Women's 400 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | London Aquatics Centre | ||||||||||||
Date | July 29, 2012 (heats & final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 35 from 27 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 4:01.45 OR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
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Qualification | ||
Freestyle | ||
50 m | men | women |
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | women | |
1500 m | men | |
Backstroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Breaststroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Butterfly | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Individual medley | ||
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
Freestyle relay | ||
4×100 m | men | women |
4×200 m | men | women |
Medley relay | ||
4×100 m | men | women |
Marathon | ||
10 km | men | women |
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]
France's Camille Muffat held off a sprint duel from a hard-charging American Allison Schmitt with every stroke on the final stretch to capture the event's second Olympic title for her nation, since Laure Manaudou topped the podium in 2004. She maintained her powerful lead from the start to edge out Schmitt by 0.32 seconds for the gold medal and a new Olympic record in 4:01.45. [2] [3] Meanwhile, Schmitt could not catch Muffat on a head-to-head duel to finish with an American record of 4:01.77 in the process of winning silver. [4] Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington struggled through the race in her Olympic title defense, but brought out a raucous cheer from the home crowd to earn the bronze in 4:03.01. [5] [6] [7]
Denmark's Lotte Friis finished off the podium with a fourth-place time and a national record in 4:03.98, while Italy's Federica Pellegrini, the reigning world record holder, faded to fifth in 4:04.50. [8] Muffat's teammate Coralie Balmy (4:05.95), Canada's Brittany MacLean (4:06.24) and New Zealand's Lauren Boyle (4:06.25) rounded out the field. [7]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | Federica Pellegrini (ITA) | 3:59.15 | Rome, Italy | 26 July 2009 | [9] |
Olympic record | Federica Pellegrini (ITA) | 4:02.19 | Beijing, China | 10 August 2008 | [10] |
The following records were established during the competition:
Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 29 | Final | Camille Muffat | France | 4:01.45 | OR |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Camille Muffat | France | 4:01.45 | OR | |
5 | Allison Schmitt | United States | 4:01.77 | AM | |
8 | Rebecca Adlington | Great Britain | 4:03.01 | ||
4 | 2 | Lotte Friis | Denmark | 4:03.98 | NR |
5 | 1 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 4:04.50 | |
6 | 3 | Coralie Balmy | France | 4:05.95 | |
7 | 7 | Brittany MacLean | Canada | 4:06.24 | |
8 | 6 | Lauren Boyle | New Zealand | 4:06.25 |
Laure Manaudou is a retired French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother, and she is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
The first world record in the men's 400 metres freestyle in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1908. In the short course (25 metres) swimming events the world's governing body recognizes world records since 3 March 1991.
Rebecca Adlington is a British former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle, breaking the 19-year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800-metre final. Adlington was Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, and the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908. After winning her first World Championship gold over 800 metres in 2011, along with silver in the 400 metres at the same meet, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle events in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
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Allison Rodgers Schmitt is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist.
Camille Muffat was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career ran from 2005 to 2014.
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The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 30–31 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
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Florent Manaudou is a French competitive swimmer, an Olympic champion of the 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in swimming. He currently holds the world record in the 50-meter backstroke. He competes for the Energy Standard Swim Club in the International Swimming League.
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