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

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]

Women's 100 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 13, 2008 (heats)
August 14, 2008(semifinals)
August 15, 2008 (final)
Competitors49 from 41 nations
Winning time53.12 OR
Medalists
Britta Steffen  Germany
Lisbeth Trickett  Australia
Natalie Coughlin  United States
Swimming at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Qualification
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mmenwomen
4×200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4×100 mmenwomen
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen

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 record Lisbeth Trickett (AUS)52.88Sydney, Australia27 March 2008[8]
Olympic record Britta Steffen (GER)53.38Beijing, China10 August 2008-

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

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 15FinalBritta Steffen Germany53.12OR

Results

Heats
RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
163Hanna-Maria Seppälä Finland53.60Q, NR
264Britta Steffen Germany53.67Q
365Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands53.76Q
475Natalie Coughlin United States53.82Q
556Francesca Halsall Great Britain53.93Q
674Lisbeth Trickett Australia53.99Q
766Pang Jiaying China54.01Q, =AS
77Zhu Yingwen ChinaQ, =AS
945Jeanette Ottesen Denmark54.04Q
1062Josefin Lillhage Sweden54.07Q
1173Malia Metella France54.12Q
1257Aliaksandra Herasimenia Belarus54.52Q
1354Cate Campbell Australia54.55Q
1453Lacey Nymeyer United States54.62Q
1576Erica Morningstar Canada54.66Q
1667Petra Dallmann Germany54.70Q*
71Julia Wilkinson Canada
1852Alena Popchanka France54.86
1978Tatiana Barbosa Brazil55.01
2061Agata Ewa Korc Poland55.14NR
2168Lize-Mari Retief South Africa55.17
2243Anna Gostomelsky Israel55.18
2351Martina Moravcová Slovakia55.20
2455Inge Dekker Netherlands55.23
2544Anastasia Aksenova Russia55.29
2633Hannah Wilson Hong Kong55.32
2748Darya Stepanyuk Ukraine55.51
2834Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Bahamas55.61
2932Birgit Koschischek Austria55.62
3042Arlene Semeco Venezuela55.70
3158Jana Klusáčková Czech Republic55.92
3231Chang Hee-jin South Korea55.96
3347Triin Aljand Estonia56.10
3425Quah Ting Wen Singapore56.14
3535Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir Iceland56.35
3638Anna Stylianou Cyprus56.38
3737Eleni Kosti Greece56.44
3841Miroslava Najdanovski Serbia56.50
3926Natthanan Junkrajang Thailand56.56
4024Orsolya Tompa Hungary56.57
4127Christel Simms Philippines56.67NR
4246Maria Laura Simonetto Italy56.72
4323Nieh Pin-chieh Chinese Taipei57.28
4436Nina Sovinek Slovenia57.30
4514Madeleine Scerri Malta57.97NR
4622Irina Shlemova Uzbekistan58.77
4715Elena Popovska Macedonia59.93
4816Olga Hachatryan Turkmenistan1:14.77
72Caitlin McClatchey Great BritainDNS

Semifinal 1
RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
15Natalie Coughlin United States53.70Q
26Zhu Yingwen China53.84Q, AS
34Britta Steffen Germany53.96Q
43Lisbeth Trickett Australia54.10Q
52Josefin Lillhage Sweden54.59
61Lacey Nymeyer United States54.74
78Petra Dallmann Germany55.05
87Aliaksandra Herasimenia Belarus55.31

Semifinal 2
RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
15Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands53.81Q
24Hanna-Maria Seppälä Finland53.84Q
33Francesca Halsall Great Britain53.94Q
42Jeanette Ottesen Denmark54.05Q
57Malia Metella France54.20
61Cate Campbell Australia54.54
78Erica Morningstar Canada55.36
6Pang Jiaying ChinaDSQ

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
7Britta Steffen Germany53.12OR
8Lisbeth Trickett Australia53.16
4Natalie Coughlin United States53.39=AM
46Hanna-Maria Seppälä Finland53.97
51Jeanette Ottesen Denmark54.06
63Zhu Yingwen China54.21
5Marleen Veldhuis Netherlands
82Francesca Halsall Great Britain54.29

References
  1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.