Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle
# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place between 20–21 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

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

| World record | Janet Evans (USA) | 8:17.12 | Orlando, United States | 22 March 1988 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Tiffany Cohen (USA) | 8:24.96 | Los Angeles, United States | 3 August 1984 |

The following records were established during the competition:

| Date | Round | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 24 September | Final A | Janet Evans | United States | 8:20.20 | OR |

## Results

### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q).

| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | Astrid Strauss | East Germany | 8:28.07 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Janet Evans | United States | 8:28.13 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Julie McDonald | Australia | 8:29.68 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Anke Möhring | East Germany | 8:30.95 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Tami Bruce | United States | 8:31.57 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Janelle Elford | Australia | 8:32.14 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 8:34.56 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Antoaneta Strumenlieva | Bulgaria | 8:35.40 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Debby Wurzburger | Canada | 8:36.24 | |
| 10 | 4 | Irene Dalby | Norway | 8:38.33 | |
| 11 | 4 | Tomomi Hosoda | Japan | 8:39.55 | |
| 12 | 2 | Manuela Melchiorri | Italy | 8:40.63 | |
| 13 | 2 | Karyn Faure | France | 8:41.64 | |
| 14 | 3 | Stephanie Ortwig | West Germany | 8:41.95 | |
| 15 | 4 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 8:43.19 | |
| 16 | 3 | Karen Mellor | Great Britain | 8:44.64 | |
| 17 | 2 | Alexandra Russ | West Germany | 8:49.31 | |
| 18 | 4 | Pernille Jensen | Denmark | 8:50.82 | |
| 19 | 4 | Nurul Huda Abdullah | Malaysia | 8:50.84 | |
| 20 | 3 | Christelle Janssens | Belgium | 8:51.22 | |
| 21 | 1 | Patrícia Amorim | Brazil | 8:51.95 | |
| 22 | 2 | Eva Mortensen | Denmark | 8:53.67 | |
| 23 | 3 | Judit Csabai | Hungary | 8:56.37 | |
| 24 | 2 | Cécile Prunier | France | 8:57.22 | |
| 25 | 1 | Tracey Atkin | Great Britain | 9:00.04 | |
| 26 | 4 | Yan Ming | China | 9:00.81 | |
| 27 | 1 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | 9:04.62 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 5 | Janet Evans | United States | 8:20.20 | OR |
| | 4 | Astrid Strauss | East Germany | 8:22.09 | |
| | 3 | Julie McDonald | Australia | 8:22.93 | OC |
| 4 | 6 | Anke Möhring | East Germany | 8:23.09 | |
| 5 | 2 | Tami Bruce | United States | 8:30.86 | |
| 6 | 7 | Janelle Elford | Australia | 8:30.94 | |
| 7 | 1 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 8:37.47 | |
| 8 | 8 | Antoaneta Strumenlieva | Bulgaria | 8:41.05 | |
