The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15–17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Germany's Britta Steffen blasted a new Olympic record to strike a sprint freestyle double. She posted a time of 24.06, the second-fastest ever in the event, to erase Inge de Bruijn's 2000 record, and to hold off U.S. swimmer Dara Torres in a close race by a hundredth of a second (0.01). Returning from an eight-year absence, aged 41, Torres became the oldest swimmer to win a medal in Olympic history, surpassing British swimmer William Robinson, who was 38 at the time of the 1908 Summer Olympics.Emily Brandon, "Dara Torres: The Oldest Olympic Swimming Medalist in History ," U.S. News & World Report (August 13, 2008). Retrieved December 5, 2014. She established both a personal best and an American record of 24.07 to earn a silver medal and eleventh overall in her fifth Olympics since 1984. Meanwhile, Australian teenager Cate Campbell picked up a bronze in 24.17, edging out her teammate Lisbeth Trickett (24.25) by 0.08 of a second.
Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis finished fifth with a time of 24.26, and was followed in the sixth spot by American Kara Lynn Joyce in 24.63. Veldhuis' teammate Hinkelien Schreuder (24.65) and Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (24.77) rounded out the finale.
Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Sweden's Therese Alshammar, four-time Olympian and silver medalist in Sydney eight years earlier, and Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppälä, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m freestyle.
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 August 17 Final Britta Steffen 24.06
Results
Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 10 4 Cate Campbell 24.20 Q 2 11 4 Marleen Veldhuis 24.38 Q 3 10 5 Dara Torres 24.58 Q 4 12 4 Lisbeth Trickett 24.67 Q 5 11 6 Jeanette Ottesen 24.83 Q 6 12 5 Britta Steffen 24.90 Q 7 12 2 Zhu Yingwen 24.91 Q 8 10 3 Francesca Halsall 24.93 Q 9 11 5 Therese Alshammar 24.94 Q 10 12 6 Malia Metella 24.95 Q 11 11 2 Arlene Semeco 24.98 Q, NR12 11 3 Hinkelien Schreuder 25.00 Q 11 8 Li Zhesi Q 14 12 3 Kara Lynn Joyce 25.01 Q 15 12 1 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 25.06 Q, NR 16 10 6 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 25.07 Q 17 12 7 Agata Ewa Korc 25.14 NR 18 11 1 Céline Couderc 25.22 19 8 7 Anna Gostomelsky 25.23 NR 20 12 8 Sviatlana Khakhlova 25.27 21 9 5 Triin Aljand 25.29 22 10 2 Anna-Karin Kammerling 25.34 10 7 Flavia Cazziolato 24 8 2 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 25.40 25 10 1 Petra Dallmann 25.43 26 11 7 Lize-Mari Retief 25.44 27 9 4 Martina Moravcová 25.47 28 9 7 Anastasia Aksenova 25.51 29 8 5 Sandra Kazíková 25.54 30 9 6 Victoria Poon 25.58 31 9 8 Chang Hee-jin 25.59 32 9 2 Oksana Serikova 25.65 33 9 1 Martha Matsa 25.68 34 10 8 Cristina Chiuso 25.74 35 9 3 Vanessa García 25.81 36 8 3 Ragnheidur Ragnarsdottir 25.82 37 8 1 Natasha Moodie 25.95 38 7 1 Carolina Colorado Henao 26.11 39 6 6 Rugilė Mileišytė 26.19 7 2 Sharntelle McLean 41 7 5 Eva Dobar 26.33 42 6 2 Anna-Liza Mopio-Jane 26.47 43 7 3 Nina Sovinek 26.49 44 6 3 Yamile Bahamonde 26.54 7 6 Yu Ning Elaine Chan 46 7 8 Marina Mulyayeva 26.57 47 6 5 Christel Simms 26.64 48 8 8 Leung Chii Lin 26.75 49 7 4 Monika Babok 26.84 50 6 4 Veronica Vdovicenco 26.92 51 5 4 Sharon Paola Fajardo Sierra 27.19 52 6 7 Ngozi Monu 27.39 53 6 1 Ellen Lendra Hight 27.42 54 5 5 Chinyere Pigot 27.66 55 5 7 Dalia Tórrez Zamora 27.81 56 5 3 Razan Taha 27.82 57 6 8 Marianela Quesada 28.11 58 4 4 Ximene Gomes 28.15 5 2 Rovena Marku NR 60 5 6 Tojohanitra Andriamanjatoarimanana 28.54 61 4 8 Senele Dlamini 28.70 62 4 1 Virginia Farmer 28.82 63 5 1 Diane Etiennette 28.83 64 4 3 Katerine Moreno 29.05 65 5 8 Ana Crysna da Silva Romero 29.06 66 3 5 Olivia Aya Nakitanda 29.38 67 4 2 Dashtserengiin Saintsetseg 29.63 68 7 7 Mariya Bugakova 29.73 69 4 5 Kiran Khan 29.84 70 3 4 Samantha Paxinos 29.91 71 3 8 Amber Yobech 30.00 72 4 6 Aminath Rouya Hussain 30.21 73 4 7 Doli Akhter 30.23 74 1 5 Sameera Al Bitar 30.32 75 3 6 Julianne Kirchner 30.42 76 3 7 Debra Daniel 30.61 77 3 2 Magdalena Moshi 31.37 78 3 1 Hemthon Vitiny 31.41 79 2 7 Zakiya Nassar 31.97 80 3 3 Katerina Izmaylova 32.09 81 2 5 Karishma Karki 32.35 82 2 4 Zahra Pintoalso competed at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships; her sister Ammara Pinto was also an Olympic swimmer 32.53 83 2 6 Antoinette Guedia Mouafo 33.59 84 2 3 Vilayphone Vongphachanh 34.79 85 2 2 Elisabeth Nikiema 34.98 NR 86 2 8 Elsie Uwamahoro 36.86 87 1 6 Gloria Koussihouede 37.09 88 1 3 Pamela Girimbabazi 39.78 89 1 4 Djene Barry 39.80 90 2 1 Mariama Souley Bana 40.83 8 4 Miroslava Najdanovski 8 6 Bayan Jumah
Semifinals
Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 Britta Steffen 24.43 Q 2 4 Marleen Veldhuis 24.46 Q 3 5 Lisbeth Trickett 24.47 Q 4 7 Hinkelien Schreuder 24.52 Q 5 1 Kara Lynn Joyce 24.63 Q 6 8 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 24.72 Q 7 6 Francesca Halsall 24.80 8 2 Malia Metella 24.89
Semifinal 2
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 Dara Torres 24.27 Q 2 4 Cate Campbell 24.42 Q 3 6 Zhu Yingwen 24.76 4 3 Jeanette Ottesen 24.86 5 1 Li Zhesi 24.90 6 2 Therese Alshammar 24.96 7 7 Arlene Semeco 25.05 8 8 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 25.19
Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 3 Britta Steffen 24.06 4 Dara Torres 24.07 AM 5 Cate Campbell 24.17 4 2 Lisbeth Trickett 24.25 5 6 Marleen Veldhuis 24.26 6 1 Kara Lynn Joyce 24.63 7 7 Hinkelien Schreuder 24.65 8 8 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 24.77
References
External links Official Olympic Report