# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 3–4 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo smashed a new Olympic record to strike a fourth sprint freestyle double in history, since East German Kristin Otto did so in 1988, her fellow countrywoman Inge de Bruijn in 2000, and Germany's defending champion Britta Steffen in 2008. She blistered the field with a sterling time and a textile best in 24.05 to slice off Steffen's previous Olympic record by a hundredth of a second (0.01). Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia added a second silver to her Olympic hardware in a national record of 24.28, while Kromowidjojo's teammate Marleen Veldhuis edged out the scorching Steffen (24.46) by 0.07 seconds to snatch the bronze in 24.39, handing over an entire medal haul for the Dutch squad with a one–three finish.
Great Britain's home favorite Francesca Halsall finished behind Steffen by a fingertip with a fifth-place time in 24.47. Meanwhile, Sweden's Therese Alshammar shook off a pinched nerve injury to officially compete in her fifth Olympics, but managed only to claim a sixth spot in 24.61. U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy (24.62) and the Bahamas' Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (24.69) rounded out the field in a splash-and-dash finale.
Notable swimmers missed the top-eight final including Aussie sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell, defending bronze medalist; and Halsall's teammate Amy Smith, who finished outside the roster by 16-hundredths of a second with a ninth-place time in 24.87. Earlier on the morning prelims, Smith picked up a sixteenth spot in a most exciting three-way swim-off against U.S. sprinter Kara Lynn Joyce and Iceland's Sarah Blake Bateman after they each posted a matching time of 25.28.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Britta Steffen (GER) | 23.73 | Rome, Italy | 2 August 2009 |
| Olympic record | Britta Steffen (GER) | 24.06 | Beijing, China | 17 August 2008 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 4 | Final | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.05 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 10 | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.51 | Q |
| 2 | 10 | 5 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.57 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | 4 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.61 | Q |
| 4 | 9 | 5 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.70 | Q |
| 5 | 9 | 3 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.76 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | 4 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.77 | Q |
| 7 | 10 | 2 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.85 | Q |
| 7 | 10 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.85 | Q |
| 9 | 8 | 3 | Bronte Campbell | Australia | 24.87 | Q |
| 10 | 8 | 5 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 24.94 | Q |
| 10 | 9 | 6 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 24.94 | Q |
| 12 | 10 | 3 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 24.99 | Q |
| 13 | 8 | 7 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.13 | Q |
| 14 | 9 | 7 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 25.15 | Q |
| 15 | 9 | 8 | Anna Santamans | France | 25.23 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | 6 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 25.28 | QSO |
| 16 | 8 | 6 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 25.28 | QSO |
| 16 | 9 | 2 | Amy Smith | Great Britain | 25.28 | QSO |
| 19 | 10 | 7 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 25.33 | |
| 20 | 10 | 1 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.36 | |
| 21 | 8 | 2 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 25.40 | |
| 22 | 8 | 1 | Graciele Herrmann | Brazil | 25.44 | |
| 23 | 7 | 2 | Hayley Palmer | New Zealand | 25.47 | |
| 24 | 6 | 3 | Zhu Qianwei | China | 25.54 | |
| 24 | 9 | 1 | Pernille Blume | Denmark | 25.54 | |
| 26 | 5 | 4 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 25.55 | NR |
| 26 | 6 | 5 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 25.55 | |
| 28 | 7 | 4 | Arlene Semeco | Venezuela | 25.56 | |
| 29 | 7 | 7 | Vanessa García | Puerto Rico | 25.58 | |
