# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 15 and 16.
U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin won the gold medal in this event, outside the record time of 1:00.37. The silver medal was awarded to Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who finished behind Coughlin by 0.13 of a second, breaking an African record of 1:00.50. France's Laure Manaudou, who won the gold in the 400 m freestyle on the previous day, took home the bronze medal, with a time of 1:00.88. In the semifinals, Coughlin lowered an Olympic record time of 1:00.21, set by Romania's Diana Mocanu in Sydney (2000), to 1:00.17.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Natalie Coughlin (USA) | 59.58 | Fort Lauderdale, United States | 13 August 2002 |
| Olympic record | Diana Mocanu (ROM) | 1:00.21 | Sydney, Australia | 18 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 15 | Semifinal 2 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 1:00.17 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Laure Manaudou | France | 1:01.27 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | Reiko Nakamura | Japan | 1:01.39 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 1:01.45 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:01.60 | Q, AF |
| 5 | 4 | 6 | Noriko Inada | Japan | 1:01.67 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Antje Buschschulte | Germany | 1:01.68 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 5 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | Spain | 1:01.75 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 3 | Stanislava Komarova | Russia | 1:01.84 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 7 | Ilona Hlaváčková | Czech Republic | 1:01.95 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 7 | Giaan Rooney | Australia | 1:01.96 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | Haley Cope | United States | 1:01.99 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 3 | Katy Sexton | Great Britain | 1:02.01 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 5 | Louise Ørnstedt | Denmark | 1:02.17 | Q |
| 13 | 6 | 7 | Sarah Price | Great Britain | 1:02.17 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | 2 | Gao Chang | China | 1:02.19 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 2 | Zhan Shu | China | 1:02.39 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Erin Gammel | Canada | 1:02.47 | |
| 17 | 3 | 4 | Sanja Jovanović | Croatia | 1:02.47 | |
| 19 | 5 | 6 | Iryna Amshennikova | Ukraine | 1:02.57 | |
| 20 | 5 | 8 | Marieke Guehrer | Australia | 1:02.76 | |
| 21 | 6 | 8 | Nikolett Szepesi | Hungary | 1:02.78 | |
| 22 | 5 | 2 | Hannah McLean | New Zealand | 1:03.09 | |
| 23 | 6 | 6 | Janine Pietsch | Germany | 1:03.13 | |
| 24 | 4 | 8 | Shim Min-ji | South Korea | 1:03.14 | |
| 25 | 3 | 3 | Sviatlana Khakhlova | Belarus | 1:03.25 | |
| 26 | 6 | 1 | Alessandra Cappa | Italy | 1:03.50 | |
| 27 | 3 | 2 | Gisela Morales | Guatemala | 1:03.72 | |
| 28 | 3 | 6 | Anna Gostomelsky | Israel | 1:04.06 | |
| 29 | 5 | 1 | Alexandra Putra | France | 1:04.13 | |
| 30 | 3 | 8 | Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai | Hong Kong | 1:04.25 | |
| 31 | 2 | 5 | Kiera Aitken | Bermuda | 1:04.37 | |
| 32 | 2 | 1 | Chonlathorn Vorathamrong | Thailand | 1:05.15 | |
| 33 | 3 | 1 | Eirini Karastergiou | Greece | 1:05.30 | |
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Şadan Derya Erke | Turkey | 1:05.38 | |
| 35 | 2 | 3 | Serrana Fernández | Uruguay | 1:05.51 | |
| 36 | 3 | 7 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 1:05.55 | |
| 37 | 2 | 2 | Fu Hsiao-han | Chinese Taipei | 1:06.62 | |
| 38 | 2 | 7 | Anastassiya Prilepa | Kazakhstan | 1:07.55 | |
| 39 | 1 | 4 | Lenient Obia | Nigeria | 1:09.95 | |
| 40 | 1 | 5 | Ana Galindo | Honduras | 1:11.80 | |
| 41 | 2 | 6 | Olga Gnedovskaya | Uzbekistan | 1:15.33 | |
| 42 | 1 | 3 | Yelena Rojkova | Turkmenistan | 1:15.48 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Antje Buschschulte | Germany | 1:00.94 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:01.21 | Q, AF |
| 3 | 4 | Reiko Nakamura | Japan | 1:01.24 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Giaan Rooney | Australia | 1:01.41 | OC |
| 5 | 6 | Stanislava Komarova | Russia | 1:01.63 | |
| 6 | 7 | Katy Sexton | Great Britain | 1:01.96 | |
| 7 | 8 | Zhan Shu | China | 1:02.10 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sarah Price | Great Britain | 1:02.48 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 1:00.17 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 4 | Laure Manaudou | France | 1:00.88 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Louise Ørnstedt | Denmark | 1:01.12 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Haley Cope | United States | 1:01.13 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | Spain | 1:01.19 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Noriko Inada | Japan | 1:01.74 | |
| 7 | 2 | Ilona Hlaváčková | Czech Republic | 1:01.81 | |
| 8 | 8 | Gao Chang | China | 1:02.17 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 1:00.37 | |
| | 1 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:00.50 | AF |
| | 5 | Laure Manaudou | France | 1:00.88 | |
| 4 | 8 | Reiko Nakamura | Japan | 1:01.05 | |
| 5 | 7 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | Spain | 1:01.12 | |
| 6 | 3 | Antje Buschschulte | Germany | 1:01.39 | |
| 7 | 6 | Louise Ørnstedt | Denmark | 1:01.51 | |
| 8 | 2 | Haley Cope | United States | 1:01.76 | |