Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle

Women's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Venue Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool
Date 22 September 1988 (heats & finals)
Competitors 30 from 21 nations
Winning time 4:03.85 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Janet Evans  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Heike Friedrich  East Germany
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Anke Möhring  East Germany

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 22 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

Records

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

World record Janet Evans (USA) 4:05.45 Orlando, United States 20 December 1987
Olympic record  Tiffany Cohen (USA) 4:07.10 Los Angeles, United States 31 July 1984

The following records were established during the length of the competition;

Date Round Name Nationality Time Record
22 September Final A Janet Evans  United States 4:03.85 WR

Results

Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Janet Evans  United States 4:10.21 Q
2 2 Anke Möhring  East Germany 4:10.64 Q
3 4 Tami Bruce  United States 4:10.73 Q
4 2 Janelle Elford  Australia 4:11.07 Q
5 3 Heike Friedrich  East Germany 4:11.30 Q
6 4 Isabelle Arnould  Belgium 4:11.71 Q
7 4 Stephanie Ortwig  West Germany 4:12.18 Q
8 2 Natalia Trefilova  Soviet Union 4:12.20 Q
9 3 Noemi Lung  Romania 4:12.42 q
10 3 Sheridan Burge-Lopez  Australia 4:12.77 q
11 2 Antoaneta Strumenlieva  Bulgaria 4:13.25 q
12 3 Manuela Melchiorri  Italy 4:15.40 q
13 1 Chikako Nakamori  Japan 4:15.51 q
14 3 Cécile Prunier  France 4:15.63 q
15 4 Stela Pura  Romania 4:15.78 q
16 4 Patricia Noall  Canada 4:15.90 q
17 3 Irene Dalby  Norway 4:16.22
18 4 Ruth Gilfillan  Great Britain 4:16.66
19 2 Tomomi Hosoda  Japan 4:17.30
20 3 Eva Mortensen  Denmark 4:18.06
21 3 Yan Ming  China 4:18.58
22 4 Alexandra Russ  West Germany 4:18.67
23 1 Nurul Huda Abdullah  Malaysia 4:19.33
24 1 Patrícia Amorim  Brazil 4:19.64
25 2 Christelle Janssens  Belgium 4:19.95
26 1 Pernille Jensen  Denmark 4:20.96
27 2 June Croft  Great Britain 4:21.98
28 1 Rita Jean Garay  Puerto Rico 4:24.84
29 2 Judit Csabai  Hungary 4:25.52
30 1 Senda Gharbi  Tunisia 4:34.67

Finals

Final B

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
9 5 Sheridan Burge-Lopez  Australia 4:10.21
10 4 Noemi Lung  Romania 4:11.88
11 1 Stela Pura  Romania 4:12.14
12 3 Antoaneta Strumenlieva  Bulgaria 4:13.43
13 8 Patricia Noall  Canada 4:14.70
14 6 Manuela Melchiorri  Italy 4:14.90
15 2 Chikako Nakamori  Japan 4:15.59
16 7 Cécile Prunier  France 4:21.03

Final A

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Janet Evans  United States 4:03.85 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2 Heike Friedrich  East Germany 4:05.94 EU
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 Anke Möhring  East Germany 4:06.62
4 3 Tami Bruce  United States 4:08.16
5 6 Janelle Elford  Australia 4:10.64
6 7 Isabelle Arnould  Belgium 4:11.73
7 1 Stephanie Ortwig  West Germany 4:13.05
8 8 Natalia Trefilova  Soviet Union 4:13.92