboun Flag of Palestine.svg  Palestine 28.28
5258 Jamila Lunkuse Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 28.44
5348 Antoinette Guedia Mouafo Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 29.28
5447 Celeste Brown Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands 29.36
5533 Karin O'Reilly Clashing Flag of Antigua and Barbuda.svg  Antigua and Barbuda 30.01
5626 Debra Daniel Flag of the Federated States of Micronesia.svg  Federated States of Micronesia 30.32
5736 Hemthon Vitiny Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia 30.44
5835 Alphonsine Agahozo Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda 30.72
5932 Nada Arkaji Flag of Qatar.svg  Qatar 30.89
6034 Katerina Izmaylova Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan 31.27
6141 Mariana Henriques Flag of Angola.svg  Angola 31.36
6237 Fatoumata Samassekou Flag of Mali.svg  Mali 31.88
6324 Angelika Ouedraogo Flag of Burkina Faso.svg  Burkina Faso 32.19
6438 Aminath Shajan Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives 32.23
6531 Yanet Seyoum Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 32.41
6623 Assita Toure Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast 33.09
6722 Elsie Uwamahoro Flag of Burundi.svg  Burundi 33.14
6825 Sara Al Flaij Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain 33.81
6927 Aminata Aboubakar Yacoub Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  Republic of the Congo 34.64
7021 Mhasin Fadlalla Flag of Sudan.svg  Sudan 35.07
7114 Nafissatou Moussa Adamou Flag of Niger.svg  Niger 37.29
7215 Adzo Kpossi Flag of Togo.svg  Togo 37.55
7313 Masempe Theko Flag of Lesotho.svg  Lesotho 42.35 NR
64 Eszter Dara Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DNS

Qualification swim-off

[16]

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
13 Amy Smith Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 24.82Q
25 Kara Lynn Joyce Flag of the United States.svg  United States 25.16
34 Sarah Blake Bateman Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 26.03

Semifinals

[17]

Semifinal 1

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
14 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.50Q
25 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 24.57Q
36 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 24.64Q, NR
47 Jessica Hardy Flag of the United States.svg  United States 24.68Q
53 Therese Alshammar Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 24.71Q
68 Amy Smith Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 24.87
72 Cate Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 25.01
81 Victoria Poon Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 25.17

Semifinal 2

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
14 Ranomi Kromowidjojo Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.07Q
23 Aliaksandra Herasimenia Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 24.45Q, NR
35 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 24.63Q
42 Bronte Campbell Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 24.94
8 Anna Santamans Flag of France.svg  France
66 Jeanette Ottesen Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 24.99
77 Sarah Sjöström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 25.08
81 Theodora Drakou Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 25.28

Final

[18]

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Ranomi Kromowidjojo Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.05 OR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Aliaksandra Herasimenia Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus 24.28 NR
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Marleen Veldhuis Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 24.39
46 Britta Steffen Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 24.46
52 Francesca Halsall Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 24.47
68 Therese Alshammar Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 24.61
71 Jessica Hardy Flag of the United States.svg  United States 24.62
87 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Flag of the Bahamas.svg  Bahamas 24.69

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