Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.[1]

Women's 50 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
VenueSydney International Aquatic Centre
Date22 September 2000 (heats &
semifinals)
23 September 2000 (final)
Competitors74 from 66 nations
Winning time24.32
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Inge de Bruijn  Netherlands
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Therese Alshammar  Sweden
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Dara Torres  United States
← 1996
2004 →

Dutch rising star Inge de Bruijn added a third gold to her medal tally in swimming at these Games. She powered past the field to touch the wall first in 24.32, the second-fastest of all-time.[2][3] Earlier in the semifinals, she blasted her own world record of 24.13 to snatch a top seed for the final.[4] Sweden's Therese Alshammar captured the silver in 24.51, while U.S. legend Dara Torres powered home with the bronze in a new American record of 24.63, edging out defending Olympic champion Amy Van Dyken (25.04) by 41-hundredths of a second. The podium placements also replicated the results of the 100 m freestyle (with the exception of Jenny Thompson), held on the sixth night of the Games.[5][6]

Slovakia's Martina Moravcová finished off the podium in fifth place at 25.24, and was followed in the sixth spot by Germany's Sandra Völker in 25.27. Great Britain's Alison Sheppard (25.45) and Japan's Sumika Minamoto (25.65) closed out the field.[6]

Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Australia's overwhelming favorite Susie O'Neill; Völker's teammate Katrin Meissner, who shared bronze medals with Jill Sterkel in the event's inception in 1988 as a member of the former East German squad; and Estonia's Jana Kolukanova, who grabbed the final spot from the prelims after winning a three-person swimoff.[7]

One of the most popular highlights in the event took place in the first heat. Dubbed as the Crawler, Paula Barila Bolopa had finally completed a unique double for Equatorial Guinea, as she swam the slowest ever race by a female in Olympic history with a time of 1:03.97.[8]

Records

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

World record   Inge de Bruijn (NED) 24.39 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 10 June 2000 [9]
Olympic record   Yang Wenyi (CHN) 24.79 Barcelona, Spain 31 July 1992 [9]

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

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
22 September Heat 10 Inge de Bruijn   Netherlands 24.46 OR
22 September Semifinal 2 Inge de Bruijn   Netherlands 24.13 WR

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 10 4 Inge de Bruijn   Netherlands 24.46 Q, OR
2 8 4 Dara Torres   United States 24.96 Q
3 10 5 Amy Van Dyken   United States 25.04 Q
4 9 4 Therese Alshammar   Sweden 25.24 Q
5 10 7 Martina Moravcová   Slovakia 25.39 Q, NR
6 9 5 Sandra Völker   Germany 25.44 Q
7 10 3 Sumika Minamoto   Japan 25.52 Q
10 1 Vivienne Rignall   New Zealand Q, NR
9 8 5 Alison Sheppard   Great Britain 25.53 Q
10 10 2 Katrin Meissner   Germany 25.64 Q
11 10 6 Olga Mukomol   Ukraine 25.67 Q
12 8 7 Susie O'Neill   Australia 25.73 Q, OC
13 8 6 Anna-Karin Kammerling   Sweden 25.79 Q
14 9 3 Wilma van Rijn   Netherlands 25.81 Q
15 6 6 Rania Elwani   Egypt 25.87 Q, NR
16 6 7 Mette Jacobsen   Denmark 25.96 QSO
7 8 Jana Kolukanova   Estonia QSO
9 7 Ana Belén Palomo   Spain QSO
19 8 2 Cristina Chiuso   Italy 25.99
20 8 3 Sue Rolph   Great Britain 26.00
21 9 1 Han Xue   China 26.01
22 8 8 Nadine Rolland   Canada 26.04
23 8 1 Sarah Ryan   Australia 26.05
6 1 Leah Martindale   Barbados
25 9 8 Helene Muller   South Africa 26.07
26 7 6 Alena Popchanka   Belarus 26.10
27 9 2 Eileen Coparropa   Panama 26.19
28 7 4 Liesbet Dreesen   Belgium 26.21
7 7 Hanna-Maria Seppälä   Finland
30 7 5 Ivana Walterová   Slovakia 26.23
31 9 6 Judith Draxler   Austria 26.26
32 6 3 Siobhan Cropper   Trinidad and Tobago 26.36
33 7 3 Yekaterina Kibalo   Russia 26.37
34 6 5 Lara Heinz   Luxembourg 26.55
35 6 8 Caroline Pickering   Fiji 26.57
36 6 2 Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe 26.58
37 7 1 Joscelin Yeo   Singapore 26.71
38 10 8 Jenna Gresdal   Canada 26.79
39 1 4 Moe Thu Aung   Myanmar 26.80
40 5 2 Chiang Tzu-ying   Chinese Taipei 26.84
41 6 4 Chang Hee-jin   South Korea 26.88
4 3 Yekaterina Tochenaya   Kyrgyzstan NR
43 7 2 Athina Bochori   Greece 26.90
44 5 8 Agnese Ozoliņa   Latvia 27.28
45 5 3 Pilin Tachakittiranan   Thailand 27.31
46 5 4 Marijana Šurković   Croatia 27.32
47 5 7 Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai   Hong Kong 27.38
48 5 6 Chantal Gibney   Ireland 27.46
49 4 6 Angela Chuck   Jamaica 27.48
50 5 1 Jūratė Ladavičiūtė   Lithuania 27.54
51 5 5 Elín Sigurðardóttir   Iceland 27.58
52 4 5 Marilyn Chua   Malaysia 27.66
53 4 4 Duška Radan   FR Yugoslavia 27.70
54 4 1 Maria Tregubova   Moldova 27.75
55 4 7 Saida Iskandarova   Uzbekistan 28.08
56 4 2 Talía Barrios   Peru 28.11
57 3 5 Ngozi Monu   Nigeria 28.20
58 3 7 Tanya Anacleto   Mozambique 28.78
59 3 4 Alisa Khaleyeva   Azerbaijan 28.79
60 3 8 Sherri Henry   Saint Lucia 28.81
61 3 6 Mbolatiana Ramanisa   Madagascar 29.20
62 3 2 Roshendra Vrolijk   Aruba 29.31
63 3 3 Yuliana Mikheeva   Armenia 29.79
64 2 5 Theekshana Ratnasekera   Sri Lanka 29.88
65 2 3 Samar Nassar   Palestine 30.05
66 2 6 Runa Pradhan   Nepal 31.28
67 2 2 Teran Matthews   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 31.71
68 3 1 Francilla Agar   Dominica 32.22
69 2 7 Fariha Fathimath   Maldives 32.36
70 2 1 Hem Raksmey   Cambodia 33.11
71 2 4 Noor Haki   Iraq 35.51
72 4 8 Aissatou Barry   Guinea 35.79
73 1 3 Paula Barila Bolopa   Equatorial Guinea 1:03.97
1 5 Fatema Hameed Gerashi   Bahrain DSQ

