4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women
| Date | 22 September 1988 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul |
| Participants | 69 from 15 countries |
The United States had easily won this at the 1987 Pan Pacs over China, but that was the B race since the GDR (East German) swimmers were not there. East Germany was not the defending Olympic champion, only because they joined the 1984 boycott, but they were the world record holders, had won the 1986 World Championships by a huge margin over the USA, and had won the last six European Championships. Kristin Otto opened for the GDR with a 55.11, leading American Mary Wayte by 0.77 seconds. Katrin Meißner then moved ahead by 1.72 seconds at the 200 metre mark and the race was over but the rout was on. On the third leg it was more of same for East Germany, but although well back, the Netherlands closed on the United States, as Conny van Bentum brought the margin for silver to only 8/100ths at the anchor exchange. On the final leg, Karin Brienesse swam the eighth fastest 100 relay split ever, 55.04, to bring the Netherlands home for the silver medal, with the United States trailing for third as China placed fourth. Van Bentum commented, “We thought we would be battling for third with China. We were really, really excited that we got second.” The East Germans missed their world record by 6/100ths.
Round One (22 September 1988 — 9:00)
Fastest eight advanced to the final.
Heat One
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | East Germany |  GDR | 3:43.13 | |||||
| Katrin Meißner | – | 55.30 | 55.30 (3) | ||||||
| Sabina Schulze | – | 56.32 | 1:51.62 (1) | ||||||
| Heike Friedrich | – | 55.68 | 2:47.30 (1) | ||||||
| Daniela Hunger | – | 55.83 | 3:43.13 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | Soviet Union |  URS | 3:46.28 | |||||
| Inna Abramova | – | 57.56 | 57.56 (5) | ||||||
| Svetlana Isakova | – | 56.55 | 1:54.11 (2) | ||||||
| Yelena Dendeberova | – | 56.02 | 2:50.13 (2) | ||||||
| Svetlana Kopchikova | – | 56.15 | 3:46.28 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | West Germany |  FRG | 3:48.03 | |||||
| Karin Seick | – | 57.54 | 57.54 (4) | ||||||
| Christiane Pielke | – | 56.94 | 1:54.48 (3) | ||||||
| Katja Ziliox | – | 57.75 | 2:52.23 (3) | ||||||
| Marion Aizpors | – | 55.80 | 3:48.03 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Sweden |  SWE | 3:50.50 | |||||
| Agneta Eriksson | – | 58.31 | 58.31 (7) | ||||||
| Karin Furuhed | – | 57.31 | 1:55.62 (5) | ||||||
| Suzanne Nilsson | – | 57.59 | 2:53.21 (4) | ||||||
| Eva Nyberg | – | 57.29 | 3:50.50 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 2 | Great Britain |  GBR | 3:50.84 | |||||
| Annabelle Cripps | – | 57.87 | 57.87 (6) | ||||||
| June Croft | – | 57.70 | 1:55.57 (4) | ||||||
| Linda Donnelly | – | 58.01 | 2:53.58 (5) | ||||||
| Joanna Coull | – | 57.26 | 3:50.84 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 7 | Costa Rica |  CRC | 3:59.67 | |||||
| Natasha Aguilar | – | 1:01.45 | 1:01.45 (1) | ||||||
| Marcela Cuesta | – | 1:00.07 | 2:01.52 (6) | ||||||
| Carolina Mauri | – | 1:00.25 | 3:01.77 (6) | ||||||
| Sylvia Poll | – | 57.90 | 3:59.67 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 1 | Chinese Taipei |  TPE | 4:09.84 | |||||
| Wang Chi | – | 1:02.17 | 1:02.17 (2) | ||||||
| Sabrina Lum | – | 1:03.31 | 2:05.48 (7) | ||||||
| Seto Car-Wai | – | 1:01.82 | 3:07.30 (7) | ||||||
| Chang Hui-Chien | – | 1:02.54 | 4:09.84 (7) |
Heat Two
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Netherlands |  NED | 3:44.12 | |||||
| Conny van Bentum | – | 56.34 | 56.34 (1) | ||||||
| Marianne Muis | – | 55.96 | 1:52.30 (1) | ||||||
| Mildred Muis | – | 55.85 | 2:48.15 (1) | ||||||
| Diane van der Plaats | – | 55.97 | 3:44.12 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | United States |  USA | 3:45.10 | |||||
| Laura Walker | – | 57.46 | 57.46 (5) | ||||||
| Paige Zemina | – | 56.51 | 1:53.97 (3) | ||||||
