# Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre individual medley

The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Australia's Stephanie Rice pulled away to a strong finish on the freestyle leg, as she claimed an Olympic gold medal in the event. She established a sterling time of 4:29.45 to slash 1.67 seconds off the world record, set by Katie Hoff from the U.S. Olympic Trials. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry also went under a world record, but earned her first silver at these Games, in an African record of 4:29.89. Meanwhile, Hoff did not match her stellar performance from the trials, as she settled only for the bronze in 4:31.71.
Rising American teenager Elizabeth Beisel finished outside the medals in fourth place at 4:34.24, holding off Italy's Alessia Filippi (4:34.34) to fifth by exactly a tenth of a second (0.10). Great Britain's Hannah Miley (4:39.44), Russia's Yana Martynova (4:40.04), and China's Li Xuanxu (4:42.13) rounded out the finale.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Katie Hoff (USA) | 4:31.12 | Omaha, United States | 29 June 2008 |
| Olympic record | Yana Klochkova (UKR) | 4:33.59 | Sydney, Australia | 16 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 10 | Final | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 4:29.45 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 4:34.55 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Katie Hoff | United States | 4:34.63 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Alessia Filippi | Italy | 4:35.11 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 4:35.11 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 3 | Yana Martynova | Russia | 4:36.25 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | Li Xuanxu | China | 4:36.35 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 4:36.43 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 4:36.56 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 7 | Katarzyna Baranowska | Poland | 4:36.95 | NR |
| 10 | 4 | 1 | Kathryn Meaklim | South Africa | 4:37.11 | NR |
| 11 | 3 | 7 | Maiko Fujino | Japan | 4:37.35 | |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 4:37.55 | |
| 13 | 5 | 2 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 4:37.86 | |
| 14 | 5 | 7 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 4:37.91 | |
| 15 | 3 | 6 | Keri-Anne Payne | Great Britain | 4:38.69 | |
| 16 | 5 | 8 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | 4:38.90 | |
| 17 | 2 | 3 | Joanna Melo | Brazil | 4:40.18 | |
| 18 | 2 | 7 | Sara Nordenstam | Norway | 4:40.28 | NR |
| 19 | 4 | 6 | Camille Muffat | France | 4:40.29 | |
| 20 | 3 | 8 | Tanya Hunks | Canada | 4:40.63 | |
| 21 | 5 | 1 | Jessica Pengelly | South Africa | 4:41.04 | |
| 22 | 3 | 1 | Samantha Hamill | Australia | 4:41.89 | |
| 23 | 5 | 6 | Joanne Andraca | France | 4:43.88 | |
| 24 | 3 | 2 | Helen Norfolk | New Zealand | 4:44.22 | |
| 25 | 2 | 5 | Liu Jing | China | 4:44.96 | |
| 26 | 2 | 1 | Jördis Steinegger | Austria | 4:45.15 | |
| 27 | 4 | 2 | Saori Haruguchi | Japan | 4:45.22 | |
| 28 | 1 | 3 | Nam Yoo-sun | South Korea | 4:46.74 | |
| 29 | 4 | 8 | Alexa Komarnycky | Canada | 4:46.98 | |
| 30 | 2 | 8 | Susana Escobar | Mexico | 4:47.32 | NR |
| 31 | 2 | 6 | Svetlana Karpeeva | Russia | 4:50.22 | |
| 32 | 1 | 6 | Quah Ting Wen | Singapore | 4:51.25 | NR |
| 33 | 2 | 2 | Katharina Schiller | Germany | 4:51.52 | |
| 34 | 1 | 4 | Lew Yih Wey | Malaysia | 4:55.83 | |
| 35 | 1 | 5 | Anna-Liisa Põld | Estonia | 4:58.21 | |
| 36 | 2 | 4 | Georgina Bardach | Argentina | 5:00.87 | |
| 37 | 1 | 7 | Nimitta Thaveesupsoonthorn | Thailand | 5:02.18 | |
| | 1 | 2 | Maroua Mathlouthi | Tunisia | DNS | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 4:29.45 | WR |
| | 1 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 4:29.89 | AF |
| | 5 | Katie Hoff | United States | 4:31.71 | |
| 4 | 4 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 4:34.24 | |
| 5 | 3 | Alessia Filippi | Italy | 4:34.34 | NR |
| 6 | 8 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 4:39.44 | |
| 7 | 2 | Yana Martynova | Russia | 4:40.04 | |
| 8 | 7 | Li Xuanxu | China | 4:42.13 | |