The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

At 15 years of age, Rūta Meilutytė won the gold medal for Lithuania in a time of 1:05.47. to become Lithuania's first gold medalist in swimming under its own banner. Dominating the race from the start, she pulled away from the field to an unexpected triumph in a sterling time of 1:05.47. U.S. top favorite and reigning world champion Rebecca Soni held on a sprint challenge from the Lithuanian teen at the halfway turn, but ended up defending her silver instead from Beijing four years earlier in 1:05.55. Meanwhile, Satomi Suzuki powered home with the bronze in 1:06.46, handing Japan its first medal in the event's history.

Jamaica's Alia Atkinson raced on the outside lane after her swim-off triumph over Canada's Tera van Beilen in the semifinals, but narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 1:06.93. Competing in her fourth Olympics as Australia's first swimmer, defending Olympic champion Leisel Jones finished fifth in a time of 1:06.96 to end her career with a full set of medals.

U.S. swimmer Breeja Larson escaped from a "no false-start" rule to pull off a sixth-place finish in 1:06.96, as the issue of her pre-race jump came with a faulty starting system. Russia's Yuliya Yefimova (1:06.98) and Denmark's Rikke Pedersen (1:07.55) rounded out the field.

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

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 6 Rūta Meilutytė 1:05.56 Q, NR 2 6 4 Rebecca Soni 1:05.75 Q 3 6 5 Yuliya Yefimova 1:06.51 Q 4 5 4 Breeja Larson 1:06.58 Q 5 4 4 Leisel Jones 1:06.98 Q 6 5 5 Satomi Suzuki 1:07.08 Q 7 6 2 Sarah Poewe 1:07.12 Q 8 6 3 Jennie Johansson 1:07.14 Q 9 5 3 Rikke Pedersen 1:07.23 Q 10 3 6 Alia Atkinson 1:07.39 Q, NR 11 4 5 Leiston Pickett 1:07.41 Q 12 3 2 Suzaan van Biljon 1:07.54 Q 13 4 1 Zhao Jin 1:07.68 Q 14 4 2 Mina Matsushima 1:07.69 Q 15 4 3 Jillian Tyler 1:07.81 Q 16 5 2 Tera van Beilen 1:07.85 Q 17 5 7 Liu Xiaoyu 1:07.99 18 3 3 Sara El Bekri 1:08.21 NR 19 5 1 Joline Höstman 1:08.28 20 6 7 Moniek Nijhuis 1:08.31 21 6 8 Siobhan-Marie O'Connor 1:08.32 22 5 6 Caroline Ruhnau 1:08.43 23 6 6 Daria Deeva 1:08.44 24 3 5 Petra Chocová 1:08.59 25 4 7 Marina Garcia Urzainqui 1:08.64 26 4 8 Sycerika McMahon 1:08.80 27 3 4 Michela Guzzetti 1:08.83 28 5 8 Kate Haywood 1:09.22 29 3 1 Dilara Buse Günaydin 1:09.43 30 2 4 Tjaša Vozel 1:09.63 31 2 5 Anna Sztankovics 1:09.65 32 2 6 Fanny Babou 1:09.76 33 3 7 Kim Hye-jin 1:09.79 34 2 3 Jenna Laukkanen 1:09.92 35 2 2 Ana Rodrigues 1:10.62 36 2 1 Danielle Beaubrun 1:11.12 37 3 8 Mariya Liver 1:11.23 38 2 7 Chen I-chuan 1:11.28 39 6 1 Concepcion Badillo Diaz 1:12.58 40 2 8 Tatiana Chisca 1:13.30 41 1 4 Ivana Ninković 1:14.04 42 1 3 Pilar Shimizu 1:15.76 NR 43 1 5 Matelita Buadromo 1:16.33 44 1 6 Oksana Hatamkhanova 1:25.52 45 1 2 Oyungerel Gantumur 1:27.17 46 1 7 Dede Camara 1:38.54

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Rebecca Soni 1:05.98 Q 2 5 Breeja Larson 1:06.70 Q 3 3 Satomi Suzuki 1:07.10 Q4 2 Alia Atkinson 1:07.48 8 Tera van Beilen 6 6 Jennie Johansson 1:07.57 7 7 Suzaan van Biljon 1:07.68 8 1 Mina Matsushima 1:08.26

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Rūta Meilutytė 1:05.21 Q, EU, NR 2 5 Yuliya Yefimova 1:06.57 Q 3 3 Leisel Jones 1:06.81 Q 4 2 Rikke Pedersen 1:06.82 Q 5 6 Sarah Poewe 1:07.68 6 7 Leiston Pickett 1:07.74 7 8 Jillian Tyler 1:07.87 8 1 Zhao Jin 1:07.97

Semifinal swim-off Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 Alia Atkinson 1:06.79 Q, NR 2 4 Tera van Beilen 1:07.73

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Rūta Meilutytė 1:05.47 5 Rebecca Soni 1:05.55 1 Satomi Suzuki 1:06.46 4 8 Alia Atkinson 1:06.93 5 2 Leisel Jones 1:06.95 6 6 Breeja Larson 1:06.96 * 7 3 Yuliya Yefimova 1:06.98 8 7 Rikke Pedersen 1:07.55 * False start, but she was not disqualified due to technical error.

References

External links