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 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | ||||||||||||
| Date | August 13, 2008 (heats) August 14, 2008(semifinals) August 15, 2008 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 49 from 41 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 53.12 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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) | 52.88 | Sydney, Australia | 27 March 2008 | [8] |
| Olympic record |  Jodie Henry (AUS) | 53.52 | Athens, Greece | 18 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 10 | Final leadoff* | Britta Steffen |  Germany | 53.38 | OR |
| August 15 | Final | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.12 | OR |
* Olympic record split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Results
Heats
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin |  United States | 53.70 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Zhu Yingwen |  China | 53.84 | Q, AS |
| 3 | 4 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.96 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 54.10 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Josefin Lillhage |  Sweden | 54.59 | |
| 6 | 1 | Lacey Nymeyer | United States | 54.74 | |
| 7 | 8 | Petra Dallmann | Germany | 55.05 | |
| 8 | 7 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia |  Belarus | 55.31 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Marleen Veldhuis |  Netherlands | 53.81 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä |  Finland | 53.84 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Francesca Halsall |  Great Britain | 53.94 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Jeanette Ottesen |  Denmark | 54.05 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Malia Metella |  France | 54.20 | |
| 6 | 1 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 54.54 | |
| 7 | 8 | Erica Morningstar |  Canada | 55.36 | |
| 6 | Pang Jiaying | 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
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 7 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.12 | OR |
 | 8 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 53.16 | |
 | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 53.39 | =AM |
| 4 | 6 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 53.97 | |
| 5 | 1 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 54.06 | |
| 6 | 3 | Zhu Yingwen | China | 54.21 | |
| 5 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | |||
| 8 | 2 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 54.29 |