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

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 20 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 | Le Jingyi (CHN) | 54.01 | Rome, Italy | 5 September 1994 |
| Olympic record | Zhuang Yong (CHN) | 54.51 | Barcelona, Spain | 28 July 1992 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 20 July | Final A | Le Jingyi | China | 54.50 | OR |

## 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 | 5 | 4 | Le Jingyi | China | 54.90 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | Angel Martino | United States | 55.44 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | Sandra Völker | Germany | 55.55 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 5 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 55.80 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 55.81 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | Amy Van Dyken | United States | 55.94 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 6 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 56.06 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 2 | Sarah Ryan | Australia | 56.07 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 4 | Shan Ying | China | 56.10 | q |
| 10 | 6 | 1 | Leah Martindale | Barbados | 56.13 | q, NR |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 56.20 | q |
| 12 | 4 | 6 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 56.27 | q |
| 13 | 5 | 2 | Natalya Meshcheryakova | Russia | 56.33 | q |
| 14 | 5 | 3 | Karen Pickering | Great Britain | 56.40 | q |
| 15 | 6 | 7 | Linda Olofsson | Sweden | 56.56 | q |
| 16 | 4 | 3 | Sue Rolph | Great Britain | 56.62 | q |
| 17 | 4 | 7 | Shannon Shakespeare | Canada | 56.63 | |
| 18 | 6 | 8 | Vibeke Johansen | Norway | 56.88 | |
| 19 | 5 | 1 | Rania Elwani | Egypt | 56.89 | NR |
| 20 | 4 | 8 | Solenne Figuès | France | 56.90 | |
| 21 | 5 | 7 | Claudia Franco | Spain | 57.00 | |
| 22 | 3 | 6 | Minna Salmela | Finland | 57.15 | |
| 23 | 3 | 2 | Gabrielle Rose | Brazil | 57.16 | |
| 24 | 3 | 4 | Cecilia Vianini | Italy | 57.17 | |
| 25 | 4 | 2 | Sumika Minamoto | Japan | 57.25 | |
| 26 | 2 | 1 | Siobhan Cropper | Trinidad and Tobago | 57.30 | NR |
| 27 | 2 | 2 | Judith Draxler | Austria | 57.34 | NR |
| 28 | 3 | 7 | Metka Sparavec | Slovenia | 57.66 | |
| 29 | 5 | 8 | Alison Fitch | New Zealand | 57.71 | |
| 30 | 1 | 3 | Anna Nyíri | Hungary | 57.82 | |
| 31 | 2 | 4 | Antonia Machaira | Greece | 57.92 | |
| 32 | 3 | 1 | Monica Dahl | Namibia | 57.95 | |
| 33 | 3 | 3 | Helene Muller | South Africa | 57.98 | |
| 34 | 2 | 3 | Kristýna Kyněrová | Czech Republic | 58.03 | |
| 35 | 3 | 8 | Lee Bo-eun | South Korea | 58.27 | |
| 36 | 2 | 7 | Sandrine Paquier | Switzerland | 58.38 | |
| 37 | 4 | 1 | Dita Želvienė | Lithuania | 58.57 | |
| 38 | 1 | 5 | Teresa Moodie | Zimbabwe | 58.59 | |
| 39 | 2 | 8 | Sviatlana Zhidko | Belarus | 58.64 | |
| 40 | 2 | 5 | Tsai Shu-min | Chinese Taipei | 58.65 | |
| 41 | 3 | 5 | Joscelin Yeo | Singapore | 58.87 | |
| 42 | 2 | 6 | Yevgeniya Yermakova | Kazakhstan | 59.12 | |
| 43 | 1 | 4 | Valeria Álvarez | Argentina | 59.26 | |
| 44 | 1 | 7 | Viktoriya Polyayeva | Kyrgyzstan | 59.40 | |
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Gabrijela Ujčić | Croatia | 59.92 | |
| 46 | 1 | 6 | Duška Radan | FR Yugoslavia | 1:00.34 | |
| 47 | 1 | 1 | Caroline Pickering | Fiji | 1:00.51 | |
| 48 | 1 | 8 | Gail Rizzo | Malta | 1:02.19 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 4 | Shan Ying | China | 55.74 | |
| 10 | 1 | Linda Olofsson | Sweden | 55.83 | |
| 11 | 6 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 55.98 | |
| 12 | 5 | Leah Martindale | Barbados | 56.03 | NR |
| 13 | 2 | Natalya Meshcheryakova | Russia | 56.17 | |
| 14 | 7 | Karen Pickering | Great Britain | 56.32 | |
| 15 | 3 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 56.47 | |
| 16 | 8 | Sue Rolph | Great Britain | 56.58 | |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Le Jingyi | China | 54.50 | OR |
| | 3 | Sandra Völker | Germany | 54.88 | |
| | 5 | Angel Martino | United States | 54.93 | |
| 4 | 7 | Amy Van Dyken | United States | 55.11 | |
| 5 | 6 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 55.59 | |
| 6 | 8 | Sarah Ryan | Australia | 55.85 | |
| 7 | 1 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 56.01 | |
| 8 | 2 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 56.12 | |