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

The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
After winning a silver medal in Sydney and a bronze in Athens, Australia's Leisel Jones stormed home on the final lap to claim an elusive gold in the event. She established an Olympic record of 1:05.17, just eight-hundredths of a second (0.08) off her global standard. Coming from fifth place in the turn, U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni earned a silver medal in 1:06.73. Finishing fourth from the Olympic trials, she inherited a place in the event after Jessica Hardy's sudden withdrawal from the Games because of a doping irregularity. Meanwhile, Mirna Jukić posted a time of 1:07.34 to settle for the bronze, holding off Russia's Yuliya Yefimova (1:07.43) to fourth place by almost a tenth of a second (0.10).
Megan Jendrick, former Olympic champion from Sydney in 2000, finished fifth with a time of 1:07.62, edging out Aussie Tarnee White (1:07.63) in a close race by a hundredth of a second (0.01). China's Sun Ye (1:08.08) and Japan's Asami Kitagawa (1:08.43) rounded out the finale.
Earlier in the prelims, Jones opened up her meet by breaking a new Olympic record of 1:05.64, exactly a full second faster than a winning time set by Luo Xuejuan in Athens four years earlier.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Leisel Jones (AUS) | 1:05.09 | Melbourne, Australia | 20 March 2006 | |
| Olympic record | Luo Xuejuan (CHN) | 1:06.64 | Athens, Greece | 16 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 10 | Heat 7 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:05.64 | OR |
| August 12 | Final | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:05.17 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:05.64 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 7 | 3 | Yuliya Efimova | Russia | 1:06.08 | Q, EU |
| 3 | 5 | 6 | Mirna Jukić | Austria | 1:07.06 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:07.44 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | 1 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 1:07.55 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 1 | Sun Ye | China | 1:07.81 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 4 | Tarnee White | Australia | 1:07.83 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | 6 | Joline Höstman | Sweden | 1:07.91 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 5 | Megan Jendrick | United States | 1:08.07 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 7 | Jillian Tyler | Canada | 1:08.13 | Q |
| 11 | 6 | 3 | Kate Haywood | Great Britain | 1:08.18 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 2 | Chen Huijia | China | 1:08.24 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 3 | Annamay Pierse | Canada | 1:08.25 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 2 | Kirsty Balfour | Great Britain | 1:08.30 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 1 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 1:08.36 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | 8 | Elise Matthysen | Belgium | 1:08.37 | Q, NR |
| 17 | 6 | 6 | Megumi Taneda | Japan | 1:08.45 | |
| 18 | 7 | 2 | Elena Bogomazova | Russia | 1:08.63 | |
| 19 | 3 | 2 | Sara El Bekri | Morocco | 1:08.66 | |
| 20 | 6 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:08.69 | |
| 21 | 6 | 7 | Hanna Westrin | Sweden | 1:08.80 | |
| 22 | 4 | 4 | Roberta Panara | Italy | 1:08.90 | |
| 23 | 4 | 5 | Jung Seul-ki | South Korea | 1:09.26 | |
| 24 | 6 | 8 | Yuliya Pidlisna | Ukraine | 1:09.72 | |
| 25 | 5 | 5 | Anna Khlistunova | Ukraine | 1:09.95 | |
| 26 | 4 | 2 | Diana Gomes | Portugal | 1:10.02 | |
| 27 | 4 | 3 | Inna Kapishina | Belarus | 1:10.15 | |
| 28 | 4 | 1 | Dilara Buse Günaydin | Turkey | 1:10.45 | |
| 29 | 5 | 8 | Sophie de Ronchi | France | 1:10.46 | |
| 30 | 4 | 6 | Angeliki Exarchou | Greece | 1:10.47 | |
| 31 | 3 | 6 | Adriana Marmolejo | Mexico | 1:10.73 | NR |
| 32 | 4 | 7 | Nicolette Teo | Singapore | 1:10.76 | |
| 33 | 3 | 3 | Smiljana Marinović | Croatia | 1:10.94 | |
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Yekaterina Sadovnik | Kazakhstan | 1:11.14 | |
| 35 | 4 | 8 | Jolijn van Valkengoed | Netherlands | 1:11.26 | |
| 36 | 7 | 7 | Sonja Schöber | Germany | 1:11.36 | |
| 37 | 3 | 4 | Liliana Guiscardo | Argentina | 1:11.43 | |
| 38 | 2 | 5 | Valeria Silva | Peru | 1:11.64 | NR |
| 39 | 3 | 8 | Tatiane Sakemi | Brazil | 1:11.75 | |
| 40 | 3 | 5 | Erla Dogg Haraldsdóttir | Iceland | 1:11.78 | |
| 41 | 3 | 1 | Réka Pecz | Hungary | 1:12.17 | |
| 42 | 2 | 6 | Danielle Beaubrun | Saint Lucia | 1:12.85 | |
| 43 | 3 | 7 | Nađa Higl | Serbia | 1:13.19 | |
| 44 | 2 | 3 | Mayumi Raheem | Sri Lanka | 1:15.33 | |
| 45 | 2 | 2 | Nibal Yamout | Lebanon | 1:16.17 | NR |
| 46 | 2 | 7 | Oksana Hatamkhanova | Azerbaijan | 1:20.22 | |
| 47 | 1 | 5 | Asmahan Farhat | Libya | 1:21.68 | |
| 48 | 1 | 4 | Anna Salnikova | Georgia | 1:21.70 | |
| 49 | 1 | 3 | Mariam Pauline Keita | Mali | 1:24.26 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:07.07 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:07.50 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Sun Ye | China | 1:07.72 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Joline Höstman | Sweden | 1:08.26 | |
| 5 | 7 | Chen Huijia | China | 1:08.60 | |
| 6 | 2 | Jillian Tyler | Canada | 1:09.00 | |
| 6 | 8 | Elise Matthysen | Belgium | 1:09.00 | |
| 8 | 1 | Kirsty Balfour | Great Britain | 1:09.23 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:05.80 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Mirna Jukić | Austria | 1:07.27 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Tarnee White | Australia | 1:07.48 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Megan Jendrick | United States | 1:08.07 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 1:08.23 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Annamay Pierse | Canada | 1:08.27 | |
| 7 | 7 | Kate Haywood | Great Britain | 1:08.36 | |
| 8 | 3 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 1:09.56 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:05.17 | OR |
| | 5 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:06.73 | |
| | 3 | Mirna Jukić | Austria | 1:07.34 | |
| 4 | 2 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:07.43 | |
| 5 | 1 | Megan Jendrick | United States | 1:07.62 | |
| 6 | 6 | Tarnee White | Australia | 1:07.63 | |
| 7 | 7 | Sun Ye | China | 1:08.08 | |
| 8 | 8 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 1:08.43 | |