The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 3–4 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo created a new Olympic record to strike a fourth sprint freestyle double in history, since East German Kristin Otto did so in 1988, her fellow countrywoman Inge de Bruijn in 2000, and Germany's defending champion Britta Steffen in 2008. She blistered the field with a sterling time and a textile best in 24.05 to slice off Steffen's previous Olympic record by a hundredth of a second (0.01). Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia added a second silver to her Olympic medals in a national record of 24.28, while Kromowidjojo's teammate Marleen Veldhuis edged out the scorching Steffen (24.46) by 0.07 seconds to snatch the bronze in 24.39, handing over an entire medal haul for the Dutch squad with a one–three finish.

Great Britain's home favorite Francesca Halsall finished behind Steffen by a fingertip with a fifth-place time in 24.47. Meanwhile, Sweden's Therese Alshammar shook off a pinched nerve injury to officially compete in her fifth Olympics, but managed only to claim a sixth spot in 24.61. U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy (24.62) and the Bahamas' Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (24.69) rounded out the field in a splash-and-dash finale.

Notable swimmers missed the top-eight final including Aussie sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell, defending bronze medalist; and Halsall's teammate Amy Smith, who finished outside the roster by 16-hundredths of a second with a ninth-place time in 24.87. Earlier on the morning prelims, Smith picked up a sixteenth spot in a most exciting three-way swim-off against U.S. sprinter Kara Lynn Joyce and Iceland's Sarah Blake Bateman after they each posted a matching time of 25.28.

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 4 Final Ranomi Kromowidjojo 24.05

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 10 4 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 24.51 Q 2 10 5 Marleen Veldhuis 24.57 Q 3 9 4 Francesca Halsall 24.61 Q 4 9 5 Britta Steffen 24.70 Q 5 9 3 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 24.76 Q 6 8 4 Therese Alshammar 24.77 Q7 10 2 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 24.85 Q 10 6 Jeanette Ottesen Q 9 8 3 Bronte Campbell 24.87 Q10 8 5 Cate Campbell 24.94 Q 9 6 Sarah Sjöström Q 12 10 3 Jessica Hardy 24.99 Q 13 8 7 Theodora Drakou 25.13 Q 14 9 7 Victoria Poon 25.15 Q 15 9 8 Anna Santamans 25.23 Q16 7 6 Sarah Blake Bateman 25.28 8 6 Kara Lynn Joyce 9 2 Amy Smith 19 10 7 Triin Aljand 25.33 20 10 1 Sviatlana Khakhlova 25.36 21 8 2 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 25.40 22 8 1 Graciele Herrmann 25.44 23 7 2 Hayley Palmer 25.47 24 6 3 Zhu Qianwei 25.54 9 1 Pernille Blume 26 5 4 Rūta Meilutytė 25.55 NR 6 5 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 28 7 4 Arlene Semeco 25.56 29 7 7 Vanessa García 25.58 30 7 3 Anna Dowgiert 25.59 31 7 8 Jolien Sysmans 25.60 32 6 6 Erika Ferraioli 25.69 33 10 8 Darya Stepanyuk 25.70 34 7 5 Burcu Dolunay 25.72 35 8 8 Yayoi Matsumoto 25.73 36 7 1 Trudi Maree 25.78 37 6 8 Alia Atkinson 25.98 38 6 2 Miroslava Syllabová 26.07 39 5 3 Gabriela Ņikitina 26.26 40 5 5 Chinyere Pigot 26.30 41 6 1 Farida Osman 26.34 42 6 7 Miroslava Najdanovski 26.46 43 5 6 Nicola Muscat 27.22 44 5 2 Jessica Teixeira Vieira 27.39 45 5 7 Talita Baqlah 27.45 46 4 2 Joyce Tafathata 27.74 47 4 5 Judith Meauri 27.84 48 5 1 Faye Sultan 27.92 NR 49 4 4 Ann-Marie Hepler 28.06 50 4 3 Keesha Keane 28.25 51 4 6 Sabine Hazboun 28.28 52 5 8 Jamila Lunkuse 28.44 53 4 8 Antoinette Guedia Mouafo 29.28 54 4 7 Celeste Brown 29.36 55 3 3 Karin O'Reilly Clashing 30.01 56 2 6 Debra Daniel 30.32 57 3 6 Hemthon Vitiny 30.44 58 3 5 Alphonsine Agahozo 30.72 59 3 2 Nada Arkaji 30.89 60 3 4 Katerina Izmaylova 31.27 61 4 1 Mariana Henriques 31.36 62 3 7 Fatoumata Samassekou 31.88 63 2 4 Angelika Ouedraogo 32.19 64 3 8 Aminath Shajan 32.23 65 3 1 Yanet Seyoum 32.41 66 2 3 Assita Toure 33.09 67 2 2 Elsie Uwamahoro 33.14 68 2 5 Sara Al Flaij 33.81 69 2 7 Aminata Aboubakar Yacoub 34.64 70 2 1 Mhasin Fadlalla 35.07 71 1 4 Nafissatou Moussa Adamou 37.29 72 1 5 Adzo Kpossi 37.55 73 1 3 Masempe Theko 42.35 NR 6 4 Eszter Dara

Qualification swim-off

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3Amy Smith 24.82 Q 2 5Kara Lynn Joyce 25.16 3 4Sarah Blake Bateman 26.03

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4Marleen Veldhuis 24.50 Q 2 5 Britta Steffen 24.57 Q 3 6 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 24.64 Q, NR 4 7 Jessica Hardy 24.68 Q 5 3Therese Alshammar 24.71 Q 6 8 Amy Smith 24.87 7 2Cate Campbell 25.01 8 1Victoria Poon 25.17

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 24.07 Q 2 3Aliaksandra Herasimenia 24.45 Q, NR 3 5 Francesca Halsall 24.63 Q4 2Bronte Campbell 24.94 8 Anna Santamans 6 6 Jeanette Ottesen 24.99 7 7 Sarah Sjöström 25.08 8 1Theodora Drakou 25.28

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4Ranomi Kromowidjojo 24.05 5 Aliaksandra Herasimenia 24.28 NR 3 Marleen Veldhuis 24.39 4 6 Britta Steffen 24.46 5 2Francesca Halsall 24.47 6 8 Therese Alshammar 24.61 7 1 Jessica Hardy 24.62 8 7 Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace 24.69

References

External links