Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre freestyle

The Women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 10-11th August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This swimming event used freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of eight lengths of the pool.

Six heats were held, with most containing the maximum number of swimmers (eight). The heat in which a swimmer competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the swimmers with the top eight times from the entire field qualified for the finals; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements.

The qualifying norms were for the 2008 event were 4:11.26 (A norm) and 4:20.05 (B norm). NOCs with two or more swimmers meeting the A standard could enter any two such swimmers; otherwise, they could enter a single swimmer meeting the B standard.

Medalists

Final

Rebecca Adlington earned Great Britain's first female swimming gold medal for 48 years as she came from behind to defeat pre-race favourite Katie Hoff.

Laure Manaudou led the first 150m, but was closed down on the fourth length, where Hoff took the lead from Coralie Balmy and Federica Pellegrini, although the whole field were within striking distance. Hoff lead through 200m in 1:59.60 and 300m (3:01:91) taking a body-length lead into the last 100m. Joanne Jackson moved into second place on the penultimate length, but Adlington stormed through from fourth to first inside the last 25m, taking the lead inside the last 5m from Hoff, with Jackson holding on for the bronze medal.

* Q = Qualified, DNS = Did Not Start
* WR = World Record; OR = Olympic Record
* OC = Oceania Record, AF = African Record
* CR = Commonwealth Record, NR = National Record; PB = Personal Best

New Records

References