At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Samorodina shifted her focus from the pool to the open water surface, competing in the inaugural women's 10 km marathon. Leading up to the Games, she placed fourth in the 10 km Marathon Swimming Olympic test event at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Swimming against a field of twenty-four, including South African amputee Natalie du Toit, British duo Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten, and sixteen-year-old American Chloe Sutton, Samorodina finished the grueling race in twenty-third position with a total time of 2:10:41.6, eleven minutes and thirteen seconds (11:13) behind winner Larisa Ilchenko of Russia.