The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 14.
World record holder Yana Klochkova of Ukraine successfully defended her Olympic title in this event, outside the record time of 4:34.83. U.S. swimmer Kaitlin Sandeno, who finished behind Klochkova by 0.12 of a second, earned a silver medal, in an American record time of 4:34.95. Georgina Bardach, on the other hand, won Argentina's first Olympic bronze medal in swimming, breaking a South American record of 4:37.51. South Korea's Nam Yoo-sun and Greece's Vasiliki Angelopoulou became the first female swimmers for their respective nation to reach an Olympic final, finishing outside the medals in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Romania's Beatrice Câșlaru, who won a bronze medal in Sydney, finished only in fourteenth place on the morning's preliminary heats.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Results
Heats
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Heat !! Lane !! Name !! Nationality !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 1 || 4 || 4 ||align=left| Yana Klochkova ||align=left| || 4:38.36 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 2 || 4 || 5 ||align=left| Kaitlin Sandeno ||align=left| || 4:40.21 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 3 || 2 || 5 ||align=left| Georgina Bardach ||align=left| || 4:41.20 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 3 || 3 || 4 ||align=left| Éva Risztov ||align=left| || 4:41.20 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 5 || 2 || 6 ||align=left| Nicole Hetzer ||align=left| || 4:41.74 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 6 || 4 || 6 ||align=left| Joanna Melo ||align=left| || 4:42.01 || Q
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 7 || 4 || 1 ||align=left| Vasiliki Angelopoulou ||align=left| || 4:44.90 || Q, NR
|-bgcolor=#ccffcc
| 8 || 2 || 1 ||align=left| Nam Yoo-sun ||align=left| || 4:45.16 || Q
|-
| 9 || 2 || 2 ||align=left| Helen Norfolk ||align=left| || 4:45.21 ||
|-
| 10 || 4 || 2 ||align=left| Misa Amano ||align=left| || 4:45.61 ||
|-
| 11 || 3 || 6 ||align=left| Elizabeth Warden ||align=left| || 4:46.27 ||
|-
| 12 || 2 || 3 ||align=left| Lara Carroll ||align=left| || 4:46.32 ||
|-
| 13 || 3 || 3 ||align=left| Anja Klinar ||align=left| || 4:46.66 ||
|-
| 14 || 4 || 3 ||align=left| Beatrice Câșlaru ||align=left| || 4:46.94 ||
|-
| 15 || 4 || 7 ||align=left| Zsuzsanna Jakabos ||align=left| || 4:47.21 ||
|-
| 16 || 3 || 1 ||align=left| Alessia Filippi ||align=left| || 4:47.26 ||
|-
| 17 || 2 || 4 ||align=left| Katie Hoff ||align=left| || 4:47.49 ||
|-
| 18 || 3 || 7 ||align=left| Teresa Rohmann ||align=left| || 4:48.51 ||
|-
| 19 || 3 || 5 ||align=left| Jennifer Reilly ||align=left| || 4:49.04 ||
|-
| 20 || 4 || 8 ||align=left| Lin Man-hsu ||align=left| || 4:52.22 ||
|-
| 21 || 2 || 7 ||align=left| Yana Martynova ||align=left| || 4:52.96 ||
|-
| 22 || 1 || 4 ||align=left| Nimitta Thaveesupsoonthorn ||align=left| || 5:00.06 ||
|-
| 23 || 1 || 5 ||align=left| Ana Dangalakova ||align=left| || 5:01.00 ||
|-
| 24 || 1 || 3 ||align=left| Sabria Dahane ||align=left| || 5:10.20 ||
|-
| || 3 || 2 ||align=left| Zhang Tianyi ||align=left| || ||
|}
Final
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Swimmer !! Nation !! Time !! Notes
|-
| || 4 ||align=left| Yana Klochkova ||align=left| || 4:34.83 ||
|-
| || 5 ||align=left| Kaitlin Sandeno ||align=left| || 4:34.95 || AM
|-
| || 3 ||align=left| Georgina Bardach ||align=left| || 4:37.51 || SA
|-
| 4 || 6 ||align=left| Éva Risztov ||align=left| || 4:39.29 ||
|-
| 5 || 7 ||align=left| Joanna Melo ||align=left| || 4:40.00 || NR
|-
| 6 || 2 ||align=left| Nicole Hetzer ||align=left| || 4:40.20 ||
|-
| 7 || 8 ||align=left| Nam Yoo-sun ||align=left| || 4:50.35 ||
|-
| 8 || 1 ||align=left| Vasiliki Angelopoulou ||align=left| || 4:50.85 ||
|}
References
External links
- Official Olympic Report