Burundi had one woman competing in swimming at the 2008 Olympics, Elsie Uwamahoro, who competed in the 50-metre freestyle. Beijing was Uwamahoro's first Olympics. She was selected to compete in the second heat on 15 August. Uwamahoro finished seventh out of eight athletes in her heat, in a time of 36.86seconds. She finished ahead of Mariama Souley Bana from Niger (40.83seconds). The heat was led by Zakia Nassar from Palestine and Karishma Karki from Nepal who swam 31.97and32.35seconds, respectively. Her time placed her 86th out of 90 athletes and she did not qualify for the semi-finals.