# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle

The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 18 and 19.
Australia's Jodie Henry edged out defending Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn to take the gold medal in this event, by thirty-two hundredths of a second (0.32), outside the record time of 53.84 seconds. U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, who previously claimed the title in the 100 m backstroke, earned the bronze at 54.40 seconds. In the semifinals, Henry captured fourteen hundredths of a second (0.14) off her teammate Lisbeth Lenton's world record (set five months earlier in Sydney), with a time of 53.52. This was also the final appearance for de Bruijn at the Olympics, before she retired from her swimming career in 2007.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Lisbeth Lenton (AUS) | 53.66 | Sydney, Australia | 31 March 2004 |
| Olympic record | Inge de Bruijn (NED) | 53.77 | Sydney, Australia | 20 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 18 | Semifinal 2 | Jodie Henry | Australia | 53.52 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 54.43 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 54.53 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.82 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | 4 | Lisbeth Lenton | Australia | 54.89 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 3 | Malia Metella | France | 55.08 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | 2 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 55.12 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | 4 | Jodie Henry | Australia | 55.13 | Q |
| 8 | 7 | 6 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 55.17 | Q |
| 9 | 7 | 3 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 55.41 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 6 | Alena Popchanka | Belarus | 55.49 | Q |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 55.57 | Q, WD |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | Tomoko Nagai | Japan | 55.76 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 6 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 55.81 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 7 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 55.87 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Hanna Shcherba | Belarus | 56.01 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | 5 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 56.01 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 1 | Ryu Yoon-ji | South Korea | 56.02 | Q |
| 18 | 4 | 3 | Jeanette Ottesen | Denmark | 56.17 | |
| 19 | 7 | 1 | Paulina Barzycka | Poland | 56.20 | |
| 20 | 6 | 8 | Rebeca Gusmão | Brazil | 56.25 | |
| 21 | 4 | 1 | Alison Fitch | New Zealand | 56.29 | |
| 22 | 6 | 7 | Cheng Jiaru | China | 56.39 | |
| 23 | 7 | 8 | Jana Myšková | Czech Republic | 56.59 | |
| 24 | 7 | 7 | Xu Yanwei | China | 56.66 | |
| 24 | 5 | 2 | Johanna Sjöberg | Sweden | 56.66 | |
| 26 | 4 | 2 | Sara Isaković | Slovenia | 56.67 | |
| 26 | 3 | 7 | Dominique Diezi | Switzerland | 56.67 | |
| 28 | 5 | 8 | Florencia Szigeti | Argentina | 56.71 | |
| 29 | 3 | 5 | Arlene Semeco | Venezuela | 57.04 | |
| 30 | 4 | 8 | Eileen Coparropa | Panama | 57.09 | |
| 31 | 4 | 7 | Olga Mukomol | Ukraine | 57.12 | |
| 32 | 4 | 5 | Anna Gostomelsky | Israel | 57.15 | |
| 33 | 3 | 6 | Judith Draxler | Austria | 57.29 | |
| 34 | 3 | 8 | Hannah Wilson | Hong Kong | 57.33 | |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | Vanessa García | Puerto Rico | 57.38 | |
| 36 | 3 | 3 | Lara Heinz | Luxembourg | 57.40 | |
| 37 | 4 | 4 | Jana Kolukanova | Estonia | 57.45 | |
| 38 | 3 | 2 | Ágnes Mutina | Hungary | 58.10 | |
| 39 | 3 | 1 | Angela Chuck | Jamaica | 58.33 | |
| 40 | 3 | 4 | Ragnheidur Ragnarsdóttir | Iceland | 58.47 | |
| 41 | 2 | 5 | Yelena Skalinskaya | Kazakhstan | 58.56 | |
| 42 | 2 | 4 | Linda McEachrane | Trinidad and Tobago | 58.92 | |
| 43 | 2 | 3 | Agnese Ozoliņa | Latvia | 59.03 | |
| 44 | 2 | 6 | Sung Yi-chieh | Chinese Taipei | 59.18 | |
| 45 | 2 | 7 | Irina Shlemova | Uzbekistan | 59.21 | |
| 46 | 2 | 8 | Shikha Tandon | India | 59.70 | |
| 47 | 2 | 1 | Nicoleta Coica | Moldova | 59.85 | |
| 48 | 1 | 4 | Carolina Cerqueda | Andorra | 1:00.38 | |
| 49 | 1 | 5 | Larissa Inangorore | Burundi | 1:23.90 | |
| 50 | 1 | 3 | Gloria Koussihouede | Benin | 1:30.90 | |
| | 5 | 3 | Melanie Marshall | Great Britain | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 54.81 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Alena Popchanka | Belarus | 54.97 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 55.02 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 55.08 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Lisbeth Lenton | Australia | 55.17 | |
| 6 | 7 | Marleen Veldhuis | Netherlands | 55.32 | |
| 7 | 1 | Hanna Shcherba | Belarus | 55.67 | |
| 8 | 8 | Ryu Yoon-Ji | South Korea | 55.85 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Jodie Henry | Australia | 53.52 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 4 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 54.06 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.37 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Malia Metella | France | 54.57 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 55.30 | |
| 6 | 8 | Hanna-Maria Seppälä | Finland | 55.59 | |
| 7 | 1 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 55.76 | |
| 8 | 7 | Tomoko Nagai | Japan | 56.03 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time |
| | 4 | Jodie Henry | Australia | 53.84 |
| | 5 | Inge de Bruijn | Netherlands | 54.16 |
| | 3 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 54.40 |
| 4 | 6 | Malia Metella | France | 54.50 |
| 5 | 2 | Kara Lynn Joyce | United States | 54.54 |
| 6 | 1 | Nery Mantey Niangkouara | Greece | 54.81 |
| 7 | 8 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 55.12 |
| 8 | 7 | Alena Popchanka | Belarus | 55.24 |