# Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.

## 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 | Kristin Otto (GDR) | 25.49 | Seoul, South Korea | 25 September 1988 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 31 July | Final A | Yang Wenyi | China | 24.79 | 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 | 5 | Zhuang Yong | China | 25.56 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Angel Martino | United States | 25.63 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | 4 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 25.63 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 25.78 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 4 | Simone Osygus | Germany | 25.79 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | 5 | Yang Wenyi | China | 25.84 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 25.86 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 2 | Natalya Meshcheryakova | Unified Team | 25.89 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 3 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 25.96 | q |
| 10 | 5 | 6 | Marianne Kriel | South Africa | 26.05 | q |
| 11 | 6 | 3 | Lisa Curry | Australia | 26.07 | q |
| 12 | 7 | 6 | Andrea Nugent | Canada | 26.29 | q |
| 13 | 5 | 8 | Kristin Topham | Canada | 26.32 | q |
| 14 | 6 | 2 | Linda Olofsson | Sweden | 26.43 | q |
| 14 | 7 | 8 | Marianne Muis | Netherlands | 26.43 | q |
| 16 | 6 | 7 | Yevgeniya Yermakova | Unified Team | 26.45 | q |
| 17 | 6 | 8 | Julie Blaise | France | 26.48 | |
| 18 | 7 | 2 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 26.54 | |
| 19 | 6 | 1 | Cristina Chiuso | Italy | 26.72 | |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | Ayako Nakano | Japan | 26.74 | |
| 21 | 4 | 5 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 26.76 | |
| 21 | 4 | 3 | Claudia Franco | Spain | 26.76 | |
| 23 | 5 | 7 | Louise Karlsson | Sweden | 26.77 | |
| 24 | 4 | 4 | Karen Pickering | Great Britain | 26.78 | |
| 25 | 4 | 6 | Mette Nielsen | Denmark | 26.80 | |
| 25 | 6 | 6 | Karen van Wirdum | Australia | 26.80 | |
| 27 | 7 | 7 | Toni Jeffs | New Zealand | 26.90 | |
| 27 | 7 | 1 | Alison Sheppard | Great Britain | 26.90 | |
| 29 | 4 | 7 | Martina Moravcová | Czechoslovakia | 26.92 | |
| 30 | 4 | 2 | Diana Ureche | Romania | 26.96 | |
| 31 | 3 | 3 | Minna Salmela | Finland | 27.00 | |
| 32 | 3 | 6 | Rania Elwani | Egypt | 27.20 | |
| 33 | 3 | 4 | Eva Gysling | Switzerland | 27.21 | |
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Joscelin Yeo | Singapore | 27.36 | |
| 34 | 3 | 5 | Shina Matsudo | Japan | 27.36 | |
| 36 | 3 | 2 | Robyn Lamsam | Hong Kong | 27.40 | |
| 37 | 3 | 7 | Monica Dahl | Namibia | 27.45 | |
| 38 | 2 | 5 | Marja Pärssinen | Finland | 27.49 | |
| 39 | 3 | 1 | Joshua Ikhaghomi | Nigeria | 27.53 | |
| 40 | 2 | 7 | Shelley Cramer | Virgin Islands | 27.84 | NR |
| 41 | 1 | 7 | Keren Regal | Israel | 27.93 | |
| 42 | 4 | 1 | Helga Sigurðardóttir | Iceland | 27.94 | |
| 43 | 1 | 2 | Vola Hanta Ratsifa Andrihamanana | Madagascar | 28.22 | |
| 44 | 2 | 3 | Ratiporn Wong | Thailand | 28.42 | |
| 45 | 2 | 6 | Ana Joselina Fortin | Honduras | 28.59 | |
| 46 | 2 | 2 | May Ooi | Singapore | 28.77 | |
| 47 | 1 | 5 | Sharon Pickering | Fiji | 28.90 | |
| 48 | 1 | 3 | Paola Peñarrieta | Bolivia | 29.71 | |
| 49 | 1 | 6 | Sara Casadei | San Marino | 30.05 | |
| 50 | 1 | 4 | Elsa Freire | Angola | 30.17 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 3 | Lisa Curry | Australia | 25.87 |
| 10 | 2 | Kristin Topham | Canada | 26.17 |
| 11 | 7 | Marianne Muis | Netherlands | 26.24 |
| 11 | 6 | Andrea Nugent | Canada | 26.24 |
| 13 | 5 | Marianne Kriel | South Africa | 26.47 |
| 14 | 8 | Yevgeniya Yermakova | Unified Team | 26.49 |
| 15 | 1 | Linda Olofsson | Sweden | 26.51 |
| | 4 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | DSQ |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 7 | Yang Wenyi | China | 24.79 | WR |
| | 4 | Zhuang Yong | China | 25.08 | |
| | 3 | Angel Martino | United States | 25.23 | |
| 4 | 6 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 25.36 | NR |
| 5 | 5 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 25.37 | |
| 6 | 8 | Natalya Meshcheryakova | Unified Team | 25.47 | |
| 7 | 2 | Simone Osygus | Germany | 25.74 | |
| 8 | 1 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 25.84 | |