The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 20 and 21.

Dutch swimmer and world record holder Inge de Bruijn managed to defend her title in this event, outside her record time of 24.58 seconds. The silver medal was awarded to France's Malia Metella, with a time of 24.89 seconds. Australia's Lisbeth Lenton, who finished behind Metella by two hundredths of a second (0.02), took home the bronze at 24.91. This was also the final appearance for de Bruijn at the Olympics, before she retired from her swimming career in 2007.

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

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 10 4 Inge de Bruijn 24.66 Q 2 9 3 Kara Lynn Joyce 25.06 Q 3 10 3 Malia Metella 25.21 Q 4 10 2 Sviatlana Khakhlova 25.24 Q5 8 4 Michelle Engelsman 25.28 Q 10 5 Marleen Veldhuis Q 7 9 4 Lisbeth Lenton 25.31 Q 8 9 2 Alison Sheppard 25.36 Q 9 10 7 Flávia Cazziolato 25.40 Q 10 9 5 Therese Alshammar 25.42 Q 11 8 5 Jenny Thompson 25.50 Q 12 8 8 Eileen Coparropa 25.57 Q 13 8 1 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 25.62 Q 14 9 6 Rebeca Gusmão 25.64 Q 15 8 7 Dorothea Brandt 25.67 Q 16 9 1 Cristina Chiuso 25.68 Q 17 8 6 Martina Moravcová 25.69 18 10 6 Sandra Völker 25.74 19 9 8 Judith Draxler 25.82 20 8 3 Anna-Karin Kammerling 25.85 21 10 8 Ana Belén Palomo 25.92 22 7 6 Jeanette Ottesen 25.95 23 8 2 Olga Mukomol 25.96 24 9 7 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 26.01 25 7 2 Sandra Kazíková 26.18 26 7 3 Triin Aljand 26.19 27 7 5 Arlene Semeco 26.20 28 7 7 Ryu Yoon-ji 26.26 5 6 Vanessa García 30 6 2 Lara Heinz 26.35 31 6 5 Ragnheidur Ragnarsdóttir 26.36 32 7 8 Zhu Yingwen 26.45 33 7 4 Martha Matsa 26.46 34 5 5 Alison Fitch 26.56 35 6 6 Anna Gostomelsky 26.72 36 5 2 Sara Isaković 26.81 37 6 3 Florencia Szigeti 26.84 38 7 1 Sharntelle McLean 26.86 39 6 1 Yelena Skalinskaya 27.04 40 6 8 Shikha Tandon 27.08 41 6 7 Zsuzsanna Csobánki 27.09 5 3 Nieh Pin-chieh 43 5 1 Miroslava Najdanovski 27.18 44 5 7 Alia Atkinson 27.21 45 5 8 Nikia Deveaux 27.36 46 4 4 Melanie Slowing 27.44 47 6 4 Yu Ning Elaine Chan 27.48 48 4 5 Maria Tregubova 28.40 49 4 3 Roshendra Vrolijk 28.43 50 4 2 Jakie Wellman 28.56 51 4 6 Geraldine Arce 28.73 52 4 7 Menaka de Silva 28.93 53 4 8 Dohi Éliane Droubry 29.23 54 4 1 Sade Daal 29.27 55 3 6 Ermelinda Zamba 29.34 56 3 7 Aina Andriamanjatoarimanana 29.35 57 3 5 Eva Donde 29.47 58 3 4 Diane Etiennette 30.00 59 3 3 Rubab Raza 30.10 60 3 1 Rovena Marku 30.51 61 1 5 Doli Akhter 30.72 62 3 2 Samar Nassar 30.83 63 2 4 Sameera Al Bitar 31.00 2 5 Ghazal El Jobeili 65 3 8 Aminath Rouya Hussain 31.26 2 6 Tracy Ann Route 67 2 7 Christal Clashing 31.55 68 1 3 Monika Bakale 31.61 69 2 3 Han Choi 31.62 70 2 2 Evelyn Otto 33.04 71 2 1 Ket Sivan 34.62 72 1 4 Amira Edrahi 34.67 73 2 8 Vilayphone Vongphachanh 36.57 5 4 Dominique Diezi 10 1 Federica Pellegrini

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Kara Lynn Joyce 25.06 Q 2 2 Therese Alshammar 25.15 Q 3 3 Marleen Veldhuis 25.27 4 1 Rebeca Gusmão 25.31 5 6 Alison Sheppard 25.36 6 7 Eileen Coparropa 25.37 8 Cristina Chiuso 8 5 Sviatlana Khakhlova 25.47

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Inge de Bruijn 24.56 Q 2 6 Lisbeth Lenton 24.90 Q 3 5 Malia Metella 24.99 Q 4 3 Michelle Engelsman 25.13 Q5 2 Flávia Cazziolato 25.17 Q 7 Jenny Thompson Q 7 1 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 25.27 8 8 Dorothea Brandt 25.83

Final Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Inge de Bruijn 24.58 3 Malia Metella 24.89 5 Lisbeth Lenton 24.91 4 7 Therese Alshammar 24.93 5 6 Kara Lynn Joyce 25.00 6 2 Michelle Engelsman 25.06 7 1 Jenny Thompson 25.11 8 8 Flávia Cazziolato 25.20

References

External links Official Olympic Report