Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 400 m medley (women)

sport	swim
discipline	400 meter locations
gender	Women
place	London Aquatics Center
Attendees	36 athletes from 29 countries
Competition phase	July 28, 2012

The contest over 400 meters individual medley women at the 2012 Olympic Games in London , on 28 July 2012 at the London Aquatics Center held. 36 athletes took part.

There were five preliminary runs. The eight fastest swimmers of all heats qualified for the final, which was held on the same day.

Abbreviations: WR = world record, OR = Olympic record, NR = national record, PB = personal best, JWB = annual world record

Existing records

World record	Stephanie Rice ( Australia )	4: 29.45 min	Beijing , People's Republic of China	August 10, 2008
Olympic record

Title holder

Olympic champion	Stephanie Rice ( Australia )	4: 29.45 min	Beijing 2008
World Champion	Elizabeth Beisel ( United States )	4: 31.78 min	Shanghai 2011
European champion	Katinka Hosszú ( Hungary )	4: 33.76 min	Debrecen 2012

leader

Forward 1

July 28, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nguyen Thi Anh Vien	Vietnam	4: 50.32 min
2	Susana Escobar	Mexico	4: 50.57 min
3	Noora Laukkanen	Finland	4: 53.54 min
4th	Anum Bandey	Pakistan	5: 34.64 min	NO

Forward 2

July 28, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Kim Seo-yeong	South Korea	4: 43.99 min
2	Stephanie Horner	Canada	4: 45.49 min
3	Hanna Dzerkal	Ukraine	4: 48.19 min
4th	Andreina Pinto	Venezuela	4: 48.64 min
5	Sara Nordenstam	Norway	4: 51.28 min
6th	Karolina Szczepaniak	Poland	4: 52.50 min
7th	Sara El Bekri	Morocco	4: 53.21 min
8th	Georgina Bardach	Argentina	4: 57.31 min

Forward 3

July 28, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ye Shiwen	People's Republic of China	4: 31.73 min
2	Katinka Hosszú	Hungary	4: 33.77 min
3	Zsuzsanna Jakabos	Hungary	4: 37.37 min
4th	Barbora Závadová	Czech Republic	4: 41.84 min
5	Natalie Wiegersma	New Zealand	4: 44.78 min
6th	Miho Takahashi	Japan	4: 45.10 min
7th	Jana Martynova	Russia	4: 45.94 min
8th	Claudia Dasca Romeu	Spain	4: 46.80 min

Forward 4

July 28, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hannah Miley	United Kingdom	4: 34.98 min
2	Stephanie Rice	Australia	4: 35.76 min
3	Caitlin Leverenz	United States	4: 36.09 min
4th	Miyu Otsuka	Japan	4: 39.13 min
5	Stina Gardell	Sweden	4: 41.66 min
6th	Katheryn Meaklim	South Africa	4: 43.46 min
7th	Stefania Pirozzi	Italy	4: 45.61 min
8th	Jördis Steinegger	Austria	4: 45.80 min

Forward 5

July 28, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Elizabeth Beisel	United States	4: 31.68 min
2	Li Xuanxu	People's Republic of China	4: 34.28 min
3	Mireia Belmonte	Spain	4: 34.70 min
4th	Anja Klinar	Slovenia	4: 38.20 min
5	Aimee Willmott	United Kingdom	4: 38.87 min
6th	Blair Evans	Australia	4: 40.42 min
7th	Lara Grangeon	France	4: 44.28 min
-	Joanna Maranhão	Brazil	DNS

final

Winner Ye Shiwen's performance sparked discussion. Shiwen, in fourth place before the last 100 meters, took the leading American Elizabeth Beisel three and a half seconds on the freestyle position and took the victory in a world record time. She swam the first 50 meters in 29.75 seconds (world position record holder Michael Phelps from the USA needed 29.88 seconds). Shiwen even made the last lane in 28.93 seconds. Ryan Lochte (USA), who won the men's 400 meter medley 15 minutes earlier, needed 29.10 seconds for the last lane.

July 28, 2012, 8:11 p.m. CET

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ye Shiwen	People's Republic of China	4: 28.43 min	WR , OR
2	Elizabeth Beisel	United States	4: 31.27 min
3	Li Xuanxu	People's Republic of China	4: 32.91 min
4th	Katinka Hosszú	Hungary	4: 33.49 min
5	Hannah Miley	United Kingdom	4: 34.17 min
6th	Stephanie Rice	Australia	4: 35.49 min
6th	Caitlin Leverenz	United States	4: 35.49 min
8th	Mireia Belmonte	Spain	4: 35.62 min

Picture gallery

• 

  Mireia Belmonte (ESP) took 8th place in the final

• 

  Defending champion Stephanie Rice (AUS) achieved 6th place in the final

• 

  Local hero Hannah Miley (GBR) swims in 5th place in the final

• 

  The Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakabos (center), the Slovenian Anja Klinar (right) and the French Lara Grangeon (left), here at the 2010 Short Course World Cup, are eliminated in the preliminary run

• 

  Joanna Maranhão (BRA) does not start

• 

  Jördis Steinegger (AUT) retires in the preliminary run

Web links

• Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 400 m medley in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau in its online edition on July 30, 2012