# 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.
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. She narrowly reached the final as the eighth seed, when China's Pang Jiaying was disqualified for a false start in the semifinals. 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.
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. 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.

## 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 | |
| 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* | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.38 | OR |
| August 15 | Final | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.12 | OR |
* Split from the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 3 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 53.60 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 53.67 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 5 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 53.76 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 53.82 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 53.93 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | 4 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 53.99 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 6 | Pang Jiaying | China | 54.01 | Q, =AS |
| 7 | 7 | 7 | Zhu Yingwen | China | 54.01 | Q, =AS |
| 9 | 4 | 5 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 54.04 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 2 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 54.07 | Q |
| 11 | 7 | 3 | Malia Metella | France | 54.12 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 7 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 54.52 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 4 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 54.55 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 3 | Lacey Nymeyer | United States | 54.62 | Q |
| 15 | 7 | 6 | Erica Morningstar | Canada | 54.66 | Q |
| 16 | 6 | 7 | Petra Dallmann | Germany | 54.70 | Q* |
| 16 | 7 | 1 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 54.70 | |
| 18 | 5 | 2 | Alena Popchanka | France | 54.86 | |
| 19 | 7 | 8 | Tatiana Barbosa | Brazil | 55.01 | |
| 20 | 6 | 1 | Agata Ewa Korc | Poland | 55.14 | NR |
| 21 | 6 | 8 | Lize-Mari Retief | South Africa | 55.17 | |
| 22 | 4 | 3 | Anna Gostomelsky | Israel | 55.18 | |
| 23 | 5 | 1 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 55.20 | |
| 24 | 5 | 5 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 55.23 | |
| 25 | 4 | 4 | Anastasia Aksenova | Russia | 55.29 | |
| 26 | 3 | 3 | Hannah Wilson | Hong Kong | 55.32 | |
| 27 | 4 | 8 | Darya Stepanyuk | Ukraine | 55.51 | |
| 28 | 3 | 4 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 55.61 | |
| 29 | 3 | 2 | Birgit Koschischek | Austria | 55.62 | |
| 30 | 4 | 2 | Arlene Semeco | Venezuela | 55.70 | |
| 31 | 5 | 8 | Jana Klusáčková | Czech Republic | 55.92 | |
| 32 | 3 | 1 | Chang Hee-jin | South Korea | 55.96 | |
| 33 | 4 | 7 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 56.10 | |
| 34 | 2 | 5 | Quah Ting Wen | Singapore | 56.14 | |
| 35 | 3 | 5 | Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir | Iceland | 56.35 | |
| 36 | 3 | 8 | Anna Stylianou | Cyprus | 56.38 | |
| 37 | 3 | 7 | Eleni Kosti | Greece | 56.44 | |
| 38 | 4 | 1 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia | 56.50 | |
| 39 | 2 | 6 | Natthanan Junkrajang | Thailand | 56.56 | |
| 40 | 2 | 4 | Orsolya Tompa | Hungary | 56.57 | |
| 41 | 2 | 7 | Christel Simms | Philippines | 56.67 | NR |
| 42 | 4 | 6 | Maria Laura Simonetto | Italy | 56.72 | |
| 43 | 2 | 3 | Nieh Pin-chieh | Chinese Taipei | 57.28 | |
| 44 | 3 | 6 | Nina Sovinek | Slovenia | 57.30 | |
| 45 | 1 | 4 | Madeleine Scerri | Malta | 57.97 | NR |
| 46 | 2 | 2 | Irina Shlemova | Uzbekistan | 58.77 | |
| 47 | 1 | 5 | Elena Popovska | Macedonia | 59.93 | |
| 48 | 1 | 6 | Olga Hachatryan | Turkmenistan | 1:14.77 | |
| | 7 | 2 | Caitlin McClatchey | Great Britain | DNS | |

### 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 | |
| 6 | 5 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 54.21 | |
| 8 | 2 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 54.29 | |