Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 50m Freestyle (Women)

sport	swim
discipline	50 meters freestyle
gender	Women
place	London Aquatics Center
Attendees	73 athletes from 64 countries
Competition phase	3rd / 4th August 2012

The contest over 50 meters freestyle of women at the 2012 Olympics in London was on 3 and 4 August 2012 at London Aquatics Center held. 73 athletes took part.

There were ten preliminary runs. The 16 fastest swimmers of all heats qualified for the two semi-finals that were held on the same day. To determine the 16th starting place, an elimination swim between three simultaneous starters had to be inserted after the heats. The eight fastest swimmers in both semi-finals qualified for the final.

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

Existing records

World record	Britta Steffen ( Germany )	23.73 s	Rome , Italy	August 2, 2009
Olympic record		24.06 s	Beijing , People's Republic of China	August 17, 2008

Title holder

Olympic champion	Britta Steffen ( Germany )	24.06 s	Beijing 2008
World Champion	Therese Alshammar ( Sweden )	24.14 s	Shanghai 2011
European champion	Britta Steffen ( Germany )	24.37 s	Debrecen 2012
German champions	Britta Steffen	24.92 s	Berlin 2012

leader

Forward 1

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Nafissatou Adamou	Niger	37.29 s
2	Azo Kpossi	Togo	37.55 s
3	Masempe Theko	Lesotho	42.35 s

Adzo Kpossi (born January 25, 1999) was the youngest participant in the Olympic Games in London at the age of 13.

Forward 2

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Debra Daniel	Micronesia	30.32 s
2	Angelika Ouedraogo	Burkina Faso	32.19 s
3	Assita Toure	Ivory Coast	33.09 s
4th	Elsie Uwamahoro	Burundi	33.14 s
5	Sara Al-Flaij	Bahrain	33.81 s
6th	Aminata Yacoub	Republic of the Congo	34.64 s
7th	Mhasin Fadlalla	Sudan	35.07 s

Forward 3

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Karin O'Reilly clashing	Antigua and Barbuda	30.01 s
2	Hem Thon Vitiny	Cambodia	30.44 s
3	Alphonsine Agahozo	Rwanda	30.72 s
4th	Nada Wafa Arakji	Qatar	30.89 s
5	Ekaterina Ismailova	Tajikistan	31.27 s
6th	Fatoumata Samassékou	Mali	31.88 s
7th	Aminath Shajan	Maldives	32.23 s
8th	Yanet Gebremedhin	Ethiopia	32.41 s

Forward 4

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joyce Tafatatha	Malawi	27.74 s
2	Judith Meauri	Papua New Guinea	27.84 s
3	Ann-Marie Hepler	Marshall Islands	28.06 s
4th	Keesha Keane	Palau	28.25 s
5	Sabine Hazboun	Palestine	28.28 s
6th	Antoinette Guedia	Cameroon	29.28 s
7th	Celeste Brown	Cook Islands	29.36 s
8th	Mariana Henriques	Angola	31.36 s

Forward 5

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rūta Meilutytė	Lithuania	25.55 s	NO
2	Gabriela Ņikitina	Latvia	26.26 s
3	Chinyere Pigot	Suriname	26.30 s
4th	Nicola Muscat	Malta	27.22 s
5	Jessica Vieira	Mozambique	27.39 s
6th	Talita Baglah	Jordan	27.45 s
7th	Faye Hussain	Kuwait	27.92 s	NO
8th	Jamila Lunkuse	Uganda	28.44 s

Forward 6

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Zhu Qianwei	People's Republic of China	25.54 s
2	Hanna-Maria Seppälä	Finland	25.55 s
3	Erika Ferraioli	Italy	25.69 s
4th	Alia Atkinson	Jamaica	25.98 s
5	Miroslava Syllabová	Slovakia	26.07 s
6th	Farida Osman	Egypt	26.34 s
7th	Miroslava Najdanovski	Serbia	26.46 s

The Hungarian Eszter Dara did not start.

