# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 20 and 21.
Dutch swimmer and world record holder Inge de Bruijn managed to defend her title in this event, outside her record time of 24.58 seconds. The silver medal was awarded to France's Malia Metella, with a time of 24.89 seconds. Australia's Lisbeth Lenton, who finished behind Metella by two hundredths of a second (0.02), took home the bronze at 24.91. This was also the final appearance for de Bruijn at the Olympics, before she retired from her swimming career in 2007.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 24.13 | Sydney, Australia | 22 September 2000 |
| Olympic record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 24.13 | Sydney, Australia | 22 September 2000 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 10 | 4 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 24.66 | Q |
| 2 | 9 | 3 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 25.06 | Q |
| 3 | 10 | 3 | Malia Metella | France | 25.21 | Q |
| 4 | 10 | 2 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.24 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | 4 | Michelle Engelsman | Australia | 25.28 | Q |
| 5 | 10 | 5 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 25.28 | Q |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | Lisbeth Lenton | Australia | 25.31 | Q |
| 8 | 9 | 2 | Alison Sheppard | Great Britain | 25.36 | Q |
| 9 | 10 | 7 | Flávia Cazziolato | Brazil | 25.40 | Q |
| 10 | 9 | 5 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 25.42 | Q |
| 11 | 8 | 5 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 25.50 | Q |
| 12 | 8 | 8 | Eileen Coparropa | Panama | 25.57 | Q |
| 13 | 8 | 1 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 25.62 | Q |
| 14 | 9 | 6 | Rebeca Gusmão | Brazil | 25.64 | Q |
| 15 | 8 | 7 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 25.67 | Q |
| 16 | 9 | 1 | Cristina Chiuso | Italy | 25.68 | Q |
| 17 | 8 | 6 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 25.69 | |
| 18 | 10 | 6 | Sandra Völker | Germany | 25.74 | |
| 19 | 9 | 8 | Judith Draxler | Austria | 25.82 | |
| 20 | 8 | 3 | Anna-Karin Kammerling | Sweden | 25.85 | |
| 21 | 10 | 8 | Ana Belén Palomo | Spain | 25.92 | |
| 22 | 7 | 6 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 25.95 | |
| 23 | 8 | 2 | Olga Mukomol | Ukraine | 25.96 | |
| 24 | 9 | 7 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 26.01 | |
| 25 | 7 | 2 | Sandra Kazíková | Czech Republic | 26.18 | |
| 26 | 7 | 3 | Triin Aljand | Estonia | 26.19 | |
| 27 | 7 | 5 | Arlene Semeco | Venezuela | 26.20 | |
| 28 | 7 | 7 | Ryu Yoon-ji | South Korea | 26.26 | |
| 28 | 5 | 6 | Vanessa García | Puerto Rico | 26.26 | |
| 30 | 6 | 2 | Lara Heinz | Luxembourg | 26.35 | |
| 31 | 6 | 5 | Ragnheidur Ragnarsdóttir | Iceland | 26.36 | |
| 32 | 7 | 8 | Zhu Yingwen | China | 26.45 | |
| 33 | 7 | 4 | Martha Matsa | Greece | 26.46 | |
| 34 | 5 | 5 | Alison Fitch | New Zealand | 26.56 | |
| 35 | 6 | 6 | Anna Gostomelsky | Israel | 26.72 | |
| 36 | 5 | 2 | Sara Isaković | Slovenia | 26.81 | |
| 37 | 6 | 3 | Florencia Szigeti | Argentina | 26.84 | |
| 38 | 7 | 1 | Sharntelle McLean | Trinidad and Tobago | 26.86 | |
| 39 | 6 | 1 | Yelena Skalinskaya | Kazakhstan | 27.04 | |
| 40 | 6 | 8 | Shikha Tandon | India | 27.08 | |
| 41 | 6 | 7 | Zsuzsanna Csobánki | Hungary | 27.09 | |
