Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

Women's 800 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	London Aquatics Centre
Dates	August 2, 2012 (heats) August 3, 2012 (final)
Competitors	36 from 30 nations
Winning time	8:14.63 AM
Medalists
01 ! Katie Ledecky  United States 02 ! Mireia Belmonte García  Spain 03 ! Rebecca Adlington  Great Britain
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01 !		Katie Ledecky	United States
02 !		Mireia Belmonte García	Spain
03 !		Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 2–3 August at the London Aquatics Centre.

Aged only 15, American Katie Ledecky narrowly missed the world record on the final lap to recapture the Olympic title for the Americans since Brooke Bennett topped the podium in 2000. Strengthening her lead almost the entire race, she headed into the 750-metre turn under world-record pace, and pulled off a stunning upset from the rest of the field to post a personal best and smash Janet Evans' 23-year-old U.S. record in 8:14.63. Spain's Mireia Belmonte García added a second silver to her Olympic hardware in a national record of 8:18.76. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington, the reigning Olympic champion, tried to hold on with Ledecky earlier through the race, but faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze in 8:20.32.

New Zealand's Lauren Boyle produced a spectacular swim to finish with a fourth-place time and an Oceanian record in 8:22.72. Meanwhile, Denmark's Lotte Friis, the defending bronze medalist, opened up the race with an early lead, but dropped back to fifth in 8:23.86 to hold off a fast-charging Hungarian Boglárka Kapás (8:23.89) on the final lap by almost a fingertip. France's Coralie Balmy (8:29.26) and Venezuela's Andreina Pinto (8:29.28) rounded out the field in one of the program's long-distance pool races.

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.