Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games:

Missy Franklin (USA) had won the 2011 World Championships at 200 metres and the US Olympic Trials in both backstrokes, but Australian Emily Seebohm had been best in the preliminaries in London, setting an Olympic record of 58.23 in her heat. Franklin swam this final only 12 minutes after she left the pool from her 200 freestyle semi-final, in which she placed fourth in her heat. Because of the close time between races she was allowed to cool down in the diving warm-down pool before this final.

Seebohm led out the final, turning 0.14 seconds ahead of world record pace, but Franklin stayed close. She took the lead only a few strokes from the finish and won the gold medal in an American record 58.33, with Seebohm second. Japan's Aya Terakawa won the bronze in an Asian record 58.83. The final was very close with the top seven finishers within one second of each other, with Franklin's winning time ranking fourth all-time. This was Franklin's second medal of the 2012 Olympics, after the 4x100 free relay, but she would eventually win five medals and four gold medals in London.