Swimoff

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 Jana Kolukanova   Estonia 25.87 Q, NR
2 4 Mette Jacobsen   Denmark 26.00
3 Ana Belén Palomo   Spain DSQ

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 Therese Alshammar   Sweden 24.80 Q
2 4 Dara Torres   United States 24.98 Q
3 3 Sandra Völker   Germany 25.22 Q
4 6 Sumika Minamoto   Japan 25.43 Q
5 2 Katrin Meissner   Germany 25.62
6 7 Susie O'Neill   Australia 25.74
7 1 Wilma van Rijn   Netherlands 25.87
8 8 Jana Kolukanova   Estonia 26.03

Semifinal 2

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Inge de Bruijn   Netherlands 24.13 Q, WR
2 5 Amy Van Dyken   United States 25.00 Q
3 2 Alison Sheppard   Great Britain 25.32 Q
4 3 Martina Moravcová   Slovakia 25.49 Q
5 1 Anna-Karin Kammerling   Sweden 25.61
5 6 Vivienne Rignall   New Zealand 25.61
7 7 Olga Mukomol   Ukraine 25.88
8 8 Rania Elwani   Egypt 25.95

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  4 Inge de Bruijn   Netherlands 24.32
  5 Therese Alshammar   Sweden 24.51
  3 Dara Torres   United States 24.63 AM
4 6 Amy Van Dyken   United States 25.04
5 8 Martina Moravcová   Slovakia 25.24 NR
6 2 Sandra Völker   Germany 25.27
7 7 Alison Sheppard   Great Britain 25.45
8 1 Sumika Minamoto   Japan 25.65

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ Clarey, Christopher (23 September 2000). "Sydney 2000 : Roundup; De Bruijn Surges For Third Gold Medal". New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  3. ^ "American Torres wins bronze". ESPN. 23 September 2000. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  4. ^ Whitten, Phillip (22 September 2000). "Olympic Day 7 Finals (50 Free, 800 Free, 200 Back, 100 Fly)". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ Dillman, Lisa (23 September 2000). "She's a Goldy Little Bruijn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (23 September 2000). "Olympic Day 8 Finals – Complete". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  7. ^ Whitten, Phillip (22 September 2000). "Olympic Day 7 Prelims (50 Free, 1500 Free, 400 Medley Relay)". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  8. ^ "'Paula the Crawler' sets record". ESPN. 22 September 2000. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 50m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 168–170. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  10. ^ "Sydney 2000: Swimming Results (September 22, 2000)". Sydney 2000. ESPN. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
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