Olympic Women’s Swimming Records

While Olympic women’s swimming records fall constantly under the assault of better training methods and faster pools, 2008 wasn’t just a case or rewriting the book.

In Beijing, the book essentially was thrown away.

Going into the Games, two Olympic records (Janet Evans in the 400 meter freestyle and Heike Friedrich in the 200 meter freestyle) had stood since 1988. They’re gone, along with most of the rest of the old standards, leaving 2008 as the benchmark for Olympic performances to come. Only Inge de Brujn’s 100 meter butterfly record of 56.61, set in Sydney in 2000, survived the onslaught.

Here are the new Olympic records, the times the next wave of swimmers will be gunning for in London in 2012:

50 meter freestyle: Britta Steffen, Germany (24.06 in 2008)

100 meter freestyle: Britta Steffen, Germany (53.12 in 2008)

200 meter freestyle: Federica Pellegrini, Italy (1:54.82 in 2008)

400 meter freestyle: Federica Pellegrini , USA (4:02.19 in 2008)

800 meter freestyle: Rebecca Adlington, GBR (8:14.10 in 2008)

100 meter backstroke: Natalie Coughlin, USA (58.96 in 2008)

200 meter backstroke: Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe (2:05.24 in 2008)

100 meter breaststroke: Leisel Jones, Australia (1:05.17 in 2008)

200 meter breaststroke: Rebecca Soni, USA (2:20.22 in 2008)

100 meter butterfly: Inge de Bruijn, Netherlands (56.61 in 2000)

200 meter butterfly: Liu Zige, China (2:04.18 in 2008)

200 meter Individual Medley: Stephanie Rice, Australia (2:08.45 in 2008)

400 meter Individual Medley: Stephanie Rice, Australia (4:29.45 in 2008)

4×100 Freestyle Relay: Netherlands, Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis (3:33.76 in 2008)

4×200 meter Freestyle Relay: Australia, Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer, Linda MacKenzie (7:44.31 in 2008)

4×100 meter Medley Relay: Australia, Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jess Schipper, Libby Lenton (3:52.69 in 2008)

Source: Beijing2008.