Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]

Women's 100 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	London Aquatics Centre
Date	July 29, 2012 (heats & semifinals) July 30, 2012 (final)
Competitors	45 from 38 nations
Winning time	58.33 AM
Medalists
Missy Franklin  United States Emily Seebohm  Australia Aya Terakawa  Japan

At only 17 years of age, U.S. teenage sensation Missy Franklin, billed as "Missy the Missile" by her fans, stormed home on the final stretch to pick up her first ever Olympic gold medal in swimming. Trailing behind at the halfway turn, she pulled away from a tightly packed field with a more destructive force to hit the wall first in an American record of 58.33.[2][3] Australia's Emily Seebohm started the race with a marginal lead over the rest of the field, but faded down the stretch to settle only for the silver in 58.68.[4][5] Meanwhile, Japan's Aya Terakawa came up with a spectacular swim to grab the bronze in a superb Asian record of 58.83, holding off the fast-charging Russian swimmer Anastasia Zuyeva to a fourth spot in 59.00.[6][7]

Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth, the reigning world record holder, finished fifth in 59.20, while China's Zhao Jing (59.23), Australia's Belinda Hocking (59.29) and Zhao's teammate Fu Yuanhui (1:00.50) rounded out the field.[7][8][9]

Earlier in the prelims, Seebohm blitzed the field from heat four to lead all swimmers with a sterling Olympic and Oceanian record in 58.23, shaving 0.54 seconds off the standard set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in Beijing four years earlier.[10][11] Coventry, double Olympic silver medalist, missed a chance to reach the final roster with a fourteenth-place effort (1:00.39) from the semifinals.

Records

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

World record	Gemma Spofforth (GBR)	58.12	Rome, Italy	28 July 2009	[12]
Olympic record	Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)	58.77	Beijing, China	11 August 2008	[13]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
July 29	Heat 4	Emily Seebohm	Australia	58.23	OR

Results

Heats

[14]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	5	Emily Seebohm	Australia	58.23	Q, OC, OR
2	6	4	Missy Franklin	United States	59.37	Q
3	6	3	Belinda Hocking	Australia	59.61	Q
4	6	5	Aya Terakawa	Japan	59.82	Q
5	5	4	Anastasia Zuyeva	Russia	59.88	Q
6	4	6	Georgia Davies	Great Britain	59.92	Q
7	5	6	Julia Wilkinson	Canada	59.94	Q
8	6	2	Fu Yuanhui	China	59.96	Q
9	4	4	Zhao Jing	China	59.97	Q
10	6	8	Simona Baumrtová	Czech Republic	59.99	Q, NR
11	5	5	Rachel Bootsma	United States	1:00.03	Q
12	5	7	Gemma Spofforth	Great Britain	1:00.05	Q
13	5	3	Sinead Russell	Canada	1:00.10	Q
14	6	1	Alexianne Castel	France	1:00.16	Q
15	4	8	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	1:00.24	Q
16	4	7	Arianna Barbieri	Italy	1:00.25	Q, NR
17	4	3	Mie Nielsen	Denmark	1:00.38
18	4	1	Duane da Rocha	Spain	1:00.57
	5	2	Daryna Zevina	Ukraine
20	4	2	Sharon van Rouwendaal	Netherlands	1:00.61
21	6	6	Jenny Mensing	Germany	1:00.72
22	6	7	Laure Manaudou	France	1:01.03
23	3	4	Maria Fernanda Gonzalez	Mexico	1:01.28
24	5	1	Fabíola Molina	Brazil	1:01.40
25	3	5	Alicja Tchórz	Poland	1:01.44
26	2	8	Tao Li	Singapore	1:01.60	NR
27	5	8	Elena Gemo	Italy	1:01.77
28	3	2	Carolina Colorado	Colombia	1:01.81
29	3	8	Kimberly Buys	Belgium	1:01.92	NR
30	3	7	Melissa Ingram	New Zealand	1:01.94
31	3	6	Ekaterina Avramova	Bulgaria	1:02.20
32	2	3	Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir	Iceland	1:02.40	NR
33	2	4	Melanie Nocher	Ireland	1:02.44
34	2	1	Anja Čarman	Slovenia	1:02.68
35	3	1	Therese Svendsen	Sweden	1:03.11
36	2	5	Sanja Jovanović	Croatia	1:03.38
37	2	6	Eszter Povázsay	Hungary	1:03.55
38	2	7	Yekaterina Rudenko	Kazakhstan	1:03.64
39	3	3	Hoi Shun Stephanie Au	Hong Kong	1:04.31
40	2	2	Hazal Sarikaya	Turkey	1:04.80
41	1	3	Karen Vilorio	Honduras	1:06.38
42	1	4	Monica Ramirez	Andorra	1:07.72
43	1	5	Ines Remersaro	Uruguay	1:08.03
44	1	6	Anahit Barseghyan	Armenia	1:08.19
45	1	2	Angelique Trinquier	Monaco	1:10.79

