Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 14 and 16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.^[1]

Women's 800 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue	Beijing National Aquatics Center
Date	August 14, 2008 (heats) August 16, 2008 (final)
Competitors	36 from 29 nations
Winning time	8:14.10 WR
Medalists
Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain Alessia Filippi  Italy Lotte Friis  Denmark
← 2004 2012 →

Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington broke one of the oldest world records in the book to claim a second Olympic gold, following her first triumph in the 400 m freestyle. She touched the wall first in 8:14.10, slashing 2.12-second deficit off Janet Evans' world record which had stood for nearly 19 years.^[2][3]

Coming from sixth place in the 350-metre lap, Italy's Alessia Filippi registered a time of 8:20.23 for a silver medal. Lotte Friis ended Denmark's 20-year medal drought in swimming to claim a bronze in 8:23.03, edging out Romania's Camelia Potec (8:23.03) on the final lap by eight-hundredths of a second. China's Li Xuanxu finished fifth with a time of 8:26.34, and was followed in the sixth spot by Australia's Kylie Palmer in 8:26.39. Russia's Yelena Sokolova (8:29.79) and another Brit Cassandra Patten (8:32.35) rounded out the finale. Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final featuring U.S. top favorites Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler, both of whom placed tenth and eleventh in the prelims race.^[2][4]

Earlier in the prelims, Adlington established a new Olympic standard in a top-seeded time of 8:18.06 to cut down Brooke Bennett's 2000 record by a 1.59-second deficit.^[4]

Records

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

World record	Janet Evans (USA)	8:16.22	Tokyo, Japan	20 August 1989	[5]
Olympic record	Brooke Bennett (USA)	8:19.67	Sydney, Australia	22 September 2000	-

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

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
August 14	Heat 4	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:18.06	OR
August 16	Final	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:14.10	WR

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	4	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:18.06	Q, OR
2	3	5	Camelia Potec	Romania	8:19.70	Q
3	4	2	Lotte Friis	Denmark	8:21.74	Q
4	5	5	Alessia Filippi	Italy	8:21.95	Q
5	4	3	Kylie Palmer	Australia	8:22.81	Q, OC
6	5	1	Yelena Sokolova	Russia	8:23.07	Q, NR
7	3	6	Li Xuanxu	China	8:24.37	Q
8	5	7	Cassandra Patten	Great Britain	8:25.91	Q
9	4	1	Wendy Trott	South Africa	8:26.21	AF
10	5	4	Kate Ziegler	United States	8:26.98
11	3	4	Katie Hoff	United States	8:27.78
12	5	6	Coralie Balmy	France	8:28.34
13	3	3	Flavia Rigamonti	Switzerland	8:28.67
14	3	8	Andreina Pinto	Venezuela	8:30.30	NR
15	4	7	You Meihong	China	8:31.11
16	5	3	Erika Villaécija	Spain	8:32.27
17	5	8	Melissa Gorman	Australia	8:32.34
18	2	4	Susana Escobar	Mexico	8:33.51	NR
19	5	2	Sophie Huber	France	8:33.76
20	2	5	Kristel Köbrich	Chile	8:34.25
21	3	1	Maiko Fujino	Japan	8:35.60
22	2	1	Jördis Steinegger	Austria	8:36.40	NR
23	3	7	Tanya Hunks	Canada	8:38.05
24	2	3	Gabriella Fagundez	Sweden	8:39.06	NR
25	4	6	Jaana Ehmcke	Germany	8:39.51
26	2	6	Réka Nagy	Hungary	8:40.38
27	4	5	Ai Shibata	Japan	8:41.63
28	4	8	Eleftheria Evgenia Efstathiou	Greece	8:41.65
29	1	4	Au Hoishun Stephanie	Hong Kong	8:41.66
30	2	8	Lynette Lim	Singapore	8:45.56
31	2	2	Cecilia Biagioli	Argentina	8:50.18
32	1	5	Golda Marcus	El Salvador	8:51.21
33	1	3	Eva Lehtonen	Finland	8:53.50
34	2	7	Khoo Cai Lin	Malaysia	9:04.86
35	1	6	Karolina Szczepaniak	Poland	9:08.87
	3	2	Federica Pellegrini	Italy	DNS

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain	8:14.10	WR
	6	Alessia Filippi	Italy	8:20.23
	3	Lotte Friis	Denmark	8:23.03
4	5	Camelia Potec	Romania	8:23.11
5	1	Li Xuanxu	China	8:26.34
6	2	Kylie Palmer	Australia	8:26.39
7	7	Yelena Sokolova	Russia	8:29.79
8	8	Cassandra Patten	Great Britain	8:32.35

References

1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
2. Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "We Loved You While You Lasted Janet, Rebecca Adlington Erases Longest Standing World Record With Evans' Mark in 800 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
3. "Adlington storms to second gold". BBC Sport. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
4. Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Rebecca Adlington Sets Olympic Record in 800 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
5. Dimond, Jeff (October 1989). "Swim and Deliver" (PDF). Swimming World and Junior Swimmer. 30 (10): 41–44. Retrieved 8 June 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

External links

• Official Olympic Report