| Jill Sterkel | – | 56.07 | 2:50.04 (2) | ||||||
| Mary Wayte | – | 55.06 | 3:45.10 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | People's Republic of China |  CHN | 3:46.36 | |||||
| Xia Fujie | – | 57.37 | 57.37 (4) | ||||||
| Lou Yaping | – | 57.23 | 1:54.60 (4) | ||||||
| Yang Wenyi | – | 55.86 | 2:50.46 (3) | ||||||
| Zhuang Yong | – | 55.90 | 3:46.36 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 2 | Denmark |  DEN | 3:48.83 | |||||
| Mette Jacobsen | – | 57.10 | 57.10 (2) | ||||||
| Gitta Jensen | – | 56.85 | 1:53.95 (2) | ||||||
| Pia Sørensen | – | 56.93 | 2:50.88 (4) | ||||||
| Annette Moldrup Jørgensen | – | 57.95 | 3:48.83 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 3 | Canada |  CAN | 3:49.20 | |||||
| Kathy Bald | – | 57.29 | 57.29 (3) | ||||||
| Kristin Topham | – | 58.08 | 1:55.37 (5) | ||||||
| Allison Higson | – | 57.09 | 2:52.46 (5) | ||||||
| Jane Kerr | – | 56.74 | 3:49.20 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 7 | Brazil |  BRA | 3:56.29 | |||||
| Adriana Pereira | – | 58.59 | 58.59 (6) | ||||||
| Mônica Rezende | – | 59.37 | 1:57.96 (6) | ||||||
| Patrícia Amorim | – | 59.92 | 2:57.88 (6) | ||||||
| Isabele Vieira | – | 58.41 | 3:56.29 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 8 | Republic of Korea |  KOR | 4:03.18 | |||||
| Kim Eun-Jeong | – | 1:01.33 | 1:01.33 (8) | ||||||
| Han Yeong-Hui | – | 1:00.37 | 2:01.70 (7) | ||||||
| Park Ju-Ri | – | 1:01.42 | 3:03.12 (7) | ||||||
| Lee Hong-Mi | – | 1:00.06 | 4:03.18 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | Hong Kong |  HKG | 4:08.58 | |||||
| Celeste Hung | – | 1:00.80 | 1:00.80 (7) | ||||||
| Fenella Ng | – | 1:01.15 | 2:01.95 (8) | ||||||
| Tsang Wing Sze | – | 1:03.67 | 3:05.62 (8) | ||||||
| Annemarie Munk | – | 1:02.96 | 4:08.58 (8) |
Final (22 September 1988 — 20:00)
| Pos | Lane | Swimmer | NOC | 50 m | Time | Exchange (Pos) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | East Germany | GDR | 3:40.63 | |||||
| Kristin Otto | – | 55.11 | 55.11 (1) | ||||||
| Katrin Meißner | – | 54.73 | 1:49.84 (1) | ||||||
| Daniela Hunger | – | 55.69 | 2:45.53 (1) | ||||||
| Manuela Stellmach | – | 55.10 | 3:40.63 (1) | ||||||
| 2 | 5 | Netherlands | NED | 3:43.39 | |||||
| Marianne Muis | – | 56.26 | 56.26 (3) | ||||||
| Mildred Muis | – | 56.36 | 1:52.62 (3) | ||||||
| Conny van Bentum | – | 55.73 | 2:48.35 (3) | ||||||
| Karin Brienesse | – | 55.04 | 3:43.39 (2) | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | United States | USA | 3:44.25 | |||||
| Mary Wayte | – | 55.88 | 55.88 (2) | ||||||
| Mitzi Kremer | – | 55.68 | 1:51.56 (2) | ||||||
| Laura Walker | – | 56.71 | 2:48.27 (2) | ||||||
| Dara Torres | – | 55.98 | 3:44.25 (3) | ||||||
| 4 | 2 | People's Republic of China | CHN | 3:44.69 | |||||
| Xia Fujie | – | 57.78 | 57.78 (7) | ||||||
| Yang Wenyi | – | 55.38 | 1:53.16 (5) | ||||||
| Lou Yaping | – | 57.28 | 2:50.44 (7) | ||||||
| Zhuang Yong | – | 54.25 | 3:44.69 (4) | ||||||
| 5 | 6 | Soviet Union | URS | 3:44.99 | |||||
| Yelena Dendeberova | – | 56.49 | 56.49 (4) | ||||||
| Svetlana Isakova | – | 56.20 | 1:52.69 (4) | ||||||
| Nataliya Trefilova | – | 56.00 | 2:48.69 (4) | ||||||
| Svetlana Kopchikova | – | 56.30 | 3:44.99 (5) | ||||||
| 6 | 8 | Canada | CAN | 3:46.75 | |||||
| Kathy Bald | – | 57.01 | 57.01 (6) | ||||||
| Patricia Noall | – | 56.75 | 1:53.76 (7) | ||||||
| Andrea Nugent | – | 56.31 | 2:50.07 (5) | ||||||
| Jane Kerr | – | 56.68 | 3:46.75 (6) | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | West Germany | FRG | 3:46.90 | |||||
| Stephanie Ortwig | – | 57.91 | 57.91 (8) | ||||||
| Marion Aizpors | – | 55.71 | 1:53.62 (6) | ||||||
| Christiane Pielke | – | 56.46 | 2:50.08 (6) | ||||||
| Karin Seick | – | 56.82 | 3:46.90 (7) | ||||||
| 8 | 1 | Denmark | DEN | 3:49.25 | |||||
| Gitta Jensen | – | 56.93 | 56.93 (5) | ||||||
| Pia Sørensen | – | 57.28 | 1:54.21 (8) | ||||||
| Mette Jacobsen | – | 56.95 | 2:51.16 (8) | ||||||
| Annette Moldrup Jørgensen | – | 58.09 | 3:49.25 (8) |