Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre individual medley


The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
At only 16 years of age, China's Ye Shiwen blasted a new world record to capture the Olympic title in the event. She trailed behind American teenager Elizabeth Beisel more than halfway through the race, before pulling away with a superb freestyle leg to bring home the Olympic gold medal and the world record in a sterling time of 4:28.43. Her spectacular swim also demolished the previous standard from Australia's Stephanie Rice in Beijing four years earlier by more than a second. Meanwhile, Beisel enjoyed the race with a powerful lead on the breaststroke leg, but felt satisfied to claim the silver in 4:31.27. Ye's teammate Li Xuanxu stormed home on the final stretch to grab a bronze in 4:32.91, edging out Hungary's early leader Katinka Hosszú by more than half a second.
Great Britain's home favorite Hannah Miley finished fifth in 4:34.17, while Rice, the defending Olympic champion, matched United States' Caitlin Leverenz with an unexpected sixth-place time in 4:35.49. Spain's Mireia Belmonte García rounded out the final roster in 4:35.62.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following records were established during the competition:
DateRoundNameNationalityTimeRecord
July 28FinalYe Shiwen4:28.43,

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
154Elizabeth Beisel4:31.68Q
235Ye Shiwen4:31.73Q
334Katinka Hosszú4:33.77Q
455Li Xuanxu4:34.28Q
553Mireia Belmonte García4:34.70Q
644Hannah Miley4:34.98Q
745Stephanie Rice4:35.76Q
843Caitlin Leverenz4:36.09Q
933Zsuzsanna Jakabos4:37.37
1051Anja Klinar4:38.20
1152Aimee Willmott4:38.87
1246Miyu Otsuka4:39.13
1356Blair Evans4:40.42
1447Stina Gardell4:41.33
1536Barbora Zavádová4:41.84
1642Kathryn Meaklim4:43.46
1725Kim Seo-yeong4:43.99
1857Lara Grangeon4:44.28
1938Natalie Wiegersma4:44.78
2032Miho Takahashi4:45.10
2124Stephanie Horner4:45.49
2241Stefania Pirozzi4:45.61
2348Jördis Steinegger4:45.80
2437Yana Martynova4:45.94
2531Claudia Dasca Romeu4:46.80
2627Ganna Dzerkal4:48.19
2726Andreina Pinto4:48.64
2813Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên4:50.32
2914Susana Escobar4:50.57
3028Sara Nordenstam4:51.28
3121Karolina Szczepaniak4:52.50
3222Sara El Bekri4:53.21
3315Noora Laukkanen4:53.54
3423Georgina Bardach4:57.31
3516Anum Bandey5:34.64NR
58Joanna Melo

Final