Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre breaststroke
The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 21 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.The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 21 July | Heat 6 | Penny Heyns | 1:07.02 |
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 | 6 | 4 | Penny Heyns | 1:07.02 | Q, | |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Amanda Beard | 1:09.04 | Q | |
| 3 | 4 | 6 | Ágnes Kovács | 1:09.05 | Q, NR | |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Samantha Riley | 1:09.37 | Q | |
| 5 | 4 | 7 | Vera Lischka | 1:09.68 | Q, NR | |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Guylaine Cloutier | 1:09.72 | Q | |
| 7 | 4 | 4 | Svitlana Bondarenko | 1:09.79 | Q | |
| 8 | 6 | 5 | Brigitte Becue | 1:09.83 | Q | |
| 9 | 5 | 2 | Masami Tanaka | 1:09.89 | q | |
| 10 | 6 | 1 | Elin Austevoll | 1:09.96 | q, NR | |
| 11 | 6 | 7 | Manuela Dalla Valle | 1:10.25 | q | |
| 12 | 5 | 6 | Lisa Flood | 1:10.26 | q | |
| 13 | 4 | 3 | Han Xue | 1:10.40 | q | |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | Helen Denman | 1:10.64 | q | |
| 15 | 4 | 1 | Hanna Jaltner | 1:10.69 | q | |
| 16 | 3 | 6 | Alicja Pęczak | 1:10.70 | q | |
| 17 | 5 | 7 | Jaime King | 1:10.83 | ||
| 18 | 5 | 1 | Julia Russell | 1:10.87 | ||
| 19 | 6 | 3 | Kristine Quance | 1:10.92 | ||
| 20 | 6 | 2 | Terrie Miller | 1:11.09 | ||
| 21 | 6 | 8 | Madelon Baans | 1:11.17 | ||
| 22 | 4 | 2 | Kyoko Iwasaki | 1:11.33 | ||
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Maria Östling | 1:11.58 | ||
| 24 | 6 | 6 | Yuan Yuan | 1:11.65 | ||
| 25 | 5 | 8 | Karine Brémond | 1:11.80 | ||
| 26 | 3 | 5 | Kathrin Dumitru | 1:11.92 | ||
| 27 | 3 | 7 | Olga Landik | 1:12.55 | ||
| 28 | 3 | 2 | María Olay | 1:12.58 | ||
| 29 | 2 | 3 | Lenka Maňhalová | 1:12.72 | ||
| 30 | 1 | 3 | Byun Hye-young | 1:12.85 | NR | |
| 31 | 3 | 3 | Anna Wilson | 1:12.93 | ||
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Mia Hagman | 1:13.01 | ||
| 33 | 3 | 8 | Yelena Rudkovskaya | 1:13.71 | ||
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Joana Soutinho | 1:13.73 | ||
| 35 | 3 | 4 | Larisa Lăcustă | 1:13.91 | ||
| 36 | 1 | 6 | Tay Li Leng | 1:14.17 | ||
| 37 | 2 | 2 | Natália Kodajová | 1:14.24 | NR | |
| 38 | 1 | 5 | Isabel Ceballos | 1:14.75 | ||
| 39 | 2 | 5 | Mou Ying-hsin | 1:14.82 | ||
| 40 | 3 | 1 | Joscelin Yeo | 1:14.90 | ||
| 41 | 1 | 4 | Snowie Pang Wang Yiu | 1:16.02 | ||
| 42 | 2 | 1 | María Carolina Santa Cruz | 1:16.19 | ||
| 43 | 2 | 8 | Nádia Cruz | 1:16.62 | ||
| 44 | 2 | 7 | Cerian Gibbes | 1:16.99 | ||
| 45 | 1 | 2 | Anush Manukyan | 1:20.70 | ||
| 46 | 1 | 7 | Hem Reaksmey | 1:44.68 |