The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

At only 16 years of age, China's Ye Shiwen blasted a new world record to capture the Olympic title in the event. She trailed behind American teenager Elizabeth Beisel more than halfway through the race, before pulling away with a superb freestyle leg to bring home the Olympic gold medal and the world record in a sterling time of 4:28.43. Her spectacular swim also demolished the previous standard from Australia's Stephanie Rice in Beijing four years earlier by more than a second. Meanwhile, Beisel enjoyed the race with a powerful lead on the breaststroke leg, but felt satisfied to claim the silver in 4:31.27. Ye's teammate Li Xuanxu stormed home on the final stretch to grab a bronze in 4:32.91, edging out Hungary's early leader Katinka Hosszú (4:33.49) by more than half a second (0.50).

Great Britain's home favorite Hannah Miley finished fifth in 4:34.17, while Rice, the defending Olympic champion, matched United States' Caitlin Leverenz with an unexpected sixth-place time in 4:35.49. Spain's Mireia Belmonte García rounded out the final roster in 4:35.62.

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time Record July 28 Final Ye Shiwen 4:28.43

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 4 Elizabeth Beisel 4:31.68 Q 2 3 5 Ye Shiwen 4:31.73 Q 3 3 4 Katinka Hosszú 4:33.77 Q 4 5 5 Li Xuanxu 4:34.28 Q 5 5 3 Mireia Belmonte García 4:34.70 Q 6 4 4 Hannah Miley 4:34.98 Q 7 4 5 Stephanie Rice 4:35.76 Q 8 4 3 Caitlin Leverenz 4:36.09 Q 9 3 3 Zsuzsanna Jakabos 4:37.37 10 5 1 Anja Klinar 4:38.20 11 5 2 Aimee Willmott 4:38.87 12 4 6 Miyu Otsuka 4:39.13 13 5 6 Blair Evans 4:40.42 14 4 7 Stina Gardell 4:41.33 15 3 6 Barbora Zavádová 4:41.84 16 4 2 Kathryn Meaklim 4:43.46 17 2 5 Kim Seo-yeong 4:43.99 18 5 7 Lara Grangeon 4:44.28 19 3 8 Natalie Wiegersma 4:44.78 20 3 2 Miho Takahashi 4:45.10 21 2 4 Stephanie Horner 4:45.49 22 4 1 Stefania Pirozzi 4:45.61 23 4 8 Jördis Steinegger 4:45.80 24 3 7 Yana Martynova 4:45.94 25 3 1 Claudia Dasca Romeu 4:46.80 26 2 7 Ganna Dzerkal 4:48.19 27 2 6 Andreina Pinto 4:48.64 28 1 3 Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên 4:50.32 29 1 4 Susana Escobar 4:50.57 30 2 8 Sara Nordenstam 4:51.28 31 2 1 Karolina Szczepaniak 4:52.50 32 2 2 Sara El Bekri 4:53.21 33 1 5 Noora Laukkanen 4:53.54 34 2 3 Georgina Bardach 4:57.31 35 1 6 Anum Bandey 5:34.64 NR 5 8 Joanna Melo

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Ye Shiwen 4:28.43 4 Elizabeth Beisel 4:31.27 6 Li Xuanxu 4:32.91 4 3 Katinka Hosszú 4:33.49 5 7 Hannah Miley 4:34.17 6 1 Stephanie Rice 4:35.49 8 Caitlin Leverenz 8 2 Mireia Belmonte García 4:35.62

References

External links