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Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

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Women's 800 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
VenueLondon Aquatics Centre
DatesAugust 2, 2012 (heats)
August 3, 2012 (final)
Competitors36 from 30 nations
Winning time8:14.63 AM
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Katie Ledecky  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mireia Belmonte García  Spain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain
← 2008
2016 →

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 2–3 August at the London Aquatics Centre[1] based at the Olympic park London.

Aged only 15, American Katie Ledecky narrowly missed the world record on the final lap to recapture the first Olympic title for the Americans since Brooke Bennett topped the podium in 2000. Strengthening her lead almost the entire race, she headed into the 750-metre turn under world-record pace, and pulled off a stunning upset from the rest of the field to post a personal best and smash Janet Evans' 23-year-old U.S. record in 8:14.63.[2] Spain's Mireia Belmonte García added a second silver to her Olympic hardware in a national record of 8:18.76.[3] Meanwhile, Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington, the reigning Olympic champion, tried to hold on with Ledecky earlier through the race, but faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze in 8:20.32.[4][5]

New Zealand's Lauren Boyle produced a spectacular swim to finish with a fourth-place time and an Oceanian record in 8:22.72.[6] Meanwhile, Denmark's Lotte Friis, the defending bronze medalist, opened up the race with an early lead, but dropped back to fifth in 8:23.86 to hold off a fast-charging Hungarian Boglárka Kapás (8:23.89) on the final lap by almost a fingertip. France's Coralie Balmy (8:29.26) and Venezuela's Andreina Pinto (8:29.28) rounded out the field in one of the program's long-distance pool races.[5]

Records

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

World record  Rebecca Adlington (GBR) 8:14.10 Beijing, China 16 August 2008 [7][8]
Olympic record  Rebecca Adlington (GBR) 8:14.10 Beijing, China 16 August 2008 [7][8]

Results

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Heats

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[9]

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 4 Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain 8:21.78 Q
2 4 4 Lotte Friis  Denmark 8:21.89 Q
3 3 4 Katie Ledecky  United States 8:23.84 Q
4 3 5 Mireia Belmonte García  Spain 8:25.26 Q
5 5 6 Lauren Boyle  New Zealand 8:25.91 Q, NR
6 4 3 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 8:26.43 Q
4 8 Andreina Pinto  Venezuela Q, NR
8 4 2 Coralie Balmy  France 8:27.15 Q
9 5 3 Shao Yiwen  China 8:27.78
10 5 2 Erika Villaecija García  Spain 8:27.99
11 3 1 Alexa Komarnycky  Canada 8:28.11
12 3 3 Wendy Trott  South Africa 8:28.98
13 3 2 Éva Risztov  Hungary 8:29.06
14 4 7 Kristel Köbrich  Chile 8:29.55
15 5 1 Savannah King  Canada 8:29.72
16 5 8 Cecilia Biagioli  Argentina 8:33.97 NR
17 2 4 Julia Hassler  Liechtenstein 8:35.18 NR
18 4 6 Kylie Palmer  Australia 8:35.75
19 2 2 Katya Bachrouche  Lebanon 8:35.88 NR
20 5 7 Jessica Ashwood  Australia 8:37.21
21 5 5 Kate Ziegler  United States 8:37.38
22 3 6 Ellie Faulkner  Great Britain 8:38.00
23 4 1 Camelia Potec  Romania 8:38.44
24 4 5 Xin Xin  China 8:40.88
25 2 5 Tjaša Oder  Slovenia 8:41.82
26 3 8 Yelena Sokolova  Russia 8:42.73
27 2 6 Patricia Castañeda Miyamoto  Mexico 8:44.44
28 2 3 Nina Dittrich  Austria 8:45.41
29 1 4 Samantha Arevalo  Ecuador 8:49.21 NR
30 2 7 Cai Lin Khoo  Malaysia 8:51.18
31 2 1 Lynette Lim  Singapore 8:52.92
32 2 8 Han Na-kyeong  South Korea 8:57.26
33 1 5 Pamela Benitez  El Salvador 9:02.66
34 1 6 Danielle van den Berg  Aruba 9:23.21
35 1 3 Simona Marinova  Macedonia 9:28.41
3 7 Grainne Murphy  Ireland DNS

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 Katie Ledecky  United States 8:14.63 AM
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 Mireia Belmonte García  Spain 8:18.76 NR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 4 Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain 8:20.32
4 2 Lauren Boyle  New Zealand 8:22.72 OC
5 5 Lotte Friis  Denmark 8:23.86
6 7 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 8:23.89 NR
7 8 Coralie Balmy  France 8:29.26
8 1 Andreina Pinto  Venezuela 8:29.28

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  2. ^ Brennan, Christine (4 August 2012). "Katie Ledecky, 15, wins 800 free, breaks Janet Evans' record". USA Today. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  3. ^ Harris, Beth (3 August 2012). "Olympics 2012: Bethesda's Katie Ledecky, 15, wins 800 free". Washington Times. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ^ White, Duncan (3 August 2012). "Rebecca Adlington has to settle for bronze in 800m freestyle as 15-year-old American Katie Ledecky wins gold". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  5. ^ a b "2012 London Olympics: Katie Ledecky, 15, Rattles World Record With American Record Victory in 800 Free; Mireia Belmonte Garcia, Rebecca Adlington Complete Podium". Swimming World Magazine. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Emotional Boyle 'proud' of fourth in 800m freestyle". TVNZ. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b 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.
  8. ^ a b "Adlington storms to second gold". BBC Sport. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Women's 800m Freestyle – Heats". London2012.com. London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
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