The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 2 to 3 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[1] Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each competitor had to swim 16 lengths of the pool.
In the final, Ledecky led from beginning to end to win with a time of 8:11.04. Titmus finished second with a new Oceanic record of 8:12.29, Madden finished third with 8:13.00 and Quadarella finished fourth with a new Italian record of 8:14.55. Ledecky's win made her the first female Olympic swimmer to win the same event at four successive Olympics, and gave her her ninth gold medal, which meant she was tied for the female Olympian with the most gold medals.
Background
The USA's defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky had won the event at the previous three Olympics, and held the 16 fastest times ever recorded in the event, which were topped by her 8:04.79 world record set at the 2016 Olympics.[2] She also held the fastest Olympic qualifying time of 8:07.07.[3]
Australia's Ariarne Titmus held the third fastest qualifying time of 08:13.59, and the second fastest time in 2024 of 8:14.06. Other contenders included Italy's Simona Quadarella, the defending Olympic bronze medallist; the USA's Paige Madden, who beat her personal best by seven seconds to qualify with a time of 8:20.71; Australia's Lani Pallister, the fourth fastest qualifier; and China's Li Bingjie, the second fastest qualifier and 2023 World Championships silver medallist.[2]
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).[5] For this event, the OQT was 8:26.71. World Aquatics then considered athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT.[5][3] Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 8:29.24 for this event.[5] In total, 11 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, 12 athletes qualified through universality places and two athletes qualified through achieving the OCT.[3]
Two heats took place on 2 August 2024, starting at 11:40.[a][6] The swimmers with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[7] Ledecky qualified with the fastest time of 8:16.62, while Madden qualified second with a new personal best of 8:18.48.[8]SwimSwam later reported that she was on a sharp improvement trajectory.[9] Titmus, Pallister, Germany's Isabel Marie Gose, Quadarella, New Zealand's Erika Fairweather and France's Anastasiya Kirpichnikova also qualified, while Bingjie did not.[10]
The final took place at 21:28 on 3 August.[12] Ledecky led from start to finish, to win the gold medal with a time of 8:11.04.[13][14] Titmus remained close behind Ledecky for most the race, and finished with a new Oceanic record of 8:12.29 to win silver.[13][15] Madden took bronze with 8:13.00, which was her first Olympic medal,[14][16] while Quadarella finished fourth with a new Italian record of 8:14.55.[14]SwimSwam writer Yanyan Li speculated after the event that the competition in this race was "truly a sign that she (Ledecky) is not quite lonely at the top anymore",[13] and Swimming World called Madden's medal a "top swimming surprise".[17]
Ledecky's win made her the first female Olympic swimmer to win the same event at four successive Olympics.[18] Her win gave her her fourteenth Olympic medal, which made her the most decorated American female swimmer.[14] It was also her ninth gold medal, which meant she was tied for the female Olympian with the most gold medals with gymnast Larisa Latynina from Russia.[19][15]
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