2012 Summer Olympics / Swimming - 800m Freestyle (Women)

sport	swim
discipline	800 meters freestyle
gender	Women
place	London Aquatics Center
Attendees	36 athletes from 30 countries
Competition phase	2nd / 3rd August 2012

The contest over 800 meters freestyle of women at the 2012 Olympics in London was on 2 and 3 August 2012 at 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
ER = European record , NAR = North American record , SAR = South American record, ASR = Asian record, AFR = African record, OZR = Oceania record
PB = personal best, JWB = annual world record

Existing records

World record	Rebecca Adlington ( United Kingdom )	8: 14.10 min	Beijing , People's Republic of China	August 16, 2008
Olympic record

Title holder

Olympic champion	Rebecca Adlington ( United Kingdom )	8: 14.10 min	Beijing 2008
World Champion		8: 17.51 ​​min	Shanghai 2011
European champion	Boglárka Kapás ( Hungary )	8: 26.49 min	Debrecen 2012

leader

Forward 1

2nd August 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Samantha Arevalo	Ecuador	8: 49.21 min	NO
2	Pamela Benitez	El Salvador	9: 02.66 min
3	Daniella van den Berg	Aruba	9: 23.21 min
4th	Simona Marinova	Macedonia	9: 28.41 min

Forward 2

2nd August 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Julia Hassler	Liechtenstein	8: 35.18 min	NO
2	Katya Bachrouche	Lebanon	8: 35.88 min
3	Tjaša Or	Slovenia	8: 41.82 min
4th	Patricia Castañeda Miyamoto	Mexico	8: 44.44 min
5	Nina Dittrich	Austria	8: 45.41 min
6th	Khoo Cai Lin	Malaysia	8: 51.18 min
7th	Lynette Lim	Singapore	8: 52.92 min
8th	Han Na-Kyeong	South Korea	8: 57.26 min

Forward 3

2nd August 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Katie Ledecky	United States	8: 23.84 min
2	Mireia Belmonte	Spain	8: 25.26 min
3	Alexa Komarnycky	Canada	8: 28.11 min
4th	Wendy Trott	South Africa	8: 28.98 min
5	Éva Risztov	Hungary	8: 29.06 min
6th	Ellie Faulkner	United Kingdom	8: 38.00 min
7th	Elena Sokolova	Russia	8: 42.73 min
-	Gráinne Murphy	Ireland	DNS

Forward 4

2nd August 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Lotte Friis	Denmark	8: 21.89 min
2	Boglárka Kapás	Hungary	8: 26.43 min
2	Andreina Pinto	Venezuela	8: 26.43 min	NO
4th	Coralie Balmy	France	8: 27.15 min
5	Kristel Köbrich	Chile	8: 29.55 min
6th	Kylie Palmer	Australia	8: 35.75 min
7th	Camelia Potec	Romania	8: 38.44 min
8th	Xin Xin	People's Republic of China	8: 40.88 min

Forward 5

2nd August 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rebecca Adlington	United Kingdom	8: 21.78 min
2	Lauren Boyle	New Zealand	8: 25.91 min	NO
3	Shao Yiwen	People's Republic of China	8: 27.78 min
4th	Erika Villaécija	Spain	8: 27.99 min
5	Savannah King	Canada	8: 29.72 min
6th	Cecilia Biagioli	Argentina	8: 33.97 min	NO
7th	Jessica Ashwood	Australia	8: 37.21 min
8th	Kate Ziegler	United States	8: 37.38 min

final

For the first time, all finalists struck in less than 8:30 minutes.
Katie Ledecky is the youngest winner of this distance and the seventh youngest Olympic champion in swimming. In addition, she swam the second fastest time ever achieved on this route.
Mireia Belmonte is the first Spanish medalist in this discipline.

August 3, 2012, 7:45 p.m. CET

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Katie Ledecky	United States	8: 14.63 min	NAR
2	Mireia Belmonte	Spain	8: 18.76 min	NO
3	Rebecca Adlington	United Kingdom	8: 20.32 min
4th	Lauren Boyle	New Zealand	8: 22.72 min	OZR
5	Lotte Friis	Denmark	8: 23.86 min
6th	Boglárka Kapás	Hungary	8: 23.89 min	NO
7th	Coralie Balmy	France	8: 29.26 min
8th	Andreina Pinto	Venezuela	8: 29.28 min

Video recordings

• Prelims
• final

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Katie Ledecky (USA)

• 

  Mireia Belmonte (ESP), winner of the silver medal

• 

  Defending champion Rebecca Adlington (GBR) wins bronze

• 

  The Austrian Nina Dittrich fails in the run-up

• 

  Lotte Friis (DEN), 5th place

Web links

• Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 800 m freestyle in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )