Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre freestyle
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Olympic event Template:Sidebar games events
The women's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 15.<ref name="Swimming schedule">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
France's Laure Manaudou won the gold medal in this event, with a European record time of 4:05.34. The silver medal was awarded to Poland's Otylia Jędrzejczak, who finished behind Manaudou by half a second (0.50), in an outstanding time of 4:05.84. U.S. swimmer Kaitlin Sandeno, who earned a silver in the 400 m individual medley on the previous day, fought off a challenge from Romania's Camelia Potec in the final lap to take a bronze by two tenths of a second (0.20), clocking at 4:06.19.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.Template:Citation needed
Results
Heats
Final
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Gold01 | 4 | Laure Manaudou | Template:FlagIOC | 4:05.34 | EU |
| Template:Silver02 | 5 | Otylia Jędrzejczak | Template:FlagIOC | 4:05.84 | |
| Template:Bronze03 | 7 | Kaitlin Sandeno | Template:FlagIOC | 4:06.19 | |
| 4 | 3 | Camelia Potec | Template:FlagIOC | 4:06.34 | |
| 5 | 6 | Ai Shibata | Template:FlagIOC | 4:07.51 | |
| 6 | 8 | Sachiko Yamada | Template:FlagIOC | 4:10.91 | |
| 7 | 1 | Linda Mackenzie | Template:FlagIOC | 4:10.92 | |
| 8 | 2 | Rebecca Cooke | Template:FlagIOC | 4:11.35 |