Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

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]

Women's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 15, 2008 (heats)
August 16, 2008(semifinals)
August 17, 2008 (final)
Competitors92 from 83 nations
Winning time24.06 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Britta Steffen  Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Dara Torres  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Cate Campbell  Australia
← 2004
2012 →

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]

Records

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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

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 10 4 Cate Campbell   Australia 24.20 Q
2 11 4 Marleen Veldhuis   Netherlands 24.38 Q
3 10 5 Dara Torres   United States 24.58 Q
4 12 4 Lisbeth Trickett   Australia 24.67 Q
5 11 6 Jeanette Ottesen   Denmark 24.83 Q
6 12 5 Britta Steffen   Germany 24.90 Q
7 12 2 Zhu Yingwen   China 24.91 Q
8 10 3 Francesca Halsall   Great Britain 24.93 Q
9 11 5 Therese Alshammar   Sweden 24.94 Q
10 12 6 Malia Metella   France 24.95 Q
11 11 2 Arlene Semeco   Venezuela 24.98 Q, NR
12 11 3 Hinkelien Schreuder   Netherlands 25.00 Q
11 8 Li Zhesi   China Q
14 12 3 Kara Lynn Joyce   United States 25.01 Q
15 12 1 Hanna-Maria Seppälä   Finland 25.06 Q, NR
16 10 6 Aliaksandra Herasimenia   Belarus 25.07 Q
17 12 7 Agata Ewa Korc   Poland 25.14 NR
18 11 1 Céline Couderc   France 25.22
19 8 7 Anna Gostomelsky   Israel 25.23 NR
20 12 8 Sviatlana Khakhlova   Belarus 25.27
21 9 5 Triin Aljand   Estonia 25.29
22 10 2 Anna-Karin Kammerling   Sweden 25.34
10 7 Flavia Cazziolato   Brazil
24 8 2 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace   Bahamas 25.40
25 10 1 Petra Dallmann   Germany 25.43
26 11 7 Lize-Mari Retief   South Africa 25.44
27 9 4 Martina Moravcová   Slovakia 25.47
28 9 7 Anastasia Aksenova   Russia 25.51
29 8 5 Sandra Kazíková   Czech Republic 25.54
30 9 6 Victoria Poon   Canada 25.58
31 9 8 Chang Hee-jin   South Korea 25.59
32 9 2 Oksana Serikova   Ukraine 25.65
33 9 1 Martha Matsa   Greece 25.68
34 10 8 Cristina Chiuso   Italy 25.74
35 9 3 Vanessa García   Puerto Rico 25.81
36 8 3 Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir   Iceland 25.82
37 8 1 Natasha Moodie   Jamaica 25.95
38 7 1 Carolina Colorado Henao   Colombia 26.11
39 6 6 Rugilė Mileišytė   Lithuania 26.19
7 2 Sharntelle McLean   Trinidad and Tobago
41 7 5 Eva Dobar   Hungary 26.33
42 6 2 Anna-Liza Mopio-Jane   Papua New Guinea 26.47
43 7 3 Nina Sovinek   Slovenia 26.49
44 6 3 Yamile Bahamonde   Ecuador 26.54
7 6 Yu Ning Elaine Chan   Hong Kong
46 7 8 Marina Mulyayeva   Kazakhstan 26.57
47 6 5 Christel Simms   Philippines 26.64
48 8 8 Leung Chii Lin   Malaysia 26.75
49 7 4 Monika Babok   Croatia 26.84
50 6 4 Veronica Vdovicenco   Moldova 26.92
51 5 4 Sharon Paola Fajardo Sierra   Honduras 27.19
52 6 7 Ngozi Monu   Nigeria 27.39
53 6 1 Ellen Lendra Hight   Zambia 27.42
54 5 5 Chinyere Pigot   Suriname 27.66
55 5 7 Dalia Tórrez Zamora   Nicaragua 27.81
56 5 3 Razan Taha   Jordan 27.82
57 6 8 Marianela Quesada   Costa Rica 28.11
58 4 4 Ximene Gomes   Mozambique 28.15
5 2 Rovena Marku   Albania NR
60 5 6 Tojohanitra Andriamanjatoarimanana   Madagascar 28.54
61 4 8 Senele Dlamini   Swaziland 28.70
62 4 1 Virginia Farmer   American Samoa 28.82
63 5 1 Diane Etiennette   Mauritius 28.83
64 4 3 Katerine Moreno   Bolivia 29.05
65 5 8 Ana Crysna da Silva Romero   Angola 29.06
66 3 5 Olivia Aya Nakitanda   Uganda 29.38
67 4 2 Dashtserengiin Saintsetseg   Mongolia 29.63
68 7 7 Mariya Bugakova   Uzbekistan 29.73
69 4 5 Kiran Khan   Pakistan 29.84
70 3 4 Samantha Paxinos   Botswana 29.91
71 3 8 Amber Yobech   Palau 30.00
72 4 6 Aminath Rouya Hussain   Maldives 30.21
73 4 7 Doli Akhter   Bangladesh 30.23
74 1 5 Sameera Al Bitar   Bahrain 30.32
75 3 6 Julianne Kirchner   Marshall Islands 30.42
76 3 7 Debra Daniel   Federated States of Micronesia 30.61
77 3 2 Magdalena Moshi   Tanzania 31.37
78 3 1 Hemthon Vitiny   Cambodia 31.41
79 2 7 Zakiya Nassar   Palestine 31.97
80 3 3 Katerina Izmaylova   Tajikistan 32.09
81 2 5 Karishma Karki   Nepal 32.35
82 2 4 Zahra Pinto   Malawi 32.53
83 2 6 Antoinette Guedia Mouafo   Cameroon 33.59
84 2 3 Vilayphone Vongphachanh   Laos 34.79
85 2 2 Elisabeth Nikiema   Burkina Faso 34.98 NR
86 2 8 Elsie Uwamahoro   Burundi 36.86
87 1 6 Gloria Koussihouede   Benin 37.09
88 1 3 Pamela Girimbabazi   Rwanda 39.78
89 1 4 Djene Barry   Guinea 39.80
90 2 1 Mariama Souley Bana   Niger 40.83
8 4 Miroslava Najdanovski   Serbia DNS
8 6 Bayan Jumah   Syria DNS

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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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

Semifinal 2

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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

Final

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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

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Britta Steffen Edges Dara Torres by .01 to Win 50 Free in Olympic Standard". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Steffen snatches gold in 50m free, Torres takes silver". ESPN. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Forty-one-year-old Olympian Torres gains pool of 40-ish fans". USA Today. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Dara Torres settles for silver medal in 50-meter freestyle". New York Daily News. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  6. ^ English, Ben (17 August 2008). "Cate Campbell claims 50m bronze, Libby Trickett misses at Beijing Olympics". The Australian. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  7. ^ Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Cate Campbell Bounces Back, Tops 50 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  8. ^ Cowley, Michael (30 March 2008). "Just the Trickett: Libby breaks the speed barrier". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
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