Junko Onishi
Australia's top favorite Petria Thomas failed to impress the home crowd with her fourth-place effort, finishing off the podium by 29-hundredths of a second in 58.49. Trailing behind De Bruijn by 0.12 seconds, Jenny Thompson faded down the final stretch to pick up a fifth spot in 58.73. Earlier in the prelims, she posted a leading time (57.66) to cut off Qian Hong's 1992 Olympic record by almost a full second. Japan's Junko Onishi (59.13), Thomas' teammate Susie O'Neill (59.27), competing in her third Olympics, and Romania's Diana Mocanu (59.43) rounded out the finale.