100 metres Freestyle, Women

This was the first final of the 1984 Olympic swimming program and it was greatly affected by the results of the men’s 400 individual medley at the 1972 Olympics. In that event, Sweden’s Gunnar Larsson and American Tim McKee seemingly tied in 4:31.98, but the electronic timer broke that tie, giving the Swede the gold by a margin of 2/1000ths of a second. It was decided after that race, that this was too close, as the margin could be affected by irregularities in the paint on a lane, so all swimming races since 1972 that were tied to the 1/100th would be considered ties.

The early leader in the final of this race was Dutchwoman Annemarie Verstappen, who was ahead at the turn. In the final 50 metres the Americans Carrie Steinseifer and Nancy Hogshead passed her and came to the wall together, literally together. They both finished in 55.92, although the scoreboard initially showed Steinseifer as the winner, but that was quickly changed to a tie for first between Steinseifer and Hogshead.