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Missy Franklin	United States	59.12	Q
2	5	Aya Terakawa	Japan	59.34	Q
3	7	Gemma Spofforth	Great Britain	59.70	Q
4	6	Fu Yuanhui	China	59.82	Q
5	2	Simona Baumrtová	Czech Republic	1:00.02
6	1	Alexianne Castel	France	1:00.24
7	8	Arianna Barbieri	Italy	1:00.27
8	3	Georgia Davies	Great Britain	1:00.56

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Emily Seebohm	Australia	58.39	Q
2	2	Zhao Jing	China	59.55	Q
3	3	Anastasia Zuyeva	Russia	59.68	Q
4	5	Belinda Hocking	Australia	59.79	Q
5	6	Julia Wilkinson	Canada	59.91
6	7	Rachel Bootsma	United States	1:00.04
7	8	Kirsty Coventry	Zimbabwe	1:00.39
8	1	Sinead Russell	Canada	1:00.57

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	5	Missy Franklin	United States	58.33	AM
	4	Emily Seebohm	Australia	58.68
	3	Aya Terakawa	Japan	58.83	AS
4	2	Anastasia Zuyeva	Russia	59.00
5	7	Gemma Spofforth	Great Britain	59.20
6	6	Zhao Jing	China	59.23
7	1	Belinda Hocking	Australia	59.29
8	8	Fu Yuanhui	China	1:00.50

References

1. "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
2. Rossingh, Danielle (30 July 2012). "Missy Franklin Swims to Gold as Seebohm Cries Over Missed Chance". Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
3. "Olympics swimming: Missy Franklin wins 100m backstroke". BBC Sport. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
4. "Seebohm left shattered with silver". ABC News Australia. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
5. Jeffery, Nicole (30 July 2012). "Heartbroken Emily Seebohm settles for silver in 100m backstroke". The Australian. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
6. Kano, Shintaro (31 July 2012). "Irie, Terakawa, Suzuki haul in bronze from the pool". The Japan Times. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
7. "2012 London Olympics: Missy Franklin Wins First Olympic Gold Medal With 100 Back Victory; Sets American Record". Swimming World Magazine. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-09-26. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
8. McRae, Donald (30 July 2012). "London 2012: Missy Franklin wins Olympic 100m backstroke gold for US". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
9. "London 2012 Olympics: Gemma Spofforth misses out on 100m backstroke medal". The Daily Telegraph. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
10. "2012 London Olympics: Emily Seebohm Blasts Olympic Record, Posts Textile Best in Prelims of 100 Back". Swimming World Magazine. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
11. "Seebohm breaks Olympic record". ABC News Australia. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
12. Bull, Andy (28 July 2009). "Gemma Spofforth swims to 100m backstroke glory in world record time". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
13. "Coventry sets world record in women's 100 backstroke". Los Angeles Times. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
14. "Women's 100m Backstroke – Heats". London 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.

External links

• NBC Olympics Coverage