# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Ina Kleber (GDR) | 1:00.59 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 24 August 1984 |
| Olympic record | Rica Reinisch (GDR) | 1:00.86 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 23 July 1980 |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 1:01.45 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Cornelia Sirch | East Germany | 1:01.63 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Krisztina Egerszegi | Hungary | 1:02.09 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Beth Barr | United States | 1:02.63 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Betsy Mitchell | United States | 1:02.85 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:03.21 | Q, NR |
| 7 | 6 | Nicole Livingstone | Australia | 1:03.26 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | Marion Aizpors | West Germany | 1:03.27 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | Anca Pătrășcoiu | Romania | 1:03.29 | q |
| 10 | 5 | Svenja Schlicht | West Germany | 1:03.72 | q |
| 11 | 4 | Lorenza Vigarani | Italy | 1:03.96 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Lori Melien | Canada | 1:04.29 | q |
| 13 | 5 | Jolanda de Rover | Netherlands | 1:04.39 | q |
| 14 | 5 | Sharon Musson | New Zealand | 1:04.58 | q |
| 15 | 6 | Katherine Read | Great Britain | 1:04.62 | q |
| 16 | 4 | Manuela Carosi | Italy | 1:04.69 | qSO |
| 16 | 6 | Karen Lord | Australia | 1:04.69 | qSO |
| 18 | 5 | Sharon Page | Great Britain | 1:04.75 | |
| 19 | 4 | Bistra Gospodinova | Bulgaria | 1:04.91 | |
| 20 | 4 | Laurence Guillou | France | 1:05.07 | |
| 20 | 4 | Eva Gysling | Switzerland | 1:05.07 | |
| 22 | 6 | Johanna Larsson | Sweden | 1:05.10 | |
| 23 | 3 | Wang Bolin | China | 1:05.15 | |
| 24 | 6 | Satoko Morishita | Japan | 1:05.38 | |
| 25 | 4 | Sylvia Hume | New Zealand | 1:05.81 | |
| 26 | 3 | Tomoko Onogi | Japan | 1:06.14 | |
| 27 | 3 | Michelle Smith | Ireland | 1:06.22 | |
| 28 | 3 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 1:06.51 | |
| 29 | 3 | Aileen Convery | Ireland | 1:06.73 | |
| 30 | 3 | Hong Ji-hee | South Korea | 1:08.33 | |
| 31 | 3 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | 1:08.58 | |
| 32 | 3 | Wang Chi | Chinese Taipei | 1:09.56 | |
| 33 | 2 | Ana Joselina Fortin | Honduras | 1:10.10 | |
| 34 | 2 | Tricia Duncan | Virgin Islands | 1:10.37 | |
| 35 | 2 | Tsang Wing Sze | Hong Kong | 1:10.50 | |
| 36 | 2 | Sharon Pickering | Fiji | 1:12.14 | |
| 37 | 1 | Angela Birch | Fiji | 1:13.48 | |
| 38 | 1 | Katerine Moreno | Bolivia | 1:14.42 | |
| 39 | 2 | Elsa Freire | Angola | 1:15.56 | |
| 40 | 1 | Carolina Araujo | Mozambique | 1:15.86 | |
| 41 | 2 | Carla Fernandes | Angola | 1:21.58 | |

#### Swimoff
##### Round 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Manuela Carosi | Italy | 1:05.05 | qSO |
| 1 | 4 | Karen Lord | Australia | 1:05.05 | qSO |

##### Round 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Manuela Carosi | Italy | 1:04.62 | q |
| 2 | 4 | Karen Lord | Australia | 1:04.75 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 4 | Anca Pătrășcoiu | Romania | 1:03.33 |
| 10 | 5 | Svenja Schlicht | West Germany | 1:03.68 |
| 11 | 8 | Manuela Carosi | Italy | 1:03.80 |
| 12 | 6 | Lori Melien | Canada | 1:03.87 |
| 13 | 3 | Lorenza Vigarani | Italy | 1:03.88 |
| 14 | 2 | Jolanda de Rover | Netherlands | 1:04.11 |
| 15 | 7 | Sharon Musson | New Zealand | 1:04.17 |
| 16 | 1 | Katherine Read | Great Britain | 1:04.27 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 4 | Kristin Otto | East Germany | 1:00.89 |
| | 3 | Krisztina Egerszegi | Hungary | 1:01.56 |
| | 5 | Cornelia Sirch | East Germany | 1:01.57 |
| 4 | 2 | Betsy Mitchell | United States | 1:02.71 |
| 5 | 6 | Beth Barr | United States | 1:02.78 |
| 6 | 7 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:03.34 |
| 7 | 1 | Nicole Livingstone | Australia | 1:04.15 |
| 8 | 8 | Marion Aizpors | West Germany | 1:04.19 |