Medalists
| Gold |
 Rebecca Adlington
Great Britain (GBR) |
| Silver |
 Alessia Filippi
Italy (ITA) |
| Bronze |
 Lotte Friis
Denmark (DEN) |
Records
| World Record |
Janet Evans (USA) |
8:16.22 |
Tokyo, Japan |
20 August 1989 |
| Olympic Record |
Brooke Bennett (USA) |
8:19.67 |
Sydney, Australia |
22 September 2000 |
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Au Hoi Shun Stephanie |
Hong Kong, China |
8:41.66 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Golda Marcus |
El Salvador |
8:51.21 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
Eva Lehtonen |
Finland |
8:53.50 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Karolina Paulina Szczepaniak |
Poland |
9:08.87 |
|
Heat 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Susana Escobar |
Mexico |
8:33.51 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Kristel Köbrich |
Chile |
8:34.25 |
|
| 3 |
1 |
Joerdis Steinegger |
Austria |
8:36.40 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Gabriella Fagundez |
Sweden |
8:39.06 |
|
| 5 |
6 |
Reka Nagy |
Hungary |
8:40.38 |
|
| 6 |
8 |
Lynette Lim |
Singapore |
8:45.56 |
|
| 7 |
2 |
Cecilia Elizabeth Biagioli |
Argentina |
8:50.18 |
|
| 8 |
7 |
Cai Lin Khoo |
Malaysia |
9:04.86 |
|
Heat 3
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Camelia Alina Potec |
Romania |
8:19.70 |
Q |
| 2 |
6 |
Li Xuanxu |
China |
8:24.37 |
Q |
| 3 |
4 |
Katie Hoff |
United States |
8:27.78 |
|
| 4 |
3 |
Flavia Rigamonti |
Switzerland |
8:28.67 |
|
| 5 |
8 |
Andreina del Valle Pinto Perez |
Venezuela |
8:30.30 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Maiko Fujino |
Japan |
8:35.60 |
|
| 7 |
7 |
Tanya Hunks |
Canada |
8:38.05 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Federica Pellegrini |
Italy |
DNS |
|
Heat 4
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Rebecca Adlington |
Great Britain |
8:18.06 |
Q, OR |
| 2 |
2 |
Lotte Friis |
Denmark |
8:21.74 |
Q |
| 3 |
3 |
Kylie Palmer |
Australia |
8:22.81 |
Q, OC |
| 4 |
1 |
Wendy Trott |
South Africa |
8:26.21 |
AF |
| 5 |
7 |
You Meihong |
China |
8:31.11 |
|
| 6 |
6 |
Jaana Ehmcke |
Germany |
8:39.51 |
|
| 7 |
5 |
Ai Shibata |
Japan |
8:41.63 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Eleftheria Evgenia Efstathiou |
Greece |
8:41.65 |
|
Heat 5
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Alessia Filippi |
Italy |
8:21.95 |
Q |
| 2 |
1 |
Elena Sokolova |
Russia |
8:23.07 |
Q |
| 3 |
7 |
Cassandra Patten |
Great Britain |
8:25.91 |
Q |
| 4 |
4 |
Kate Ziegler |
United States |
8:26.98 |
|
| 5 |
6 |
Coralie Balmy |
France |
8:28.34 |
|
| 6 |
3 |
Erika Villaecija |
Spain |
8:32.27 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Melissa Gorman |
Australia |
8:32.34 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Sophie Huber |
France |
8:33.76 |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Rebecca Adlington |
Great Britain |
8:14.10 |
WR |
| 2 |
6 |
Alessia Filippi |
Italy |
8:20.23 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
Lotte Friis |
Denmark |
8:23.03 |
|
| 4 |
5 |
Camelia Alina Potec |
Romania |
8:23.11 |
|
| 5 |
1 |
Li Xuanxu |
China |
8:26.34 |
|
| 6 |
2 |
Kylie Palmer |
Australia |
8:26.39 |
|
| 7 |
7 |
Elena Sokolova |
Russia |
8:29.79 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Cassandra Patten |
Great Britain |
8:32.35 |
|
|
