100 metres Breaststroke, Women

Yelena Rudkovskaya of the Unified Team had had a difficult year. Her coach, Leonid Kaufman, had emigrated to Israel, and the financial situation for sports after the fall of Communism severely affected the swimming program. A year earlier she had won both breaststrokes at the 1991 European Championships, but she was not as certain of her form in Barcelona. She had placed only fourth in the 200 breast a few days earlier. But in the 100 final she won a narrow finish over American Anita Nall, who had won bronze in the 200. Rudovskaya’s time was 1:08.00, the third-fastest performance ever, and only 9/100ths of a second off the world record of Sam Riley (AUS), who won the bronze medal. Riley would return in Atlanta and repeat her bronze medal in this event. Rudovskaya would compete for one more year, this time representing her native Belarus at the 1993 Europeans, where she won a bronze in this event.