Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre butterfly

Women's 100 metre butterfly
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Medallistas de los 100m mariposa femenino en Londres 2012-2.jpg
Medal winners
VenueLondon Aquatics Centre
DatesJuly 28, 2012 (heats & semifinals)
July 29, 2012 (final)
Competitors42 from 37 nations
Winning time55.98 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Dana Vollmer  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lu Ying  China
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Alicia Coutts  Australia
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The women's 100 metre butterfly event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28–29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

U.S. swimmer Dana Vollmer demolished a new world record to clear a 56-second barrier and to claim the Olympic title in the event for the first time since Amy Van Dyken did so in 1996. She touched third at the initial length, but powered home with a back-half strategy on the final stretch to capture the gold in 55.98, the first sub-56 second time in the event's history, shaving 0.08 seconds off the previous record set by Sweden's Sarah Sjöström in a since-banned high-tech body suit from the 2009 World Championships. China's Lu Ying came from behind with the same tactic to grab a silver in 56.87, while Australia's Alicia Coutts nearly pulled from worst-to-podium effort after turning last at the 50-metre lap to put up a late resistant surge for the bronze in 56.94.

Sjostrom, the former world record holder, finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 57.17, and was followed in fifth by Italy's Ilaria Bianchi at a lifetime best and national record of 57.27. Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen Gray paid for an aggressive strategy with an early lead on the first half, before fading to sixth in 57.35. Vollmer's teammate Claire Donahue (57.48) and Great Britain's Ellen Gandy (57.76) rounded out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight finalists finished the race under a 58-second barrier.

Earlier in the prelims, Vollmer posted both a textile and an American best of 56.25 to lead all swimmers for the top seed, wiping out Inge de Bruijn's 2000 Olympic record by 36-hundredths of a second.

Notable swimmers missed the final roster including Singapore's Tao Li, who delivered a surprise fifth-place finish in Beijing four years earlier; Gandy's home teammate Francesca Halsall; Poland's four-time Olympian Otylia Jędrzejczak; Australia's defending bronze medalist Jessicah Schipper; and Netherlands' Inge Dekker, who later scratched the semifinals to focus on her 4×100 m freestyle relay duty.

Records

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

World record  Sarah Sjöström (SWE) 56.06 Rome, Italy 27 July 2009
Olympic record  Inge de Bruijn (NED) 56.61 Sydney, Australia 17 September 2000

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time Record
July 28 Heat 6 Dana Vollmer  United States 56.25 OR
July 29 Final Dana Vollmer  United States 55.98 WR, OR

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 4 Dana Vollmer  United States 56.25 Q, OR, AM
2 6 5 Lu Ying  China 57.17 Q
3 4 4 Alicia Coutts  Australia 57.36 Q
4 5 4 Sarah Sjöström  Sweden 57.45 Q
5 6 7 Jeanette Ottesen  Denmark 57.64 Q
6 6 6 Jiao Liuyang  China 57.71 Q
7 6 3 Claire Donahue  United States 58.06 Q
8 4 5 Francesca Halsall  Great Britain 58.23 Q
9 5 5 Ellen Gandy  Great Britain 58.25 Q
10 5 3 Inge Dekker  Netherlands 58.30 Q, WD
11 4 8 Tao Li  Singapore 58.34 Q
12 5 7 Ilaria Bianchi  Italy 58.42 Q
13 4 2 Aliaksandra Herasimenia  Belarus 58.50 Q, NR
14 5 2 Martina Granström  Sweden 58.70 Q
15 4 3 Yuka Kato  Japan 58.72 Q
16 4 7 Kristel Vourna  Greece 58.74 Q
17 5 6 Katerine Savard  Canada 58.76 Q
18 5 8 Amit Ivry  Israel 58.78
19 3 3 Irina Bespalova  Russia 58.79
6 8 Kimberly Buys  Belgium
21 4 1 Alexandra Wenk  Germany 58.85
22 6 2 Ingvild Snildal  Norway 59.01
23 5 1 Natsumi Hoshi  Japan 59.06
24 4 6 Jessicah Schipper  Australia 59.17
25 3 5 Otylia Jędrzejczak  Poland 59.31
26 2 3 Danielle Villars  Switzerland 59.42 NR
2 4 Judit Ignacio Sorribes  Spain
28 3 7 Denisa Smolenová  Slovakia 59.48
29 3 6 Emilia Pikkarainen  Finland 59.55
30 3 1 Hannah Wilson  Hong Kong 59.59
31 2 7 Sara Isaković  Slovenia 59.86
32 2 2 Sarah Blake Bateman  Iceland 59.87 NR
33 6 1 Daynara de Paula  Brazil 1:00.14
34 3 2 Liliána Szilágyi  Hungary 1:00.34
35 2 6 Triin Aljand  Estonia 1:00.43
36 3 8 Sara Oliveira  Portugal 1:00.44
37 3 4 Birgit Koschischek  Austria 1:00.54
38 2 5 Justine Bruno  France 1:01.14
39 2 1 Dalia Torrez Zamora  Nicaragua 1:05.42
40 1 4 Noel Borshi  Albania 1:05.49
41 1 3 Dorian McMenemy  Dominican Republic 1:05.78 NR
42 1 5 Marie Laura Meza  Costa Rica 1:07.01

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 Sarah Sjöström  Sweden 57.27 Q
2 4 Lu Ying  China 57.51 Q
3 3 Jiao Liuyang  China 58.04
4 2 Tao Li  Singapore 58.18
5 1 Yuka Kato  Japan 58.26
6 7 Aliaksandra Herasimenia  Belarus 58.41 NR
7 6 Francesca Halsall  Great Britain 58.52
8 8 Katerine Savard  Canada 59.22

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Dana Vollmer  United States 56.36 Q
2 5 Alicia Coutts  Australia 56.85 Q
3 3 Jeanette Ottesen  Denmark 57.25 Q, NR
4 6 Claire Donahue  United States 57.42 Q
5 2 Ellen Gandy  Great Britain 57.66 Q
6 7 Ilaria Bianchi  Italy 57.79 Q, NR
7 8 Kristel Vourna  Greece 58.31 NR
8 1 Martina Granström  Sweden 58.95

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Dana Vollmer  United States 55.98 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 Lu Ying  China 56.87
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Alicia Coutts  Australia 56.94
4 6 Sarah Sjöström  Sweden 57.17
5 8 Ilaria Bianchi  Italy 57.27 NR
6 3 Jeanette Ottesen  Denmark 57.35
7 2 Claire Donahue  United States 57.48
8 1 Ellen Gandy  Great Britain 57.76

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