Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 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 19 and 20.[1] The winning margin was 0.42 seconds which as of 2023 remains the narrowest winning margin in this event at the Olympics.

Women's 800 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DateAugust 19, 2004 (heats)
August 20, 2004 (final)
Competitors31 from 26 nations
Winning time8:24.54
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ai Shibata  Japan
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Laure Manaudou  France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Diana Munz  United States
← 2000
2008 →

Japan's Ai Shibata became the first Asian swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in long-distance freestyle swimming, outside the record time of 8:24.54. France's Laure Manaudou, who claimed the title in the 400 m freestyle, added a silver to her medal tally, with a time of 8:24.96. U.S. swimmer Diana Munz, on the other hand, edged out her teammate Kalyn Keller for the bronze medal by 0.36 of a second, clocking at 8:26.61.[2][3]

Records

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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
Olympic record   Brooke Bennett (USA) 8:19.67 Sydney, Australia 22 September 2000

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 3 Laure Manaudou   France 8:25.91 Q
2 3 2 Rebecca Cooke   Great Britain 8:28.47 Q
3 3 5 Ai Shibata   Japan 8:30.08 Q
4 2 4 Diana Munz   United States 8:30.87 Q
5 2 3 Jana Henke   Germany 8:31.86 Q
6 4 5 Kalyn Keller   United States 8:32.36 Q
7 4 6 Erika Villaécija   Spain 8:33.61 Q
8 2 6 Simona Păduraru   Romania 8:34.15 Q
9 2 2 Sarah Paton   Australia 8:35.81
10 3 6 Linda Mackenzie   Australia 8:35.90
11 4 2 Chen Hua   China 8:36.24
12 3 4 Sachiko Yamada   Japan 8:36.48
13 4 7 Flavia Rigamonti   Switzerland 8:38.10
14 4 4 Hannah Stockbauer   Germany 8:38.17
15 4 8 Kristel Köbrich   Chile 8:40.41
16 3 3 Camelia Potec   Romania 8:41.20
17 2 5 Brittany Reimer   Canada 8:41.55
18 2 1 Marianna Lymperta   Greece 8:42.65
19 3 1 Jana Pechanová   Czech Republic 8:47.38
20 2 7 Olga Beresnyeva   Ukraine 8:57.96
21 1 2 Golda Marcus   El Salvador 8:59.81
22 1 4 Kwon You-ri   South Korea 9:01.42
23 1 3 Jelena Petrova   Estonia 9:01.62
24 3 8 Rebecca Linton   New Zealand 9:02.41
25 1 7 Heather Roffey   Cayman Islands 9:02.88
26 2 8 Ivanka Moralieva   Bulgaria 9:03.13
27 1 6 Paola Duguet   Colombia 9:06.96
28 1 5 Anita Galić   Croatia 9:10.91
29 1 1 Khadija Ciss   Senegal 9:20.06
3 7 Éva Risztov   Hungary DNS
4 1 Anja Čarman   Slovenia DNS

Final

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Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
  3 Ai Shibata   Japan 8:24.54
  4 Laure Manaudou   France 8:24.96
  6 Diana Munz   United States 8:26.61
4 7 Kalyn Keller   United States 8:26.97
5 1 Erika Villaécija   Spain 8:29.04
6 5 Rebecca Cooke   Great Britain 8:29.37
7 2 Jana Henke   Germany 8:33.95
8 8 Simona Păduraru   Romania 8:37.02

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. ^ Thomas, Stephen (20 August 2004). "Japan's Ai Shibata Wins the Women's 800 With Back-Half Surge". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Shibata wins women's 800m freestyle". Reuters. ABC News Australia. 21 August 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
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