# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows;
| World record | Janet Evans (USA) | 4:05.45 | Orlando, United States | 20 December 1987 |
| Olympic record | Tiffany Cohen (USA) | 4:07.10 | Los Angeles, United States | 31 July 1984 |
The following records were established during the length of the competition;
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 22 September | Final A | Janet Evans | United States | 4:03.85 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Janet Evans | United States | 4:10.21 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Anke Möhring | East Germany | 4:10.64 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Tami Bruce | United States | 4:10.73 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Janelle Elford | Australia | 4:11.07 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Heike Friedrich | East Germany | 4:11.30 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 4:11.71 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Stephanie Ortwig | West Germany | 4:12.18 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 4:12.20 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Noemi Lung | Romania | 4:12.42 | q |
| 10 | 3 | Sheridan Burge-Lopez | Australia | 4:12.77 | q |
| 11 | 2 | Antoaneta Strumenlieva | Bulgaria | 4:13.25 | q |
| 12 | 3 | Manuela Melchiorri | Italy | 4:15.40 | q |
| 13 | 1 | Chikako Nakamori | Japan | 4:15.51 | q |
| 14 | 3 | Cécile Prunier | France | 4:15.63 | q |
| 15 | 4 | Stela Pura | Romania | 4:15.78 | q |
| 16 | 4 | Patricia Noall | Canada | 4:15.90 | q |
| 17 | 3 | Irene Dalby | Norway | 4:16.22 | |
| 18 | 4 | Ruth Gilfillan | Great Britain | 4:16.66 | |
| 19 | 2 | Tomomi Hosoda | Japan | 4:17.30 | |
| 20 | 3 | Eva Mortensen | Denmark | 4:18.06 | |
| 21 | 3 | Yan Ming | China | 4:18.58 | |
| 22 | 4 | Alexandra Russ | West Germany | 4:18.67 | |
| 23 | 1 | Nurul Huda Abdullah | Malaysia | 4:19.33 | |
| 24 | 1 | Patrícia Amorim | Brazil | 4:19.64 | |
| 25 | 2 | Christelle Janssens | Belgium | 4:19.95 | |
| 26 | 1 | Pernille Jensen | Denmark | 4:20.96 | |
| 27 | 2 | June Croft | Great Britain | 4:21.98 | |
| 28 | 1 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | 4:24.84 | |
| 29 | 2 | Judit Csabai | Hungary | 4:25.52 | |
| 30 | 1 | Senda Gharbi | Tunisia | 4:34.67 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 5 | Sheridan Burge-Lopez | Australia | 4:10.21 |
| 10 | 4 | Noemi Lung | Romania | 4:11.88 |
| 11 | 1 | Stela Pura | Romania | 4:12.14 |
| 12 | 3 | Antoaneta Strumenlieva | Bulgaria | 4:13.43 |
| 13 | 8 | Patricia Noall | Canada | 4:14.70 |
| 14 | 6 | Manuela Melchiorri | Italy | 4:14.90 |
| 15 | 2 | Chikako Nakamori | Japan | 4:15.59 |
| 16 | 7 | Cécile Prunier | France | 4:21.03 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Janet Evans | United States | 4:03.85 | WR |
| | 2 | Heike Friedrich | East Germany | 4:05.94 | EU |
| | 5 | Anke Möhring | East Germany | 4:06.62 | |
| 4 | 3 | Tami Bruce | United States | 4:08.16 | |
| 5 | 6 | Janelle Elford | Australia | 4:10.64 | |
| 6 | 7 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 4:11.73 | |
| 7 | 1 | Stephanie Ortwig | West Germany | 4:13.05 | |
| 8 | 8 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 4:13.92 | |