The women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 18 and 19.

Australia's Jodie Henry edged out defending Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn to take the gold medal in this event, by thirty-two hundredths of a second (0.32), outside the record time of 53.84 seconds. U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, who previously claimed the title in the 100 m backstroke, earned the bronze at 54.40 seconds. In the semifinals, Henry captured fourteen hundredths of a second (0.14) off her teammate Lisbeth Lenton's world record (set five months earlier in Sydney), with a time of 53.52. This was also the final appearance for de Bruijn at the Olympics, before she retired from her swimming career in 2007.

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

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record August 18 Semifinal 2 Jodie Henry 53.52

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 5 4 Inge de Bruijn 54.43 Q 2 5 5 Kara Lynn Joyce 54.53 Q 3 7 5 Natalie Coughlin 54.82 Q 4 7 4 Lisbeth Lenton 54.89 Q 5 6 3 Malia Metella 55.08 Q 6 7 2 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 55.12 Q 7 6 4 Jodie Henry 55.13 Q 8 7 6 Martina Moravcová 55.17 Q 9 7 3 Federica Pellegrini 55.41 Q 10 6 6 Alena Popchanka 55.49 Q 11 6 2 Franziska van Almsick 55.57 Q, 12 5 1 Tomoko Nagai 55.76 Q 13 5 6 Marleen Veldhuis 55.81 Q 14 5 7 Josefin Lillhage 55.87 Q15 4 6 Hanna Shcherba 56.01 Q 6 5 Hanna-Maria Seppälä Q 17 6 1 Ryu Yoon-ji 56.02 Q 18 4 3 Jeanette Ottesen 56.17 19 7 1 Paulina Barzycka 56.20 20 6 8 Rebeca Gusmão 56.25 21 4 1 Alison Fitch 56.29 22 6 7 Cheng Jiaru 56.39 23 7 8 Jana Myšková 56.59 24 7 7 Xu Yanwei 56.66 5 2 Johanna Sjöberg 26 4 2 Sara Isaković 56.67 3 7 Dominique Diezi 28 5 8 Florencia Szigeti 56.71 29 3 5 Arlene Semeco 57.04 30 4 8 Eileen Coparropa 57.09 31 4 7 Olga Mukomol 57.12 32 4 5 Anna Gostomelsky 57.15 33 3 6 Judith Draxler 57.29 34 3 8 Hannah Wilson 57.33 35 2 2 Vanessa García 57.38 36 3 3 Lara Heinz 57.40 37 4 4 Jana Kolukanova 57.45 38 3 2 Ágnes Mutina 58.10 39 3 1 Angela Chuck 58.33 40 3 4 Ragnheidur Ragnarsdóttir 58.47 41 2 5 Yelena Skalinskaya 58.56 42 2 4 Linda McEachrane 58.92 43 2 3 Agnese Ozoliņa 59.03 44 2 6 Sung Yi-chieh 59.18 45 2 7 Irina Shlemova 59.21 46 2 8 Shikha Tandon 59.70 47 2 1 Nicoleta Coica 59.85 48 1 4 Carolina Cerqueda 1:00.38 49 1 5 Larissa Inangorore 1:23.90 50 1 3 Gloria Koussihouede 1:30.90 5 3 Melanie Marshall

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Kara Lynn Joyce 54.81 Q 2 2 Alena Popchanka 54.97 Q 3 3 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 55.02 Q 4 6 Martina Moravcová 55.08 Q 5 5 Lisbeth Lenton 55.17 6 7 Marleen Veldhuis 55.32 7 1 Hanna Shcherba 55.67 8 8 Ryu Yoon-Ji 55.85

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 Jodie Henry 53.52 Q, 2 4 Inge de Bruijn 54.06 Q 3 5 Natalie Coughlin 54.37 Q 4 3 Malia Metella 54.57 Q 5 2 Federica Pellegrini 55.30 6 8 Hanna-Maria Seppälä 55.59 7 1 Josefin Lillhage 55.76 8 7 Tomoko Nagai 56.03

Final Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes 4 Jodie Henry 53.84 5 Inge de Bruijn 54.16 3 Natalie Coughlin 54.40 4 6 Malia Metella 54.50 5 2 Kara Lynn Joyce 54.54 6 1 Nery Mantey Niangkouara 54.81 7 8 Martina Moravcová 55.12 8 7 Alena Popchanka 55.24

References

External links Official Olympic Report