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.

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Round Name Nationality Time Record July 28 Heat 6 Dana Vollmer 56.25 July 29 Final Dana Vollmer 55.98

Results

Heats

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

Semifinals

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

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

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Dana Vollmer 55.98 7 Lu Ying 56.87 5 Alicia Coutts 56.94 4 6 Sarah Sjöström 57.17 5 8 Ilaria Bianchi 57.27 NR 6 3 Jeanette Ottesen 57.35 7 2 Claire Donahue 57.48 8 1 Ellen Gandy 57.76

References

External links