The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

Dutch rising star Inge de Bruijn stormed home on the final lap to claim her second gold at these Games. She powered past her rivals in a star-studded field to touch the wall first in 53.83. Earlier in the semifinals, she delivered a time of 53.77 to erase her own world record by 0.03 of a second. Almost stealing the race from lane one, Therese Alshammar took home the silver in a Swedish record of 54.33. Meanwhile, top favorites Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson gave the Americans a further reason to celebrate, as they shared bronze medals in a matching time of 54.63. This was also Thompson's ninth career medal at these Games, making her the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history.

Slovakia's Martina Moravcová, who captured two silver medals in swimming, finished outside the podium in fifth place at 54.72. South Africa's Helene Muller managed to pull off a sixth-place finish in an African standard of 55.19. Japan's Sumika Minamoto (55.53) and De Bruijn's teammate Wilma van Rijn (55.58) closed out the field.

Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring Australia's overwhelming favorites Sarah Ryan and Susie O'Neill, Germany's Sandra Völker, silver medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, and Egypt's Rania Elwani, who surprisingly reached the semifinals from an unseeded heat.

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

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition. Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 20 September Semifinal 2 Inge de Bruijn 53.77

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 7 4 Inge de Bruijn 54.77 Q 2 5 5 Dara Torres 55.12 Q 3 6 4 Jenny Thompson 55.22 Q 4 6 5 Martina Moravcová 55.42 Q 5 7 2 Helene Muller 55.45 Q, AF 6 7 5 Therese Alshammar 55.49 Q 7 5 3 Sandra Völker 55.54 Q 8 6 3 Sue Rolph 55.77 Q 9 5 2 Sumika Minamoto 55.80 Q 10 7 6 Wilma van Rijn 55.82 Q 11 6 2 Louise Jöhncke 55.91 Q 12 6 6 Sarah Ryan 56.05 Q 13 5 6 Karen Pickering 56.08 Q 14 7 7 Laura Nicholls 56.30 Q 15 4 1 Rania Elwani 56.31 Q, NR 16 5 7 Alena Popchanka 56.33 Q 17 4 3 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 56.68 18 3 6 Olga Mukomol 56.69 19 7 8 Han Xue 56.79 20 6 7 Yekaterina Kibalo 56.97 21 4 4 Cristina Chiuso 57.09 22 6 1 Joscelin Yeo 57.15 23 4 2 Florencia Szigeti 57.20 24 2 6 Leah Martindale 57.21 25 5 1 Antonia Machaira 57.24 26 6 8 Ilona Hlaváčková 57.37 27 5 8 Judith Draxler 57.40 28 3 4 Kirsty Coventry 57.47 29 2 4 Elina Partõka 57.71 3 5 Gyöngyver Lakos 31 7 3 Susie O'Neill 57.78 32 4 8 Eileen Coparropa 57.82 33 4 6 Monique Robins 57.85 34 2 2 Siobhan Cropper 57.91 35 4 5 Tine Bossuyt 58.02 36 2 1 Lára Hrund Bjargardóttir 58.44 37 3 2 Lara Heinz 58.55 38 2 7 Caroline Pickering 58.62 39 3 8 Pilin Tachakittiranan 58.69 40 4 7 Chang Hee-jin 58.77 41 3 1 Jūratė Ladavičiūtė 58.78 42 3 3 Chantal Gibney 58.79 43 2 8 Yekaterina Tochenaya 58.80 44 2 3 Anna Stylianou 59.08 45 2 5 Agnese Ozoliņa 59.28 46 3 7 Tsai Shu-min 59.39 47 1 8 Nicole Hayes 1:00.89 48 1 5 Rola El Haress 1:03.26 49 1 2 Maria Awori 1:06.23 50 1 3 Nathalie Lee Baw 1:06.67 51 1 7 Zeïna Sahelí 1:07.37 52 1 4 Supra Singhal 1:08.15 53 1 6 Sanjaajamtsyn Altantuyaa 1:10.22 54 1 1 Katerina Izmaylova 1:19.12 5 4 Antje Buschschulte 7 1 Marianne Limpert

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Dara Torres 55.02 Q 2 5 Martina Moravcová 55.06 Q 3 2 Wilma van Rijn 55.28 Q 4 3 Therese Alshammar 55.31 Q 5 6 Sue Rolph 55.69 6 7 Sarah Ryan 55.93 7 1 Laura Nicholls 55.94 8 8 Alena Popchanka 56.40

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Inge de Bruijn 53.77 Q, 2 5 Jenny Thompson 54.40 Q 3 3 Helene Muller 55.24 Q, AF 4 2 Sumika Minamoto 55.62 Q 5 1 Karen Pickering 55.71 6 8 Rania Elwani 55.85 NR 7 7 Louise Jöhncke 55.94 8 6 Sandra Völker 55.97

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Inge de Bruijn 53.83 1 Therese Alshammar 54.33 NR 5 Jenny Thompson 54.43 3 Dara Torres 54.43 5 6 Martina Moravcová 54.72 6 2 Helene Muller 55.19 AF 7 8 Sumika Minamoto 55.53 8 7 Wilma van Rijn 55.58

References

External links