Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke
The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 22 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.Results
Heats
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Whitney Hedgepeth | 1:01.70 | Q | |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | Beth Botsford | 1:02.00 | Q | |
| 3 | 4 | 3 | Marianne Kriel | 1:02.33 | Q, AF | |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Mai Nakamura | 1:02.35 | Q | |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Nicole Stevenson | 1:02.50 | Q | |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Chen Yan | 1:02.62 | Q | |
| 7 | 3 | 2 | Antje Buschschulte | 1:02.68 | Q | |
| 8 | 4 | 4 | Miki Nakao | 1:02.90 | Q | |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | 1:02.94 | q | |
| 10 | 5 | 7 | Anke Scholz | 1:03.05 | q | |
| 11 | 5 | 3 | Mette Jacobsen | 1:03.14 | q, | |
| 12 | 4 | 6 | Olga Kochetkova | 1:03.17 | q | |
| 13 | 4 | 7 | Lydia Lipscombe | 1:03.61 | q | |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Therese Alshammar | 1:03.79 | q | |
| 15 | 5 | 6 | Julie Howard | 1:03.84 | q | |
| 16 | 5 | 6 | Elli Overton | 1:03.88 | q | |
| 17 | 5 | 1 | Helen Slatter | 1:03.89 | q | |
| 18 | 2 | 4 | Lee Ji-hyun | 1:03.96 | NR | |
| 19 | 3 | 7 | Hélène Ricardo | 1:04.03 | ||
| 20 | 3 | 1 | Eva Piñera | 1:04.41 | ||
| 21 | 2 | 3 | Praphalsai Minpraphal | 1:04.61 | NR | |
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Maria Santos | 1:04.84 | ||
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Anu Koivisto | 1:05.25 | ||
| 24 | 2 | 7 | Marcela Kubalčíková | 1:05.48 | ||
| 25 | 2 | 1 | Yseult Gervy | 1:05.72 | ||
| 26 | 3 | 6 | He Cihong | 1:05.87 | ||
| 27 | 2 | 2 | Aikaterini Klepkou | 1:05.94 | ||
| 28 | 2 | 5 | Florina Herea | 1:06.12 | ||
| 28 | 2 | 6 | Akiko Thomson | 1:06.12 | ||
| 30 | 3 | 8 | Valeria Álvarez | 1:06.38 | ||
| 31 | 4 | 1 | Dagmara Komorowicz | 1:06.70 | ||
| 32 | 1 | 4 | Annamária Kiss | 1:07.38 | ||
| 33 | 1 | 6 | Gail Rizzo | 1:07.61 | ||
| 34 | 2 | 8 | Tsai Shu-min | 1:11.44 | ||
| 35 | 1 | 3 | Ximena Escalera | 1:11.70 | ||
| 36 | 1 | 5 | Harijesy Razafindramahatra | 1:13.83 |