The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 25 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Results
Heats Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q).
Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 4 Brooke Bennett 8:32.38 Q 2 3 3 Dagmar Hase 8:33.55 Q 3 3 6 Kerstin Kielgaß 8:36.33 Q 4 2 3 Sarah Hardcastle 8:37.54 Q 5 2 6 Irene Dalby 8:37.73 Q, NR 6 2 4 Janet Evans 8:38.08 Q 7 3 5 Kirsten Vlieghuis 8:39.73 Q 8 2 2 Carla Geurts 8:39.85 Q 9 4 6 Lin Chi-chan 8:40.31 NR 10 4 7 Eri Yamanoi 8:40.47 11 4 5 Stacey Gartrell 8:42.39 12 4 3 Pu Yiqi 8:45.32 13 4 4 Hayley Lewis 8:45.79 14 3 7 Nikki Dryden 8:47.19 15 3 2 Olga Šplíchalová 8:47.68 16 2 1 Sandra Cam 8:48.33 17 4 1 Alicia Barrancos 8:48.54 18 2 7 Itziar Esparza 8:50.22 19 3 1 Stephanie Richardson 8:52.61 20 4 8 Carla Negrea 8:54.19 21 4 2 Aiko Miyake 8:55.77 22 3 8 Mirjana Boševska 8:57.52 NR 23 1 5 Ravee Intporn-Udom 9:01.14 NR 24 1 4 Suh Hyun-soo 9:03.22 25 2 8 Rita Kovács 9:06.97 26 1 6 Maritza Chiaway 9:09.12 27 1 3 Olga Korotayeva 9:21.20 28 1 2 Daniela Menegon 10:12.46 2 5 Chen Yan
Final
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Brooke Bennett 8:27.89 5 Dagmar Hase 8:29.91 1 Kirsten Vlieghuis 8:30.84 NR 4 3 Kerstin Kielgaß 8:31.06 5 2 Irene Dalby 8:38.34 6 7 Janet Evans 8:38.91 7 8 Carla Geurts 8:40.43 8 6 Sarah Hardcastle 8:41.75
References
External links Official Report USA Swimming