The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.

U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin set a lifetime best and an American record of 58.96 to defend her title in the event. Zimbabwe's new world record holder Kirsty Coventry added a second silver to her hardware from the 400 m individual medley two days earlier, in a time of 59.19. Coming from fifth place in the turn, Margaret Hoelzer continued her impressive form in the shorter backstroke to pick up a bronze in 59.34, handing the entire medal haul for Team USA in the pool.

Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth narrowly missed the podium by a twenty-fifth of a second (0.04), posting a European record of 59.38 for a fourth-place finish. Russia's Anastasia Zuyeva finished fifth in a close race at 59.40, and was followed in the sixth spot by Japan's Reiko Nakamura in 59.72. France's Laure Manaudou (1:00.10), bronze medalist in Athens four years earlier, and Japanese Hanae Ito (1:00.18) rounded out the finale.

Earlier in the prelims, Zuyeva, Nakamura, and Coventry scratched out Coughlin's existing Olympic record, as they went under a time of 59.68 to lead all seeded heats. The following morning, in the semifinals, Coventry blitzed the field on the final lap to set a new world record of 58.77, breaking Coughlin's mark by two-tenths of a second (0.20).

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 10 Heat 5 Anastasia Zuyeva 59.61 August 10 Heat 6 Reiko Nakamura 59.36 August 10 Heat 7 Kirsty Coventry 59.00 August 11 Semifinal 2 Kirsty Coventry 58.77

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes1 7 5 Kirsty Coventry 59.00 Q, , AF2 6 6 Reiko Nakamura 59.36 Q, AS3 5 4 Anastasia Zuyeva 59.61 Q, NR4 7 4 Natalie Coughlin 59.69 Q5 6 5 Laure Manaudou 1:00.09 Q6 7 6 Gemma Spofforth 1:00.11 Q7 6 4 Margaret Hoelzer 1:00.13 Q8 6 3 Hanae Ito 1:00.16 Q9 5 5 Emily Seebohm 1:00.27 Q10 4 3 Julia Wilkinson 1:00.38 Q11 5 8 Antje Buschschulte 1:00.48 Q12 5 2 Elizabeth Simmonds 1:00.53 Q13 5 6 Nina Zhivanevskaya 1:00.54 Q14 5 3 Sophie Edington 1:00.65 Q15 7 1 Elizabeth Coster 1:00.66 Q16 6 1 Kseniya Moskvina 1:00.70 Q17 5 1 Xu Tianlongzi 1:00.82 18 7 7 Fabíola Molina 1:01.00 19 3 3 Carolina Colorado Henao 1:01.19 NR20 4 4 Melissa Ingram 1:01.24 21 5 7 Kateryna Zubkova 1:01.25 22 6 2 Sanja Jovanović 1:01.30 23 7 2 Alexianne Castel 1:01.44 24 7 8 Nikolett Szepesi 1:01.77 25 3 2 Anna Gostomelsky 1:01.87 NR26 4 6 Romina Armellini 1:02.21 4 8 Anja Čarman 28 4 5 Mercedes Peris 1:02.30 29 3 1 Sarah Sjöström 1:02.38 30 4 2 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 1:02.39 31 4 1 Aisling Cooney 1:02.50 32 3 7 Alana Dillette 1:02.56 33 1 4 Kiera Aitken 1:02.62 34 3 4 Tsai Hiu Wai Sherry 1:02.68 35 3 5 Fernanda González 1:02.76 36 2 4 Zuzanna Mazurek 1:02.77 NR37 6 7 Iryna Amshennikova 1:02.85 38 2 5 Gisela Morales 1:02.92 39 3 6 Petra Klosová 1:03.36 40 2 3 Marica Strazmester 1:03.56 41 3 8 Sarah Blake Bateman 1:03.82 42 6 8 Christin Zenner 1:03.87 43 2 7 Erin Volcán 1:03.90 44 2 6 Kim Yu-yeon 1:04.63 45 2 2 Yekaterina Rudenko 1:04.85 46 1 5 Maria Virginia Baez 1:05.39 47 1 3 Christie Bodden 1:07.18 7 3 Zhao Jing 4 7 Sviatlana Khakhlova

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes1 5 Natalie Coughlin 59.43 Q2 4 Reiko Nakamura 59.64 Q3 3 Gemma Spofforth 59.79 Q4 6 Hanae Ito 1:00.13 Q5 7 Elizabeth Simmonds 1:00.39 6 2 Julia Wilkinson 1:00.60 7 1 Sophie Edington 1:01.05 8 8 Kseniya Moskvina 1:01.06

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes1 4 Kirsty Coventry 58.77 Q, 2 5 Anastasia Zuyeva 59.77 Q3 6 Margaret Hoelzer 59.84 Q4 3 Laure Manaudou 1:00.19 Q5 2 Emily Seebohm 1:00.31 6 1 Nina Zhivanevskaya 1:00.50 7 7 Antje Buschschulte 1:01.15 8 8 Elizabeth Coster 1:01.45

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Natalie Coughlin 58.96 AM 4 Kirsty Coventry 59.19 7 Margaret Hoelzer 59.34 42 Gemma Spofforth 59.38 ER56 Anastasia Zuyeva 59.40 NR63 Reiko Nakamura 59.72 78 Laure Manaudou 1:00.10 81 Hanae Ito 1:00.18

References

External links Official Olympic Report