# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The inaugural women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 25 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 | Yang Wenyi (CHN) | 24.98 | Guangzhou, China | 11 April 1988 |
| Olympic record | Inaugural event | — | — | — |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 25 September | Heat 7 | Yang Wenyi | China | 25.67 | OR |
| 25 September | Final A | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 25.49 | OR |

## 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 | 7 | Yang Wenyi | China | 25.67 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 7 | Katrin Meissner | East Germany | 25.77 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 25.85 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Leigh Ann Fetter | United States | 25.91 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 26.01 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 7 | Jill Sterkel | United States | 26.02 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | Tamara Costache | Romania | 26.06 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | Karen van Wirdum | Australia | 26.12 | Q, OC |
| 9 | 7 | Marion Aizpors | West Germany | 26.20 | q |
| 10 | 7 | Inna Abramova | Soviet Union | 26.27 | q |
| 11 | 5 | Marie-Thérèse Armentero | Switzerland | 26.32 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Christiane Pielke | West Germany | 26.33 | q |
| 13 | 6 | Ayako Nakano | Japan | 26.44 | q |
| 14 | 4 | Diana van der Plaats | Netherlands | 26.49 | q, NR |
| 15 | 6 | Kristin Topham | Canada | 26.50 | q |
| 16 | 5 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 26.54 | q |
| 17 | 4 | Adriana Pereira | Brazil | 26.56 | |
| 17 | 5 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 26.56 | |
| 19 | 6 | Andrea Nugent | Canada | 26.60 | |
| 20 | 5 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 26.61 | |
| 20 | 5 | Kaori Sasaki | Japan | 26.61 | |
| 22 | 6 | Xia Fujie | China | 26.66 | |
| 23 | 7 | Helena Aberg | Sweden | 26.67 | |
| 24 | 6 | Karin Furuhed | Sweden | 26.85 | |
| 25 | 7 | Alison Sheppard | Great Britain | 27.14 | |
| 26 | 4 | María Rivera | Mexico | 27.16 | |
| 27 | 4 | Annabelle Cripps | Great Britain | 27.17 | |
| 28 | 4 | Karen Dieffenthaler | Trinidad and Tobago | 27.27 | |
| 29 | 5 | Senda Gharbi | Tunisia | 27.34 | |
| 30 | 4 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 27.43 | |
| 31 | 3 | Mônica Rezende | Brazil | 27.44 | |
| 32 | 4 | Patricia Kohlmann | Mexico | 27.45 | |
| 33 | 2 | Carolina Mauri | Costa Rica | 27.96 | |
| 34 | 3 | Han Young-hee | South Korea | 28.02 | |
| 35 | 3 | Hung Cee Kay | Hong Kong | 28.15 | |
| 36 | 3 | Park Joo-li | South Korea | 28.20 | |
| 37 | 2 | Bryndís Ólafsdóttir | Iceland | 28.38 | |
| 38 | 3 | Ana Joselina Fortin | Honduras | 28.46 | |
| 39 | 2 | Cina Munch | Fiji | 28.55 | |
| 40 | 2 | Catherine Fogarty | Zimbabwe | 28.66 | |
| 41 | 3 | Wang Chi | Chinese Taipei | 28.73 | |
| 42 | 2 | Sabrina Lum | Chinese Taipei | 28.82 | |
| 43 | 2 | Veronica Cummings | Guam | 28.94 | |
| 44 | 2 | Angela Birch | Fiji | 29.01 | |
| 45 | 3 | Tsang Wing Sze | Hong Kong | 29.14 | |
| 46 | 2 | Katerine Moreno | Bolivia | 29.42 | |
| 47 | 4 | Elsa Freire | Angola | 29.54 | |
| 48 | 1 | Carolina Araujo | Mozambique | 29.64 | |
| 49 | 3 | Ana Martins | Angola | 29.74 | |
| 50 | 1 | Nancy Khalaf | Lebanon | 30.77 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 4 | Marion Aizpors | West Germany | 26.17 |
| 10 | 6 | Christiane Pielke | West Germany | 26.22 |
| 11 | 3 | Marie-Thérèse Armentero | Switzerland | 26.34 |
| 12 | 1 | Kristin Topham | Canada | 26.45 |
| 12 | 2 | Ayako Nakano | Japan | 26.45 |
| 14 | 5 | Inna Abramova | Soviet Union | 26.48 |
| 15 | 8 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 26.66 |
| 16 | 7 | Diana van der Plaats | Netherlands | 26.80 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 3 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 25.49 | OR |
| | 4 | Yang Wenyi | China | 25.64 | |
| | 5 | Katrin Meissner | East Germany | 25.71 | |
| | 7 | Jill Sterkel | United States | 25.71 | |
| 5 | 6 | Leigh Ann Fetter | United States | 25.78 | |
| 6 | 1 | Tamara Costache | Romania | 25.80 | |
| 7 | 2 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 25.90 | NR |
| 8 | 8 | Karen van Wirdum | Australia | 26.01 | OC |