Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 400 metre individual medley
The women's 400 metre individual medley event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 20 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.Results
Heats
Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A, while the next eight to final B.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Krisztina Egerszegi | | 4:43.09 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | Emma Johnson | | 4:43.45 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Michelle Smith | | 4:43.79 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Allison Wagner | | 4:44.06 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | Beatrice Căşlaru | | 4:44.66 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 2 | Whitney Metzler | | 4:44.74 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | Sabine Herbst | | 4:45.36 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 7 | Lourdes Becerra | | 4:45.54 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Joanne Malar | | 4:47.85 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 3 | Fumie Kurotori | | 4:48.51 | q |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | Nancy Sweetnam | | 4:48.56 | q |
| 12 | 3 | 7 | Hideko Hiranaka | | 4:49.32 | q |
| 13 | 4 | 2 | Hana Černá | | 4:49.43 | q, NR |
| 14 | 2 | 6 | Elli Overton | | 4:49.82 | q |
| 15 | 3 | 1 | Pavla Chrástová | | 4:51.35 | q |
| 16 | 1 | 4 | Yseult Gervy | | 4:53.11 | q, NR |
| 17 | 3 | 4 | Chen Yan | | 4:53.87 | |
| 18 | 2 | 4 | Wu Yanyan | | 4:54.07 | |
| 19 | 4 | 8 | Sarah Hardcastle | | 4:54.64 | |
| 20 | 3 | 8 | Britta Vestergaard | | 4:55.03 | |
| 21 | 3 | 6 | Cathleen Rund | | 4:55.30 | |
| 22 | 1 | 7 | Carolyn Adel | | 4:55.48 | NR |
| 23 | 1 | 5 | Mirjana Boševska | | 4:55.57 | |
| 24 | 2 | 2 | Anna Wilson | | 4:55.72 | |
| 25 | 1 | 1 | Aikaterini Sarakatsani | | 4:56.32 | NR |
| 26 | 4 | 6 | Darya Shmeleva | | 4:57.06 | |
| 27 | 1 | 3 | Praphalsai Minpraphal | | 4:58.33 | |
| 28 | 1 | 2 | Lee Ji-hyun | | 4:59.52 | |
| 29 | 1 | 6 | Hsieh Shu-tzu | | 5:01.70 | |
| 30 | 2 | 8 | Martina Nemec | | 5:02.52 | |
| 31 | 2 | 1 | Nadège Cliton | | 5:06.46 | |
Finals
Final B
Final A
