# Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre breaststroke

The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 21 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Penny Heyns (RSA) | 1:07.46 | Durban, South Africa | 4 March 1996 |
| Olympic record | Tanya Dangalakova (BUL) | 1:07.95 | Seoul, South Korea | 23 September 1988 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 21 July | Heat 6 | Penny Heyns | South Africa | 1:07.02 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 4 | Penny Heyns | South Africa | 1:07.02 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Amanda Beard | United States | 1:09.04 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 6 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 1:09.05 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Samantha Riley | Australia | 1:09.37 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 7 | Vera Lischka | Austria | 1:09.68 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Guylaine Cloutier | Canada | 1:09.72 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 4 | Svitlana Bondarenko | Ukraine | 1:09.79 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 5 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 1:09.83 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | 2 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 1:09.89 | q, NR |
| 10 | 6 | 1 | Elin Austevoll | Norway | 1:09.96 | q, NR |
| 11 | 6 | 7 | Manuela Dalla Valle | Italy | 1:10.25 | q |
| 12 | 5 | 6 | Lisa Flood | Canada | 1:10.26 | q |
| 13 | 4 | 3 | Han Xue | China | 1:10.40 | q |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | Helen Denman | Australia | 1:10.64 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 1 | Hanna Jaltner | Sweden | 1:10.69 | q |
| 16 | 3 | 6 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 1:10.70 | q |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Jaime King | Great Britain | 1:10.83 | |
| 18 | 5 | 1 | Julia Russell | South Africa | 1:10.87 | |
| 19 | 6 | 3 | Kristine Quance | United States | 1:10.92 | |
| 20 | 6 | 2 | Terrie Miller | Norway | 1:11.09 | |
| 21 | 6 | 8 | Madelon Baans | Netherlands | 1:11.17 | |
| 22 | 4 | 2 | Kyoko Iwasaki | Japan | 1:11.33 | |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Maria Östling | Sweden | 1:11.58 | |
| 24 | 6 | 6 | Yuan Yuan | China | 1:11.65 | |
| 25 | 5 | 8 | Karine Brémond | France | 1:11.80 | |
| 26 | 3 | 5 | Kathrin Dumitru | Germany | 1:11.92 | |
| 27 | 3 | 7 | Olga Landik | Russia | 1:12.55 | |
| 28 | 3 | 2 | María Olay | Spain | 1:12.58 | |
| 29 | 2 | 3 | Lenka Maňhalová | Czech Republic | 1:12.72 | |
| 30 | 1 | 3 | Byun Hye-young | South Korea | 1:12.85 | NR |
| 31 | 3 | 3 | Anna Wilson | New Zealand | 1:12.93 | |
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Mia Hagman | Finland | 1:13.01 | |
| 33 | 3 | 8 | Yelena Rudkovskaya | Belarus | 1:13.71 | |
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Joana Soutinho | Portugal | 1:13.73 | |
| 35 | 3 | 4 | Larisa Lăcustă | Romania | 1:13.91 | |
| 36 | 1 | 6 | Tay Li Leng | Malaysia | 1:14.17 | |
| 37 | 2 | 2 | Natália Kodajová | Slovakia | 1:14.24 | NR |
| 38 | 1 | 5 | Isabel Ceballos | Colombia | 1:14.75 | |
| 39 | 2 | 5 | Mou Ying-hsin | Chinese Taipei | 1:14.82 | |
| 40 | 3 | 1 | Joscelin Yeo | Singapore | 1:14.90 | |
| 41 | 1 | 4 | Snowie Pang Wang Yiu | Hong Kong | 1:16.02 | |
| 42 | 2 | 1 | María Carolina Santa Cruz | Argentina | 1:16.19 | |
| 43 | 2 | 8 | Nádia Cruz | Angola | 1:16.62 | |
| 44 | 2 | 7 | Cerian Gibbes | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:16.99 | |
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Anush Manukyan | Armenia | 1:20.70 | |
| 46 | 1 | 7 | Hem Reaksmey | Cambodia | 1:44.68 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 2 | Han Xue | China | 1:09.90 |
| 10 | 6 | Lisa Flood | Canada | 1:10.21 |
| 11 | 7 | Helen Denman | Australia | 1:10.26 |
| 12 | 5 | Elin Austevoll | Norway | 1:10.27 |
| 13 | 4 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 1:10.43 |
| 14 | 8 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 1:10.44 |
| 15 | 3 | Manuela Dalla Valle | Italy | 1:11.19 |
| 16 | 1 | Hanna Jaltner | Sweden | 1:11.41 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Penny Heyns | South Africa | 1:07.73 | |
| | 5 | Amanda Beard | United States | 1:08.09 | AM |
| | 6 | Samantha Riley | Australia | 1:09.18 | |
| 4 | 1 | Svitlana Bondarenko | Ukraine | 1:09.21 | NR |
| 5 | 2 | Vera Lischka | Austria | 1:09.24 | NR |
| 6 | 7 | Guylaine Cloutier | Canada | 1:09.40 | |
| 7 | 3 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 1:09.55 | |
| 8 | 8 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 1:09.79 | |