# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre breaststroke

The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
At only 15 years of age, Rūta Meilutytė defeated a vastly more sophisticated field to become Lithuania's first gold medalist in swimming under its own banner. Dominating the race from the start, she pulled away from the field to an unexpected triumph in a sterling time of 1:05.47. U.S. top favorite and reigning world champion Rebecca Soni held on a sprint challenge from the Lithuanian teen at the halfway turn, but ended up defending her silver instead from Beijing four years earlier in 1:05.55. Meanwhile, Satomi Suzuki powered home with the bronze in 1:06.46, handing Japan its first medal in the event's history.
Jamaica's Alia Atkinson raced on the outside lane after her swim-off triumph over Canada's Tera van Beilen in the semifinals, but narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 1:06.93. Competing in her fourth Olympics as Australia's first swimmer, defending Olympic champion Leisel Jones finished fifth in a credible time of 1:06.96 to end her illustrious career with a full set of medals.
U.S. swimmer Breeja Larson escaped from a "no false-start" rule to pull off a sixth-place finish in 1:06.96, as the issue of her pre-race jump came with a faulty starting system. Russia's Yuliya Yefimova (1:06.98) and Denmark's Rikke Pedersen (1:07.55) rounded out the field.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Jessica Hardy (USA) | 1:04.45 | Federal Way, United States | 7 August 2009 |
| Olympic record | Leisel Jones (AUS) | 1:05.17 | Beijing, China | 10 August 2008 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 6 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:05.56 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:05.75 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 5 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:06.51 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | Breeja Larson | United States | 1:06.58 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:06.98 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 1:07.08 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 2 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:07.12 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 3 | Jennie Johansson | Sweden | 1:07.14 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 3 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 1:07.23 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:07.39 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 4 | 5 | Leiston Pickett | Australia | 1:07.41 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 1:07.54 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 1 | Zhao Jin | China | 1:07.68 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Mina Matsushima | Japan | 1:07.69 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 3 | Jillian Tyler | Canada | 1:07.81 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 2 | Tera van Beilen | Canada | 1:07.85 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Liu Xiaoyu | China | 1:07.99 | |
| 18 | 3 | 3 | Sara El Bekri | Morocco | 1:08.21 | NR |
| 19 | 5 | 1 | Joline Höstman | Sweden | 1:08.28 | |
| 20 | 6 | 7 | Moniek Nijhuis | Netherlands | 1:08.31 | |
| 21 | 6 | 8 | Siobhan-Marie O'Connor | Great Britain | 1:08.32 | |
| 22 | 5 | 6 | Caroline Ruhnau | Germany | 1:08.43 | |
| 23 | 6 | 6 | Daria Deeva | Russia | 1:08.44 | |
| 24 | 3 | 5 | Petra Chocová | Czech Republic | 1:08.59 | |
| 25 | 4 | 7 | Marina Garcia Urzainqui | Spain | 1:08.64 | |
| 26 | 4 | 8 | Sycerika McMahon | Ireland | 1:08.80 | |
| 27 | 3 | 4 | Michela Guzzetti | Italy | 1:08.83 | |
| 28 | 5 | 8 | Kate Haywood | Great Britain | 1:09.22 | |
| 29 | 3 | 1 | Dilara Buse Günaydin | Turkey | 1:09.43 | |
| 30 | 2 | 4 | Tjaša Vozel | Slovenia | 1:09.63 | |
| 31 | 2 | 5 | Anna Sztankovics | Hungary | 1:09.65 | |
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Fanny Babou | France | 1:09.76 | |
| 33 | 3 | 7 | Kim Hye-jin | South Korea | 1:09.79 | |
| 34 | 2 | 3 | Jenna Laukkanen | Finland | 1:09.92 | |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | Ana Rodrigues | Portugal | 1:10.62 | |
| 36 | 2 | 1 | Danielle Beaubrun | Saint Lucia | 1:11.12 | |
| 37 | 3 | 8 | Mariya Liver | Ukraine | 1:11.23 | |
| 38 | 2 | 7 | Chen I-chuan | Chinese Taipei | 1:11.28 | |
| 39 | 6 | 1 | Concepcion Badillo Diaz | Spain | 1:12.58 | |
| 40 | 2 | 8 | Tatiana Chisca | Moldova | 1:13.30 | |
| 41 | 1 | 4 | Ivana Ninković | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1:14.04 | |
| 42 | 1 | 3 | Pilar Shimizu | Guam | 1:15.76 | NR |
| 43 | 1 | 5 | Matelita Buadromo | Fiji | 1:16.33 | |
| 44 | 1 | 6 | Oksana Hatamkhanova | Azerbaijan | 1:25.52 | |
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Oyungerel Gantumur | Mongolia | 1:27.17 | |
| 46 | 1 | 7 | Dede Camara | Guinea | 1:38.54 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:05.98 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Breeja Larson | United States | 1:06.70 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 1:07.10 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:07.48 | QSO |
| 4 | 8 | Tera van Beilen | Canada | 1:07.48 | QSO |
| 6 | 6 | Jennie Johansson | Sweden | 1:07.57 | |
| 7 | 7 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 1:07.68 | |
| 8 | 1 | Mina Matsushima | Japan | 1:08.26 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:05.21 | Q, EU, NR |
| 2 | 5 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:06.57 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:06.81 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 1:06.82 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:07.68 | |
| 6 | 7 | Leiston Pickett | Australia | 1:07.74 | |
| 7 | 8 | Jillian Tyler | Canada | 1:07.87 | |
| 8 | 1 | Zhao Jin | China | 1:07.97 | |

#### Semifinal swim-off

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:06.79 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | Tera van Beilen | Canada | 1:07.73 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Rūta Meilutytė | Lithuania | 1:05.47 | |
| | 5 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 1:05.55 | |
| | 1 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 1:06.46 | |
| 4 | 8 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:06.93 | |
| 5 | 2 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:06.95 | |
| 6 | 6 | Breeja Larson | United States | 1:06.96 | * |
| 7 | 3 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 1:06.98 | |
| 8 | 7 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 1:07.55 | |
* False start, but she was not disqualified due to technical error.