Forward 7

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Sarah Blake Bateman	Iceland	25.28 s
2	Hayley Palmer	New Zealand	25.47 s
3	Arlene Semeco	Venezuela	25.56 s
4th	Vanessa García	Puerto Rico	25.58 s
5	Anna Dowgiert	Poland	25.59 s
6th	Jolien Sysmans	Belgium	25.60 s
7th	Burcu Dolunay	Turkey	25.72 s
8th	Trudi Maree	South Africa	25.78 s

Forward 8

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Therese Alshammar	Sweden	24.77 s
2	Bronte Campbell	Australia	24.87 s
3	Cate Campbell	Australia	24.94 s
4th	Theodora Drakou	Greece	25.13 s
5	Kara Lynn Joyce	United States	25.28 s
6th	Nery Mantey Niangkouara	Greece	25.40 s
7th	Graciele Herrmann	Brazil	25.44 s
8th	Yayoi Matsumoto	Japan	25.73 s

Bronte and Cate Campbell are siblings.

Forward 9

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Francesca Halsall	United Kingdom	24.61 s
2	Britta Steffen	Germany	24.70 s
3	Aljaksandra Herassimenja	Belarus	24.76 s
4th	Sarah Sjöström	Sweden	24.94 s
5	Victoria Poon	Canada	25.15 s
6th	Anna Santamans	France	25.23 s
7th	Amy Smith	United Kingdom	25.28 s
8th	Pernille flower	Denmark	25.54 s

Forward 10

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ranomi Kromowidjojo	Netherlands	24.51 s
2	Marleen Veldhuis	Netherlands	24.57 s
3	Jeanette Ottesen Gray	Denmark	24.85 s
3	Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace	Bahamas	24.85 s
5	Jessica Hardy	United States	24.99 s
6th	Triin Aljand	Estonia	25.33 s
7th	Svetlana Chochlova	Belarus	25.36 s
8th	Darja Stepanyuk	Ukraine	25.70 s

Elimination race

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Amy Smith	United Kingdom	24.82 s
2	Kara Lynn Joyce	United States	25.16 s
3	Sarah Blake Bateman	Iceland	26.03 s

Bateman (7th run), Joyce (8th run) and Smith (9th run) swam exactly the same time with 25.23 seconds, which qualified for the 16th and final place in the semifinals.

Semifinals

Run 1

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Marleen Veldhuis	Netherlands	24.50 s
2	Britta Steffen	Germany	24.57 s
3	Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace	Bahamas	24.64 s	NO
4th	Jessica Hardy	United States	24.68 s
5	Therese Alshammar	Sweden	24.71 s
6th	Amy Smith	United Kingdom	24.87 s
7th	Cate Campbell	Australia	25.01 s
8th	Victoria Poon	Canada	25.17 s

Run 2

August 3, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ranomi Kromowidjojo	Netherlands	24.07 s
2	Aljaksandra Herassimenja	Belarus	24.45 s	NO
3	Francesca Halsall	United Kingdom	24.63 s
4th	Bronte Campbell	Australia	24.94 s
4th	Anna Santamans	France	24.94 s
6th	Jeanette Ottesen Gray	Denmark	24.99 s
7th	Sarah Sjöström	Sweden	25.08 s
8th	Theodora Drakou	Greece	25.28 s

final

August 4, 2012, 7:30 p.m. CET

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ranomi Kromowidjojo	Netherlands	24.05 s	OR
2	Aljaksandra Herassimenja	Belarus	24.28 s	NO
3	Marleen Veldhuis	Netherlands	24.39 s
4th	Britta Steffen	Germany	24.46 s
5	Francesca Halsall	United Kingdom	24.47 s
6th	Therese Alshammar	Sweden	24.61 s
7th	Jessica Hardy	United States	24.62 s
8th	Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace	Bahamas	24.69 s

Aljaksandra Herassimenja, who was able to improve the Belarusian national record twice in this competition, ensured the first medal win of a swimmer from Belarus in this discipline.
With Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, a participant from the Bahamas reached an Olympic swimming final for the first time.

Web links

• Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 50 m freestyle in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Adzo Kpossi in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )