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

The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

France's Camille Muffat held off a sprint duel from a hard-charging American Allison Schmitt with every stroke on the final stretch to capture the event's second Olympic title for her nation, since Laure Manaudou topped the podium in 2004. She maintained her powerful lead from the start to edge out Schmitt by 0.32 seconds for the gold medal and a new Olympic record in 4:01.45. Meanwhile, Schmitt could not catch Muffat on a head-to-head duel to finish with an American record of 4:01.77 in the process of winning silver. Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington struggled through the race in her Olympic title defense, but brought out a raucous cheer from the home crowd to earn the bronze in 4:03.01.

Denmark's Lotte Friis finished off the podium with a fourth-place time and a national record in 4:03.98, while Italy's Federica Pellegrini, the reigning world record holder, faded to fifth in 4:04.50. Muffat's teammate Coralie Balmy (4:05.95), Canada's Brittany MacLean (4:06.24) and New Zealand's Lauren Boyle (4:06.25) rounded out the field.

Records

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

The following records were established during the competition:

Results

Heats

Final

References

External links

• NBC Olympics Coverage

1. Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics
2. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle
3. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle
4. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics
5. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
6. Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle
7. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle
8. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle
9. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
10. Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle
11. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle
12. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 50 metre freestyle
13. Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
14. Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
15. Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle
16. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre freestyle
17. Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle
18. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
19. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
20. Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle