Medalists
| Gold |
 Rebecca Adlington
Great Britain (GBR) |
| Silver |
 Katie Hoff
United States (USA) |
| Bronze |
Joanne Jackson
Great Britain (GBR) |
Records
| World Record |
Federica Pellegrini (ITA) |
4:01.53 |
Eindhoven, Netherlands |
24 March 2008 |
| Olympic Record |
Janet Evans (USA) |
4:03.85 |
Seoul, South Korea |
22 September 1988 |
Heats
| Rank |
Heat |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
4 |
Federica Pellegrini |
Italy |
4:02.19 |
Q, OR |
| 2 |
6 |
3 |
Rebecca Adlington |
Great Britain |
4:02.24 |
Q, CR |
| 3 |
5 |
4 |
Katie Hoff |
United States |
4:03.71 |
Q, OR |
| 4 |
5 |
4 |
Joanne Jackson |
Great Britain |
4:03.80 |
Q |
| 5 |
5 |
3 |
Bronte Barratt |
Australia |
4:04.16 |
Q, OC |
| 6 |
5 |
5 |
Coralie Balmy |
France |
4:04.25 |
Q |
| 7 |
4 |
6 |
Camelia Alina Potec |
Romania |
4:04.55 |
Q |
| 8 |
4 |
4 |
Laure Manaudou |
France |
4:04.93 |
Q |
| 9 |
4 |
5 |
Otylia Jedrzejczak |
Poland |
4:05.50 |
|
| 10 |
4 |
3 |
Linda Mackenzie |
Australia |
4:05.91 |
|
| 11 |
6 |
1 |
Stephanie Horner |
Canada |
4:07.45 |
|
| 12 |
5 |
2 |
Wendy Trott |
South Africa |
4:08.38 |
AF |
| 13 |
5 |
7 |
Lotte Friss |
Denmark |
4:08.47 |
|
| 14 |
6 |
5 |
Kate Ziegler |
United States |
4:09.59 |
|
| 14 |
6 |
7 |
Flavia Rigamonti |
Switzerland |
4:09.59 |
|
| 16 |
4 |
8 |
Joerdis Steinegger |
Austria |
4:09.72 |
|
| 17 |
6 |
2 |
Melissa Corfe |
South Africa |
4:10.54 |
|
| 18 |
5 |
1 |
Gabriella Fagundez |
Sweden |
4:11.40 |
|
| 19 |
4 |
1 |
Savannah King |
Canada |
4:11.49 |
|
| 20 |
3 |
3 |
Susana Escobar |
Mexico |
4:11.99 |
|
| 21 |
3 |
5 |
Monique Ferreira |
Brazil |
4:12.21 |
|
| 22 |
4 |
7 |
Miao Tan |
China |
4:12.35 |
|
| 23 |
4 |
2 |
Erika Villaecija |
Spain |
4:14.25 |
|
| 24 |
3 |
6 |
Hoi Shun Stephanie Au |
Hong Kong, China |
4:14.82 |
|
| 25 |
6 |
8 |
Jaana Ehmcke |
Germany |
4:15.15 |
|
| 26 |
5 |
8 |
Mo Li |
China |
4:15.50 |
|
| 27 |
3 |
2 |
Eleftheria Evgenia Efstathiou |
Greece |
4:15.78 |
|
| 28 |
3 |
4 |
Daria Belyakina |
Russia |
4:16.21 |
|
| 29 |
1 |
4 |
Boglarka Kapas |
Hungary |
4:16.22 |
|
| 30 |
3 |
1 |
Lynette Lim |
Singapore |
4:17.67 |
|
| 31 |
6 |
6 |
Ai Shibata |
Japan |
4:17.96 |
|
| 32 |
2 |
2 |
Yanel Andreina Pinto Perez |
Venezuela |
4:18.09 |
|
| 33 |
2 |
1 |
Nataliya Khudyakova |
Ukraine |
4:18.34 |
|
| 34 |
3 |
7 |
Cecilia Elizabeth Biagioli |
Argentina |
4:19.85 |
|
| 35 |
2 |
7 |
Eva Lehtonen |
Finland |
4:20.07 |
|
| 36 |
2 |
3 |
Kristina Lennox-Silva |
Puerto Rico |
4:20.17 |
|
| 37 |
2 |
6 |
Jieun Lee |
South Korea |
4:21.53 |
|
| 38 |
2 |
5 |
Cai Lin Khoo |
Malaysia |
4:23.37 |
|
| 39 |
2 |
4 |
Golda Marcus |
El Salvador |
4:23.50 |
|
| 40 |
3 |
8 |
Chin-Kuei Yang |
Chinese Taipei |
4:24.78 |
|
| 41 |
1 |
3 |
Shrone Austin |
Seychelles |
4:35.86 |
|
| 42 |
1 |
5 |
Natthanan Junkrajang |
Thailand |
DNS |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| |
5 |
Rebecca Adlington |
Great Britain |
4:03.22 |
|
| |
3 |
Katie Hoff |
United States |
4:03.29 |
|
| |
6 |
Joanne Jackson |
Great Britain |
4:03.52 |
|
| 4 |
7 |
Coralie Balmy |
France |
4:03.60 |
|
| 5 |
4 |
Federica Pellegrini |
Italy |
4:04.56 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Camelia Alina Potec |
Romania |
4:04.66 |
|
| 7 |
2 |
Bronte Barratt |
Australia |
4:05.05 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Laure Manaudou |
France |
4:11.26 |
|
New Records
| Date |
Round |
Athlete |
Nationality |
Record |
Type |
| August 10, 2008 |
Heat 5 |
Katie Hoff |
United States |
4:03.71 |
Olympic Record |
| August 10, 2008 |
Heat 5 |
Bronte Barratt |
Australia |
4:04.16 |
Oceania Record |
| August 10, 2008 |
Heat 5 |
Wendy Trott |
South Africa |
4:08.38 |
African Record |
| August 10, 2008 |
Heat 6 |
Federica Pellegrini |
Italy |
4:02.19 |
Olympic Record |
| August 10, 2008 |
Heat 6 |
Rebecca Adlington |
Great Britain |
4:02.24 |
Commonwealth Record |
|