| 30 | 7 | 3 | Anna Dowgiert | Poland | 25.59 | |
| 31 | 7 | 8 | Jolien Sysmans | Belgium | 25.60 | |
| 32 | 6 | 6 | Erika Ferraioli | Italy | 25.69 | |
| 33 | 10 | 8 | Darya Stepanyuk | Ukraine | 25.70 | |
| 34 | 7 | 5 | Burcu Dolunay | Turkey | 25.72 | |
| 35 | 8 | 8 | Yayoi Matsumoto | Japan | 25.73 | |
| 36 | 7 | 1 | Trudi Maree | South Africa | 25.78 | |
| 37 | 6 | 8 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 25.98 | |
| 38 | 6 | 2 | Miroslava Syllabová | Slovakia | 26.07 | |
| 39 | 5 | 3 | Gabriela Ņikitina | Latvia | 26.26 | |
| 40 | 5 | 5 | Chinyere Pigot | Suriname | 26.30 | |
| 41 | 6 | 1 | Farida Osman | Egypt | 26.34 | |
| 42 | 6 | 7 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia | 26.46 | |
| 43 | 5 | 6 | Nicola Muscat | Malta | 27.22 | |
| 44 | 5 | 2 | Jessica Teixeira Vieira | Mozambique | 27.39 | |
| 45 | 5 | 7 | Talita Baqlah | Jordan | 27.45 | |
| 46 | 4 | 2 | Joyce Tafathata | Malawi | 27.74 | |
| 47 | 4 | 5 | Judith Meauri | Papua New Guinea | 27.84 | |
| 48 | 5 | 1 | Faye Sultan | Kuwait | 27.92 | NR |
| 49 | 4 | 4 | Ann-Marie Hepler | Marshall Islands | 28.06 | |
| 50 | 4 | 3 | Keesha Keane | Palau | 28.25 | |
| 51 | 4 | 6 | Sabine Hazboun | Palestine | 28.28 | |
| 52 | 5 | 8 | Jamila Lunkuse | Uganda | 28.44 | |
| 53 | 4 | 8 | Antoinette Guedia Mouafo | Cameroon | 29.28 | |
| 54 | 4 | 7 | Celeste Brown | Cook Islands | 29.36 | |
| 55 | 3 | 3 | Karin O'Reilly Clashing | Antigua and Barbuda | 30.01 | |
| 56 | 2 | 6 | Debra Daniel | Federated States of Micronesia | 30.32 | |
| 57 | 3 | 6 | Hemthon Vitiny | Cambodia | 30.44 | |
| 58 | 3 | 5 | Alphonsine Agahozo | Rwanda | 30.72 | |
| 59 | 3 | 2 | Nada Arkaji | Qatar | 30.89 | |
| 60 | 3 | 4 | Katerina Izmaylova | Tajikistan | 31.27 | |
| 61 | 4 | 1 | Mariana Henriques | Angola | 31.36 | |
| 62 | 3 | 7 | Fatoumata Samassekou | Mali | 31.88 | |
| 63 | 2 | 4 | Angelika Ouedraogo | Burkina Faso | 32.19 | |
| 64 | 3 | 8 | Aminath Shajan | Maldives | 32.23 | |
| 65 | 3 | 1 | Yanet Seyoum | Ethiopia | 32.41 | |
| 66 | 2 | 3 | Assita Toure | Ivory Coast | 33.09 | |
| 67 | 2 | 2 | Elsie Uwamahoro | Burundi | 33.14 | |
| 68 | 2 | 5 | Sara Al Flaij | Bahrain | 33.81 | |
| 69 | 2 | 7 | Aminata Aboubakar Yacoub | Republic of the Congo | 34.64 | |
| 70 | 2 | 1 | Mhasin Fadlalla | Sudan | 35.07 | |
| 71 | 1 | 4 | Nafissatou Moussa Adamou | Niger | 37.29 | |
| 72 | 1 | 5 | Adzo Kpossi | Togo | 37.55 | |
| 73 | 1 | 3 | Masempe Theko | Lesotho | 42.35 | NR |
| | 6 | 4 | Eszter Dara | Hungary | DNS | |

#### Qualification swim-off

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Amy Smith | Great Britain | 24.82 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 25.16 | |
| 3 | 4 | Sarah Blake Bateman | Iceland | 26.03 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.50 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.57 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.64 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 7 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 24.68 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.71 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | Amy Smith | Great Britain | 24.87 | |
| 7 | 2 | Cate Campbell | Australia | 25.01 | |
| 8 | 1 | Victoria Poon | Canada | 25.17 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.07 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.45 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 5 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.63 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Bronte Campbell | Australia | 24.94 | |
| 4 | 8 | Anna Santamans | France | 24.94 | |
| 6 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 24.99 | |
| 7 | 7 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 25.08 | |
| 8 | 1 | Theodora Drakou | Greece | 25.28 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Ranomi Kromowidjojo | Netherlands | 24.05 | OR |
| | 5 | Aliaksandra Herasimenia | Belarus | 24.28 | NR |
| | 3 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 24.39 | |
| 4 | 6 | Britta Steffen | Germany | 24.46 | |
| 5 | 2 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 24.47 | |
| 6 | 8 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.61 | |
| 7 | 1 | Jessica Hardy | United States | 24.62 | |
| 8 | 7 | Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace | Bahamas | 24.69 | |