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

The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 15 and 16.
Chinese swimmer and triple world champion Luo Xuejuan won the gold medal in this event, with an Olympic record time of 1:06.64, missing the world record by 0.27 of a second. Australia's Brooke Hanson took home the silver at 1:07.15, while her teammate and world record holder Leisel Jones, who won silver as a 15-year-old in Sydney (2000), finished behind Hanson for a bronze medal by a hundredth of a second (0.01), with a time of 1:07.16. In 2007, Luo announced her official retirement from swimming, because of heart ailments that had plagued her and had caused fainting spells during her training.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Leisel Jones (AUS) | 1:06.37 | Barcelona, Spain | 21 July 2003 |
| Olympic record | Penny Heyns (RSA) | 1:07.02 | Atlanta, United States | 21 July 1996 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 15 | Semifinal 1 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:06.78 | OR |
| August 16 | Final | Luo Xuejuan | China | 1:06.64 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Brooke Hanson | Australia | 1:07.35 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:07.69 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | 5 | Tara Kirk | United States | 1:07.92 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:07.97 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | Amanda Beard | United States | 1:08.04 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 1:09.07 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 3 | Qi Hui | China | 1:09.29 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | 2 | Svitlana Bondarenko | Ukraine | 1:09.35 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 3 | Rhiannon Leier | Canada | 1:09.38 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 6 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 1:09.44 | Q |
| 11 | 6 | 7 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 1:09.51 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 2 | Vipa Bernhardt | Germany | 1:09.60 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 6 | Lauren van Oosten | Canada | 1:09.93 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 3 | Mirna Jukić | Austria | 1:09.99 | Q |
| 15 | 6 | 6 | Elena Bogomazova | Russia | 1:10.24 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 7 | Chiara Boggiatto | Italy | 1:10.33 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 2 | Maria Östling | Sweden | 1:10.45 | |
| 18 | 2 | 4 | Inna Kapishina | Belarus | 1:10.66 | |
| 19 | 4 | 7 | Majken Thorup | Denmark | 1:10.97 | |
| 20 | 4 | 8 | Smiljana Marinović | Croatia | 1:11.00 | |
| 21 | 5 | 1 | Madelon Baans | Netherlands | 1:11.10 | |
| 22 | 3 | 2 | Marina Kuč | Serbia and Montenegro | 1:11.27 | |
| 23 | 6 | 8 | Eeva Saarinen | Finland | 1:11.39 | |
| 24 | 4 | 1 | Diana Gomes | Portugal | 1:11.40 | |
| 24 | 6 | 1 | Emma Robinson | Ireland | 1:11.40 | |
| 26 | 3 | 3 | Ilkay Dikmen | Turkey | 1:11.69 | |
| 27 | 2 | 1 | Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez | Cuba | 1:12.14 | |
| 28 | 3 | 5 | Salama Ismail | Egypt | 1:12.20 | |
| 29 | 3 | 6 | Javiera Salcedo | Argentina | 1:12.46 | |
| 29 | 5 | 8 | Aikaterini Sarakatsani | Greece | 1:12.46 | |
| 31 | 3 | 8 | Jaclyn Pangilinan | Philippines | 1:12.47 | |
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Alia Atkinson | Jamaica | 1:12.53 | |
| 33 | 3 | 7 | Nicolette Teo | Singapore | 1:12.87 | |
| 34 | 3 | 4 | Lee Ji-young | South Korea | 1:12.93 | |
| 35 | 3 | 1 | Annabelle Carey | New Zealand | 1:13.21 | |
| 36 | 2 | 2 | Siow Yi Ting | Malaysia | 1:13.30 | |
| 37 | 2 | 7 | Valeria Silva | Peru | 1:13.52 | |
| 38 | 2 | 3 | Adriana Marmolejo | Mexico | 1:14.35 | |
| 39 | 2 | 5 | Yip Tsz Wa | Hong Kong | 1:14.53 | |
| 40 | 2 | 8 | Íris Edda Heimisdóttir | Iceland | 1:15.35 | |
| 41 | 1 | 3 | Katerine Moreno | Bolivia | 1:18.25 | |
| 42 | 1 | 4 | Varduhi Avetisyan | Armenia | 1:18.87 | |
| 43 | 1 | 5 | Shrone Austin | Seychelles | 1:19.02 | |
| 44 | 1 | 6 | Nataliya Filina | Azerbaijan | 1:20.21 | |
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Melissa Ashby | Grenada | 1:22.67 | |
| 46 | 1 | 8 | Mariam Pauline Keita | Mali | 1:30.40 | |
| 47 | 1 | 7 | Nayana Shakya | Nepal | 1:32.92 | |
| 48 | 1 | 1 | Pamela Girimbabazi | Rwanda | 1:50.39 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:06.78 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:07.48 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Svitlana Bondarenko | Ukraine | 1:08.28 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 1:08.57 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 1:09.11 | |
| 6 | 7 | Vipa Bernhardt | Germany | 1:09.72 | |
| 7 | 1 | Mirna Jukić | Austria | 1:10.06 | |
| 8 | 8 | Chiara Boggiatto | Italy | 1:10.84 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Tara Kirk | United States | 1:07.60 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Brooke Hanson | Australia | 1:07.75 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Amanda Beard | United States | 1:07.92 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Qi Hui | China | 1:09.06 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 1:09.12 | |
| 6 | 1 | Lauren van Oosten | Canada | 1:09.45 | |
| 7 | 2 | Rhiannon Leier | Canada | 1:09.46 | |
| 8 | 8 | Elena Bogomazova | Russia | 1:10.41 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 1 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 1:06.64 | OR |
| | 6 | Brooke Hanson | Australia | 1:07.15 | |
| | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia | 1:07.16 | |
| 4 | 2 | Amanda Beard | United States | 1:07.44 | |
| 5 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | Germany | 1:07.53 | |
| 6 | 3 | Tara Kirk | United States | 1:07.59 | |
| 7 | 7 | Svitlana Bondarenko | Ukraine | 1:08.19 | |
| | 8 | Qi Hui | China | DSQ | |