Belmonte achieved a historic victory for Spain by winning the gold medal in the 200-metre butterfly on 10 August in a time of 2:04.85, which was 3 hundredths of a second ahead of the silver medalist, Australian swimmer Madeline Groves. She was the first Spanish female swimmer to become an Olympic champion. Her gold medal was the first gold medal in the swimming pool at an Olympic Games for a Spanish swimmer of any gender since 1992.