Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–11 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1] The winning margin was 0.07 seconds which as of 2024 is the narrowest winning margin for this event in the Olympics.

Women's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 10, 2008 (heats)
August 11, 2008 (final)
Competitors42 from 35 nations
Winning time4:03.22
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Katie Hoff  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Joanne Jackson  Great Britain
← 2004
2012 →

Rebecca Adlington became Great Britain's first female gold medalist in swimming in 48 years.[2] She posted an outside-record time of 4:03.22 to pip U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff in the final 5 metres after a 1.46-second deficit, with one length to go. Hoff added a silver to her hardware from the 400 m individual medley just a day earlier, in 4:03.29. Adlington's teammate Joanne Jackson earned a bronze in 4:03.52, handing 2 of the 3 medals won by Team GB in the pool.[3][4][5]

France's Coralie Balmy narrowly missed the podium by eight hundredths of a second (0.08), finishing in fourth place at 4:03.60. Italy's world record holder and top favorite Federica Pellegrini earned a fifth spot in a time of 4:04.56, holding off Romania's Camelia Potec to sixth by 0.10 of a second (4:04.66). Australia's Bronte Barratt (4:05.05) and defending Olympic champion Laure Manaudou (4:11.26).[3]

Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Poland's Otylia Jędrzejczak, silver medalist in Athens four years earlier, Hoff's teammate Kate Ziegler, and South Africa's Wendy Trott, who broke a new African record (4:08.38) in the heats.[6]

Earlier in the prelims, Pellegrini, Hoff, Jackson, and Adlington broke one of the oldest Olympic records in the book as they each went under the time of 4:03.85, which had stood since Janet Evans won the gold medal in the event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[6]

Records

edit

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record   Federica Pellegrini (ITA) 4:01.53 Eindhoven, Netherlands 24 March 2008 [7]
Olympic record   Janet Evans (USA) 4:03.85 Seoul, South Korea 22 September 1988

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 10 Heat 5 Katie Hoff   United States 4:03.71 OR
August 10 Heat 6 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 4:02.19 OR

Results

edit

Heats

edit
Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 4 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 4:02.19 Q, OR
2 6 3 Rebecca Adlington   Great Britain 4:02.24 Q, NR
3 5 4 Katie Hoff   United States 4:03.71 Q
4 5 6 Joanne Jackson   Great Britain 4:03.80 Q
5 5 3 Bronte Barratt   Australia 4:04.16 Q, OC
6 5 5 Coralie Balmy   France 4:04.25 Q
7 4 6 Camelia Potec   Romania 4:04.55 Q
8 4 4 Laure Manaudou   France 4:04.93 Q
9 4 5 Otylia Jędrzejczak   Poland 4:05.50
10 4 3 Linda Mackenzie   Australia 4:05.91
11 6 1 Stephanie Horner   Canada 4:07.45
12 5 2 Wendy Trott   South Africa 4:08.38 AF
13 5 7 Lotte Friis   Denmark 4:08.47
14 6 5 Kate Ziegler   United States 4:09.59
6 7 Flavia Rigamonti   Switzerland
16 4 8 Jördis Steinegger   Austria 4:09.72 NR
17 6 2 Melissa Corfe   South Africa 4:10.54
18 5 1 Gabriella Fagundez   Sweden 4:11.40
19 4 1 Savannah King   Canada 4:11.49
20 3 3 Susana Escobar   Mexico 4:11.99 NR
21 3 5 Monique Ferreira   Brazil 4:12.21
22 4 7 Tan Miao   China 4:12.35
23 4 2 Erika Villaécija   Spain 4:14.25
24 3 6 Hoi Shun Stephanie Au   Hong Kong 4:14.82
25 6 8 Jaana Ehmcke   Germany 4:15.15
26 5 8 Li Mo   China 4:15.50
27 3 2 Eleftheria Evgenia Efstathiou   Greece 4:15.78
28 3 4 Daria Belyakina   Russia 4:16.21
29 1 4 Boglárka Kapás   Hungary 4:16.22
30 3 1 Lynette Lim   Singapore 4:17.67
31 6 6 Ai Shibata   Japan 4:17.96
32 2 2 Yanel Pinto   Venezuela 4:18.09
33 2 1 Nataliya Khudyakova   Ukraine 4:18.34
34 3 7 Cecilia Biagioli   Argentina 4:19.85
35 2 7 Eva Lehtonen   Finland 4:20.07
36 2 3 Kristina Lennox-Silva   Puerto Rico 4:20.17
37 2 6 Lee Ji-eun   South Korea 4:21.53
38 2 5 Khoo Cai Lin   Malaysia 4:23.37
39 2 4 Golda Marcus   El Salvador 4:23.50
40 3 8 Yang Chin-kuei   Chinese Taipei 4:24.78
41 1 3 Shrone Austin   Seychelles 4:35.86
1 5 Natthanan Junkrajang   Thailand DNS

Final

edit
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  5 Rebecca Adlington   Great Britain 4:03.22
  3 Katie Hoff   United States 4:03.29
  6 Joanne Jackson   Great Britain 4:03.52
4 7 Coralie Balmy   France 4:03.60
5 4 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 4:04.56
6 1 Camelia Potec   Romania 4:04.66
7 2 Bronte Barratt   Australia 4:05.05
8 8 Laure Manaudou   France 4:11.26

References

edit
  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Adlington snatches swimming gold". BBC Sport. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Rebecca Adlington Overtakes Katie Hoff for Gold in Women's 400 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  4. ^ Kitson, Robert (11 August 2008). "Olympics: Rebecca Adlington wins gold for Britain in 400m freestyle". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  5. ^ Lonsbrough, Anita (11 August 2008). "Rebecca Adlington wins gold on a rewarding day for Britain – Beijing Olympics 2008". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  6. ^ a b Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Olympic Record Falls Twice in Women's 400 Free, Federica Pellegrini Tops Qualifying". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Veldhuis and Pellegrini set world records at Euro swimming championships". International Herald Tribune. 24 March 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
edit