# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place between 18–19 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 | Kristin Otto (GDR) | 54.73 | Madrid, Spain | 19 August 1986 |
| Olympic record | Barbara Krause (GDR) | 54.79 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 21 July 1980 |

## 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 | 8 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 55.53 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 55.80 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Zhuang Yong | China | 55.84 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Manuela Stellmach | East Germany | 56.14 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 56.16 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 7 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 56.29 | Q |
| 7 | 8 | Dara Torres | United States | 56.37 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | Conny van Bentum | Netherlands | 56.50 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 56.66 | q |
| 10 | 7 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 56.67 | q |
| 11 | 7 | Tamara Costache | Romania | 56.79 | q |
| 12 | 6 | Karen van Wirdum | Australia | 56.84 | q |
| 13 | 6 | Mitzi Kremer | United States | 56.97 | q |
| 14 | 7 | Svetlana Isakova | Soviet Union | 57.17 | q |
| 15 | 8 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 57.28 | q |
| 16 | 5 | Ayako Nakano | Japan | 57.29 | q |
| 17 | 8 | Andrea Nugent | Canada | 57.33 | |
| 18 | 8 | Marie-Thérèse Armentero | Switzerland | 57.35 | |
| 19 | 8 | Christiane Pielke | West Germany | 57.47 | |
| 20 | 6 | Jane Kerr | Canada | 57.55 | |
| 21 | 5 | Eva Nyberg | Sweden | 57.57 | |
| 22 | 4 | Susie Baumer | Australia | 57.76 | |
| 23 | 6 | Lou Yaping | China | 57.79 | |
| 24 | 7 | Natasha Khristova | Bulgaria | 57.80 | |
| 25 | 5 | Annabelle Cripps | Great Britain | 57.81 | |
| 26 | 6 | Pia Sørensen | Denmark | 57.82 | |
| 27 | 5 | Karin Furuhed | Sweden | 57.97 | |
| 28 | 5 | June Croft | Great Britain | 58.19 | |
| 29 | 5 | Jacqueline Delord | France | 58.22 | |
| 30 | 6 | Silvia Persi | Italy | 58.22 | |
| 31 | 7 | Katja Ziliox | West Germany | 58.39 | |
| 32 | 5 | Kaori Sasaki | Japan | 58.40 | |
| 33 | 5 | Senda Gharbi | Tunisia | 58.51 | |
| 34 | 4 | Adriana Pereira | Brazil | 58.53 | |
| 35 | 4 | Karen Dieffenthaler | Trinidad and Tobago | 58.64 | |
| 36 | 4 | Patricia Kohlmann | Mexico | 59.05 | |
| 37 | 4 | Isabelle Vieira | Brazil | 59.15 | |
| 38 | 4 | María Rivera | Mexico | 59.32 | |
| 39 | 3 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 59.41 | |
| 40 | 4 | Bryndís Ólafsdóttir | Iceland | 59.56 | |
| 41 | 3 | Carolina Mauri | Costa Rica | 1:00.14 | |
| 42 | 4 | Hung Cee Kay | Hong Kong | 1:00.18 | |
| 43 | 3 | Kim Eun-jung | South Korea | 1:00.39 | |
| 44 | 3 | Ana Joselina Fortin | Honduras | 1:01.11 | |
| 45 | 3 | Fenella Ng | Hong Kong | 1:01.27 | |
| 46 | 3 | Han Young-hee | South Korea | 1:01.55 | |
| 47 | 3 | Wang Chi | Chinese Taipei | 1:01.72 | |
| 48 | 2 | Sabrina Lum | Chinese Taipei | 1:02.11 | |
| 49 | 2 | Catherine Fogarty | Zimbabwe | 1:02.47 | |
| 50 | 2 | Veronica Cummings | Guam | 1:02.63 | |
| 51 | 2 | Angela Birch | Fiji | 1:02.91 | |
| 52 | 2 | Cina Munch | Fiji | 1:03.06 | |
| 53 | 1 | Carolina Araujo | Mozambique | 1:05.11 | |
| 54 | 1 | Katerine Moreno | Bolivia | 1:05.39 | |
| 55 | 3 | Elsa Freire | Angola | 1:05.47 | |
| 56 | 2 | Nancy Khalaf | Lebanon | 1:06.73 | |
| 57 | 2 | Carla Fernandes | Angola | 1:08.15 | |
| | 1 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 4 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 56.48 |
| 10 | 8 | Ayako Nakano | Japan | 56.72 |
| 11 | 5 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 56.79 |
| 12 | 2 | Mitzi Kremer | United States | 56.83 |
| 13 | 1 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 57.02 |
| 14 | 6 | Karen van Wirdum | Australia | 57.04 |
| 15 | 7 | Svetlana Isakova | Soviet Union | 57.07 |
| 16 | 3 | Tamara Costache | Romania | 57.11 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 54.93 | |
| | 3 | Zhuang Yong | China | 55.47 | |
| | 4 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 55.49 | |
| 4 | 6 | Manuela Stellmach | East Germany | 55.52 | |
| 5 | 2 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 55.90 | NR |
| 6 | 7 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 56.15 | |
| 7 | 1 | Dara Torres | United States | 56.25 | |
| 8 | 8 | Conny van Bentum | Netherlands | 56.54 | |