# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
At only 17 years of age, U.S. teenage sensation Missy Franklin, billed as "Missy the Missile" by her fans, stormed home on the final stretch to pick up her first ever Olympic gold medal in swimming. Trailing behind at the halfway turn, she pulled away from a tightly packed field with a more destructive force to hit the wall first in an American record of 58.33. Australia's Emily Seebohm started the race with a marginal lead over the rest of the field, but faded down the stretch to settle only for the silver in 58.68. Meanwhile, Japan's Aya Terakawa grabbed the bronze in an Asian record of 58.83, holding off the fast-charging Russian swimmer Anastasia Zuyeva to a fourth spot in 59.00.
Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth, the reigning world record holder, finished fifth in 59.20, while China's Zhao Jing (59.23), Australia's Belinda Hocking (59.29) and Zhao's teammate Fu Yuanhui (1:00.50) rounded out the field.
Earlier in the prelims, Seebohm blitzed the field from heat four to lead all swimmers with a sterling Olympic and Oceanian record in 58.23, shaving 0.54 seconds off the standard set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in Beijing four years earlier. Coventry, double Olympic silver medalist, missed a chance to reach the final roster with a fourteenth-place effort (1:00.39) from the semifinals.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Gemma Spofforth (GBR) | 58.12 | Rome, Italy | 28 July 2009 |
| Olympic record | Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) | 58.77 | Beijing, China | 11 August 2008 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| July 29 | Heat 4 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.23 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 5 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.23 | Q, OC, OR |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 59.37 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 3 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 59.61 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 5 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 59.82 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 59.88 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 6 | Georgia Davies | Great Britain | 59.92 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 6 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 59.94 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 2 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 59.96 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | Zhao Jing | China | 59.97 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 8 | Simona Baumrtová | Czech Republic | 59.99 | Q, NR |
| 11 | 5 | 5 | Rachel Bootsma | United States | 1:00.03 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 7 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 1:00.05 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 3 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 1:00.10 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 1 | Alexianne Castel | France | 1:00.16 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 8 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:00.24 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 7 | Arianna Barbieri | Italy | 1:00.25 | Q, NR |
| 17 | 4 | 3 | Mie Nielsen | Denmark | 1:00.38 | |
| 18 | 4 | 1 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 1:00.57 | |
| 18 | 5 | 2 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 1:00.57 | |
| 20 | 4 | 2 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 1:00.61 | |
| 21 | 6 | 6 | Jenny Mensing | Germany | 1:00.72 | |
| 22 | 6 | 7 | Laure Manaudou | France | 1:01.03 | |
| 23 | 3 | 4 | Maria Fernanda Gonzalez | Mexico | 1:01.28 | |
| 24 | 5 | 1 | Fabíola Molina | Brazil | 1:01.40 | |
| 25 | 3 | 5 | Alicja Tchórz | Poland | 1:01.44 | |
| 26 | 2 | 8 | Tao Li | Singapore | 1:01.60 | NR |
| 27 | 5 | 8 | Elena Gemo | Italy | 1:01.77 | |
| 28 | 3 | 2 | Carolina Colorado Henao | Colombia | 1:01.81 | |
| 29 | 3 | 8 | Kimberly Buys | Belgium | 1:01.92 | NR |
| 30 | 3 | 7 | Melissa Ingram | New Zealand | 1:01.94 | |
| 31 | 3 | 6 | Ekaterina Avramova | Bulgaria | 1:02.20 | |
| 32 | 2 | 3 | Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir | Iceland | 1:02.40 | NR |
| 33 | 2 | 4 | Melanie Nocher | Ireland | 1:02.44 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Anja Čarman | Slovenia | 1:02.68 | |
| 35 | 3 | 1 | Therese Svendsen | Sweden | 1:03.11 | |
| 36 | 2 | 5 | Sanja Jovanović | Croatia | 1:03.38 | |
| 37 | 2 | 6 | Eszter Povázsay | Hungary | 1:03.55 | |
| 38 | 2 | 7 | Yekaterina Rudenko | Kazakhstan | 1:03.64 | |
| 39 | 3 | 3 | Hoi Shun Stephanie Au | Hong Kong | 1:04.31 | |
| 40 | 2 | 2 | Hazal Sarikaya | Turkey | 1:04.80 | |
| 41 | 1 | 3 | Karen Vilorio | Honduras | 1:06.38 | |
| 42 | 1 | 4 | Monica Ramirez | Andorra | 1:07.72 | |
| 43 | 1 | 5 | Ines Remersaro | Uruguay | 1:08.03 | |
| 44 | 1 | 6 | Anahit Barseghyan | Armenia | 1:08.19 | |
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Angelique Trinquier | Monaco | 1:10.79 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 59.12 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 59.34 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 59.70 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 59.82 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Simona Baumrtová | Czech Republic | 1:00.02 | |
| 6 | 1 | Alexianne Castel | France | 1:00.24 | |
| 7 | 8 | Arianna Barbieri | Italy | 1:00.27 | |
| 8 | 3 | Georgia Davies | Great Britain | 1:00.56 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.39 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Zhao Jing | China | 59.55 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 59.68 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 59.79 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 59.91 | |
| 6 | 7 | Rachel Bootsma | United States | 1:00.04 | |
| 7 | 8 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:00.39 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 1:00.57 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Missy Franklin | United States | 58.33 | AM |
| | 4 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.68 | |
| | 3 | Aya Terakawa | Japan | 58.83 | AS |
| 4 | 2 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 59.00 | |
| 5 | 7 | Gemma Spofforth | Great Britain | 59.20 | |
| 6 | 6 | Zhao Jing | China | 59.23 | |
| 7 | 1 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 59.29 | |
| 8 | 8 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 1:00.50 | |