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

The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–11 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Top favorite Lisbeth Trickett powered past the entire field to earn Australia's second straight gold in the event. She posted a lifetime best of 56.73, just 0.12 of a second outside the world record set by Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. U.S. swimmer Christine Magnuson took home the silver in 57.10, while Trickett's teammate Jessicah Schipper picked up the bronze in 57.25, handing an entire medal haul for the Aussies in the pool.
China's Zhou Yafei finished fourth with a time of 57.84, while Tao Li made a historic milestone for Singapore as she became the nation's first ever swimmer to reach an Olympic final, earning a fifth spot in 57.99. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Jemma Lowe (58.06), Brazil's Gabriella Silva (58.10), and Netherlands' Inge Dekker (58.54) closed out the field.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 56.61 | Sydney, Australia | 17 September 2000 |
| Olympic record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 56.61 | Sydney, Australia | 17 September 2000 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 4 | Jessicah Schipper | Australia | 57.58 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Christine Magnuson | United States | 57.70 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | Zhou Yafei | China | 57.70 | Q, AS |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Tao Li | Singapore | 57.77 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 8 | Gabriella Silva | Brazil | 58.00 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Elaine Breeden | United States | 58.06 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | Ilaria Bianchi | Italy | 58.12 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 1 | Lize-Mari Retief | South Africa | 58.20 | Q, AF |
| 9 | 6 | 5 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 58.22 | Q |
| 10 | 7 | 7 | Aurore Mongel | France | 58.30 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 6 | Natalya Sutyagina | Russia | 58.32 | Q |
| 12 | 7 | 4 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 58.37 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | 2 | Eszter Dara | Hungary | 58.39 | Q, NR |
| 14 | 7 | 2 | Alena Popchanka | France | 58.40 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 58.44 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | 5 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 58.49 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 6 | Otylia Jędrzejczak | Poland | 58.53 | |
| 18 | 4 | 2 | Mandy Loots | South Africa | 58.61 | |
| 18 | 5 | 2 | Yuko Nakanishi | Japan | 58.61 | |
| 20 | 4 | 4 | Sara Isakovič | Slovenia | 58.68 | NR |
| 21 | 7 | 3 | Francesca Halsall | Great Britain | 58.70 | |
| 22 | 6 | 6 | Irina Bespalova | Russia | 58.92 | |
| 23 | 6 | 7 | Yuka Kato | Japan | 58.94 | |
| 24 | 4 | 3 | Kateryna Zubkova | Ukraine | 58.99 | NR |
| 25 | 6 | 1 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 59.03 | |
| 26 | 3 | 4 | Birgit Koschischek | Austria | 59.07 | NR |
| 27 | 7 | 6 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | 59.08 | |
| 28 | 4 | 8 | Audrey Lacroix | Canada | 59.10 | |
| 28 | 6 | 8 | Micha Kathrine Østergaard Jensen | Denmark | 59.10 | |
| 30 | 3 | 1 | Hannah Wilson | Hong Kong | 59.35 | |
| 30 | 5 | 7 | Chantal Groot | Netherlands | 59.35 | |
| 32 | 2 | 4 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 59.43 | NR |
| 32 | 7 | 8 | Xu Yanwei | China | 59.43 | |
| 34 | 4 | 7 | Daynara de Paula | Brazil | 59.45 | |
| 35 | 3 | 6 | Sara Oliveira | Portugal | 59.48 | |
| 36 | 3 | 5 | Anna Gostomelsky | Israel | 59.50 | |
| 37 | 3 | 2 | Ingvild Snildal | Norway | 59.86 | |
| 38 | 3 | 7 | Carolina Colorado Henao | Colombia | 1:00.06 | |
| 39 | 7 | 1 | Daniela Samulski | Germany | 1:00.37 | |
| 40 | 2 | 5 | Choi Hye-ra | South Korea | 1:00.65 | |
| 41 | 3 | 3 | Eirini Kavarnou | Greece | 1:00.74 | |
| 42 | 3 | 8 | Heather Brand | Zimbabwe | 1:01.39 | |
| 43 | 2 | 6 | Yang Chin-kuei | Chinese Taipei | 1:01.60 | |
| 44 | 2 | 3 | Iris Rosenberger | Turkey | 1:01.67 | |
| 45 | 2 | 2 | Natalia Hadjiloizou | Cyprus | 1:01.80 | |
| 46 | 2 | 7 | Emilia Pikkarainen | Finland | 1:02.31 | |
| 47 | 1 | 5 | Binta Zahra Diop | Senegal | 1:04.26 | |
| 48 | 1 | 4 | Antonella Scanavino | Uruguay | 1:04.28 | |
| 49 | 1 | 3 | Simona Muccioli | San Marino | 1:04.91 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 57.05 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Christine Magnuson | United States | 57.08 | Q, AM |
| 3 | 5 | Tao Li | Singapore | 57.54 | Q, AS |
| 4 | 8 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 57.78 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | Aurore Mongel | France | 58.46 | |
| 6 | 1 | Alena Popchanka | France | 58.55 | |
| 6 | 3 | Elaine Breeden | United States | 58.55 | |
| 8 | 6 | Lize-Mari Retief | South Africa | 58.63 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Jessicah Schipper | Australia | 57.43 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Zhou Yafei | China | 57.68 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 58.20 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Gabriella Silva | Brazil | 58.39 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Eszter Dara | Hungary | 58.84 | |
| 6 | 7 | Natalya Sutyagina | Russia | 59.07 | |
| 7 | 8 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 59.29 | |
| | 6 | Ilaria Bianchi | Italy | DSQ | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Lisbeth Trickett | Australia | 56.73 | OC |
| | 5 | Christine Magnuson | United States | 57.10 | |
| | 3 | Jessicah Schipper | Australia | 57.25 | |
| 4 | 2 | Zhou Yafei | China | 57.84 | |
| 5 | 6 | Tao Li | Singapore | 57.99 | |
| 6 | 7 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 58.06 | |
| 7 | 8 | Gabriella Silva | Brazil | 58.10 | |
| 8 | 1 | Inge Dekker | Netherlands | 58.54 | |