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.^[1]

Women's 400 metre individual medley at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
A photograph of the Aquatics centre during the British Championships in March 2012.
Venue	London Aquatics Centre
Date	July 28, 2012 (heats & final)
Competitors	36 from 29 nations
Winning time	4:28.43 WR
Medalists
Ye Shiwen  China Elizabeth Beisel  United States Li Xuanxu  China
← 2008 2016 →

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.^[2][3] Meanwhile, Beisel enjoyed the race with a powerful lead on the breaststroke leg, but felt satisfied to claim the silver in 4:31.27.^[4][5] 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 (4:33.49) by more than half a second (0.50).^[6]

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.^[7][8] Spain's Mireia Belmonte García rounded out the final roster in 4:35.62.^[6]

Records

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

World record	Stephanie Rice (AUS)	4:29.45	Beijing, China	10 August 2008	^[9]^[10]
Olympic record	Stephanie Rice (AUS)	4:29.45	Beijing, China	10 August 2008	–

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Round	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
July 28	Final	Ye Shiwen	China	4:28.43	WR

Results

Heats

^[11]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	5	4	Elizabeth Beisel	United States	4:31.68	Q
2	3	5	Ye Shiwen	China	4:31.73	Q
3	3	4	Katinka Hosszú	Hungary	4:33.77	Q
4	5	5	Li Xuanxu	China	4:34.28	Q
5	5	3	Mireia Belmonte García	Spain	4:34.70	Q
6	4	4	Hannah Miley	Great Britain	4:34.98	Q
7	4	5	Stephanie Rice	Australia	4:35.76	Q
8	4	3	Caitlin Leverenz	United States	4:36.09	Q
9	3	3	Zsuzsanna Jakabos	Hungary	4:37.37
10	5	1	Anja Klinar	Slovenia	4:38.20
11	5	2	Aimee Willmott	Great Britain	4:38.87
12	4	6	Miyu Otsuka	Japan	4:39.13
13	5	6	Blair Evans	Australia	4:40.42
14	4	7	Stina Gardell	Sweden	4:41.33
15	3	6	Barbora Zavádová	Czech Republic	4:41.84
16	4	2	Kathryn Meaklim	South Africa	4:43.46
17	2	5	Kim Seo-yeong	South Korea	4:43.99
18	5	7	Lara Grangeon	France	4:44.28
19	3	8	Natalie Wiegersma	New Zealand	4:44.78
20	3	2	Miho Takahashi	Japan	4:45.10
21	2	4	Stephanie Horner	Canada	4:45.49
22	4	1	Stefania Pirozzi	Italy	4:45.61
23	4	8	Jördis Steinegger	Austria	4:45.80
24	3	7	Yana Martynova	Russia	4:45.94
25	3	1	Claudia Dasca Romeu	Spain	4:46.80
26	2	7	Ganna Dzerkal	Ukraine	4:48.19
27	2	6	Andreina Pinto	Venezuela	4:48.64
28	1	3	Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên	Vietnam	4:50.32
29	1	4	Susana Escobar	Mexico	4:50.57
30	2	8	Sara Nordenstam	Norway	4:51.28
31	2	1	Karolina Szczepaniak	Poland	4:52.50
32	2	2	Sara El Bekri	Morocco	4:53.21
33	1	5	Noora Laukkanen	Finland	4:53.54
34	2	3	Georgina Bardach	Argentina	4:57.31
35	1	6	Anum Bandey	Pakistan	5:34.64	NR
	5	8	Joanna Melo	Brazil	DNS

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	5	Ye Shiwen	China	4:28.43	WR
	4	Elizabeth Beisel	United States	4:31.27
	6	Li Xuanxu	China	4:32.91
4	3	Katinka Hosszú	Hungary	4:33.49
5	7	Hannah Miley	Great Britain	4:34.17
6	1	Stephanie Rice	Australia	4:35.49
	8	Caitlin Leverenz	United States
8	2	Mireia Belmonte García	Spain	4:35.62

References

1. "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
2. "Ye Shiwen wins gold in record time". ESPN. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
3. Newberry, Paul (28 July 2012). "Lochte wins 400m IM in blowout; Phelps finishes 4th". London 2012. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
4. Powers, John (28 July 2012). . Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
5. "Ye wins women's 400 IM; Beisel takes silver". Fox News. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
6. . Swimming World Magazine. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-05-27. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
7. Jones, Sam (28 July 2012). "Ye Shiwen sets world medley record at Olympics aged 16". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
8. . BBC Sport. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
9. Lohn, John (10 August 2008). . Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
10. Johanson, Simon (10 August 2008). "Rice steams to gold and world record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
11. "Women's 400m Individual Medley – Heats". London2012.com. LOCOG. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.

External links

• NBC Olympics Coverage