| 41 | 5 | 3 | Nieh Pin-chieh | Chinese Taipei | 27.09 | |
| 43 | 5 | 1 | Miroslava Najdanovski | Serbia and Montenegro | 27.18 | |
| 44 | 5 | 7 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 27.21 | |
| 45 | 5 | 8 | Nikia Deveaux | Bahamas | 27.36 | |
| 46 | 4 | 4 | Melanie Slowing | Guatemala | 27.44 | |
| 47 | 6 | 4 | Yu Ning Elaine Chan | Hong Kong | 27.48 | |
| 48 | 4 | 5 | Maria Tregubova | Moldova | 28.40 | |
| 49 | 4 | 3 | Roshendra Vrolijk | Aruba | 28.43 | |
| 50 | 4 | 2 | Jakie Wellman | Zambia | 28.56 | |
| 51 | 4 | 6 | Geraldine Arce | Nicaragua | 28.73 | |
| 52 | 4 | 7 | Menaka de Silva | Sri Lanka | 28.93 | |
| 53 | 4 | 8 | Dohi Éliane Droubry | Ivory Coast | 29.23 | |
| 54 | 4 | 1 | Sade Daal | Suriname | 29.27 | |
| 55 | 3 | 6 | Ermelinda Zamba | Mozambique | 29.34 | |
| 56 | 3 | 7 | Aina Andriamanjatoarimanana | Madagascar | 29.35 | |
| 57 | 3 | 5 | Eva Donde | Kenya | 29.47 | |
| 58 | 3 | 4 | Diane Etiennette | Mauritius | 30.00 | |
| 59 | 3 | 3 | Rubab Raza | Pakistan | 30.10 | |
| 60 | 3 | 1 | Rovena Marku | Albania | 30.51 | |
| 61 | 1 | 5 | Doli Akhter | Bangladesh | 30.72 | |
| 62 | 3 | 2 | Samar Nassar | Jordan | 30.83 | |
| 63 | 2 | 4 | Sameera Al Bitar | Bahrain | 31.00 | |
| 63 | 2 | 5 | Ghazal El Jobeili | Lebanon | 31.00 | |
| 65 | 3 | 8 | Aminath Rouya Hussain | Maldives | 31.26 | |
| 65 | 2 | 6 | Tracy Ann Route | Federated States of Micronesia | 31.26 | |
| 67 | 2 | 7 | Christal Clashing | Antigua and Barbuda | 31.55 | |
| 68 | 1 | 3 | Monika Bakale | Republic of the Congo | 31.61 | |
| 69 | 2 | 3 | Han Choi | Malawi | 31.62 | |
| 70 | 2 | 2 | Evelyn Otto | Palau | 33.04 | |
| 71 | 2 | 1 | Ket Sivan | Cambodia | 34.62 | |
| 72 | 1 | 4 | Amira Edrahi | Libya | 34.67 | |
| 73 | 2 | 8 | Vilayphone Vongphachanh | Laos | 36.57 | |
| | 5 | 4 | Dominique Diezi | Switzerland | DNS | |
| | 10 | 1 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 25.06 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 25.15 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 25.27 | |
| 4 | 1 | Rebeca Gusmão | Brazil | 25.31 | |
| 5 | 6 | Alison Sheppard | Great Britain | 25.36 | |
| 6 | 7 | Eileen Coparropa | Panama | 25.37 | |
| 6 | 8 | Cristina Chiuso | Italy | 25.37 | |
| 8 | 5 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 25.47 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 24.56 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Lisbeth Lenton | Australia | 24.90 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Malia Metella | France | 24.99 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Michelle Engelsman | Australia | 25.13 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Flávia Cazziolato | Brazil | 25.17 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 25.17 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 25.27 | |
| 8 | 8 | Dorothea Brandt | Germany | 25.83 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time |
| | 4 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 24.58 |
| | 3 | Malia Metella | France | 24.89 |
| | 5 | Lisbeth Lenton | Australia | 24.91 |
| 4 | 7 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | 24.93 |
| 5 | 6 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 25.00 |
| 6 | 2 | Michelle Engelsman | Australia | 25.06 |
| 7 | 1 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 25.11 |
| 8 | 8 | Flávia Cazziolato | Brazil | 25.20 |