The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 10 and 11 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
Summary In one of the most unexpected results at these Games, Canadian teenager Penny Oleksiak and U.S. sprinter Simone Manuel pulled off an enormous upset from Australia's pre-race favorites Bronte and Cate Campbell down the home stretch to be in a dead heat for the gold medal. About midway of the final lap, both Oleksiak and Manuel came from behind to overhaul almost the entire field, before touching the wall simultaneously for an Olympic record in 52.70. Building a new milestone, Manuel became the first ever African-American female to earn an Olympic gold in swimming, while Oleksiak picked up her fourth medal to establish herself as Canada's most successful athlete at a single edition in Summer Olympic history. In later years, she set the record for the most career medals won by a Canadian summer Olympian.
Sweden's Sarah Sjöström captured the bronze with a 52.99 to complete a full set of medals at the Games, edging out Bronte Campbell (53.04) to fourth by a 0.05-second deficit. Dutch sprinter Ranomi Kromowidjojo missed her chance to defend the title with a fifth-place time in 53.08, while world-record holder Cate Campbell, who broke the existing Olympic record in the heats and then again in the semifinals, slipped to sixth in 53.24. Manuel's teammate Abbey Weitzeil (53.30) and Denmark's four-time Olympian Jeanette Ottesen (53.36) rounded out the top eight.
Notable swimmers missed the final roster, including Brazil's home-crowd favorite Etiene Medeiros, Belarus' two-time Olympic medalist Aliaksandra Herasimenia, and Italy's Federica Pellegrini, who scratched the afternoon prelims earlier to focus on her freestyle relay duty instead.
In the victory ceremony, the medals for the competition were presented by James Tomkins, Australia, member of the International Olympic Committee, and the gifts were presented by Matthew Dunn, Australia, Bureau Member of FINA.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
Date Event Name Nationality Time Record August 10 Heat 5 Cate Campbell 52.78 August 10 Semifinal 2 Cate Campbell 52.71 August 11 Final Simone Manuel Penny Oleksiak 52.70
Competition format
The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.
Results Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 4 Cate Campbell 52.78 Q, 2 4 3 Simone Manuel 53.32 Q 3 6 5 Sarah Sjöström 53.37 Q 4 5 5 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 53.43 Q 5 5 3 Penny Oleksiak 53.53 Q 5 6 Jeanette Ottesen Q 7 6 3 Abbey Weitzeil 53.54 Q 8 6 4 Bronte Campbell 53.71 Q 9 5 2 Chantal Van Landeghem 53.89 Q 10 6 2 Charlotte Bonnet 53.93 Q 11 5 8 Pernille Blume 54.15 Q 6 7 Zhu Menghui Q 13 4 6 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 54.25 Q 14 4 8 Etiene Medeiros 54.38 Q 15 4 2 Shen Duo 54.41 Q, 16 6 1 Rikako Ikee 54.50 Q 6 8 Miki Uchida Q 18 5 7 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 54.56 19 3 5 Veronika Popova 54.60 20 4 4 Femke Heemskerk 54.63 21 5 1 Larissa Oliveira 54.72 22 4 7 Béryl Gastaldello 54.80 23 3 1 Maria Ugolkova 54.85 24 3 7 Camille Cheng 54.92 25 3 8 Julie Meynen 55.09 26 3 4 Erika Ferraioli 55.20 27 2 4 Susann Bjørnsen 55.35 28 4 1 Nataliya Lovtsova 55.37 29 3 3 Katarzyna Wilk 55.44 30 3 6 Andrea Murez 55.47 31 3 2 Nina Rangelova 55.71 32 2 3 Natthanan Junkrajang 56.24 33 2 5 Jasmine Alkhaldi 56.30 34 1 5 Inés Remersaro 57.85 NR 35 2 8 Jade Ashleigh Howard 58.47 36 2 6 Ana-Iulia Dascăl 58.72 37 2 1 Heather Arseth 58.89 38 2 7 Tracy Keith-Matchitt 58.90 39 2 2 Karen Riveros 59.00 40 1 3 Ana Sofia Nóbrega 59.23 41 1 6 Fatima Alkaramova 59.41 42 1 4 Jovana Terzić 59.59 43 1 2 Nikol Merizaj 59.99 44 1 8 Estellah Fils Rabetsara 1:01.11 45 1 7 Yusra Mardini 1:04.66 46 1 1 Aminath Shajan 1:05.71 4 5 Federica Pellegrini 6 6 Michelle Coleman
Semifinals Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Simone Manuel 53.11 Q 2 6 Bronte Campbell 53.29 Q 3 3 Jeanette Ottesen 53.35 Q, NR 4 5 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 53.42 Q 5 7 Zhu Menghui 53.98 6 8 Miki Uchida 54.39 7 2 Charlotte Bonnet 54.54 8 1 Etiene Medeiros 54.59
Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Cate Campbell 52.71 Q, 2 3 Penny Oleksiak 52.72 Q, WJ, AM 3 5 Sarah Sjöström 53.16 Q 4 6 Abbey Weitzeil 53.53 Q 5 2 Chantal Van Landeghem 54.00 6 7 Pernille Blume 54.19 7 8 Rikako Ikee 54.31 8 1 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 54.34
Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Penny Oleksiak 52.70 , WJ, AM 3 Simone Manuel , AM 6 Sarah Sjöström 52.99 4 2 Bronte Campbell 53.04 5 1 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 53.08 6 4 Cate Campbell 53.24 7 8 Abbey Weitzeil 53.30 8 7 Jeanette Ottesen 53.36
References