| Final 19:30 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec |  FRA | 49.28s | 6 | | 2. Pauline Davis-Thompson |  BAH | 49.96s | 5 | | 3. Jearl Miles-Clark |  USA | 50.00s | 3 | | 4. Cathy Freeman |  AUS | 50.60s | 4 | | 5. Fatima Yusuf |  NGR | 50.70s | 1 | | 6. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 50.77s | 8 | | 7. Maicel Malone-Wallace | USA | 50.99s | 7 | | 8. Sandie Richards |  JAM | 51.13s | 2 |
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| Heat 1 19.10h | time | L | | 1. Cathy Freeman | AUS | 50.49s | 6 | | 2. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 50.56s | 3 | | 3. Sandie Richards | JAM | 50.64s | 5 | | 4. Melanie Neef |  GBR | 51.18s | 4 | | 5. Yuliya Sotnikova |  RUS | 51.41s | 7 | | 6. Kim Graham | USA | 51.77s | 8 | | 7. Ximena Restrepo |  COL | 51.82s | 2 | | 8. Jing Li |  CHN | 53.46s | 1 |
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| Heat 2 19.18h | time | L | | 1. Pauline Davis-Thompson | BAH | 50.43s | 3 | | 2. Maicel Malone-Wallace | USA | 50.77s | 6 | | 3. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.00s | 4 | | 4. Sandra Myers |  ESP | 51.03s | 5 | | 5. Nancy McLeon |  CUB | 51.46s | 7 | | 6. Daniela Spasova-Georgieva |  BUL | 51.65s | 8 | | 7. Tatyana Chebykina | RUS | 51.67s | 2 | | 8. Claudine Williams | JAM | 52.99s | 1 |
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| Heat 3 19.26h | time | L | | 1. Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 50.39s | 3 | | 2. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 50.42s | 4 | | 3. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 50.85s | 5 | | 4. OlgaV. Nazarova | RUS | 51.83s | 1 | | 5. Julia Duporty | CUB | 51.85s | 8 | | 6. Uta Rohlander |  GER | 51.99s | 7 | | 7. Yelena Rurak |  UKR | 52.01s | 6 | | 8. Hengyun Zhang | CHN | 52.59s | 2 |
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| Heat 1 9.30h | time | L | | 1. Cathy Freeman | AUS | 51.29s | 2 | | 2. Melanie Neef | GBR | 51.39s | 3 | | 3. Tatyana Chebykina | RUS | 51.58s | 7 | | 4. Linda Kisabaka | GER | 51.96s | 5 | | 5. Idalmis Bonne | CUB | 52.10s | 6 | | 6. Zoila Stewart |  CRC | 53.48s | 8 | | 7. Pei-Chin Hsu |  TPE | 54.93s | 4 |
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| Heat 2 9.35h | time | L | | 1. Maicel Malone-Wallace | USA | 51.22s | 7 | | 2. Julia Duporty | CUB | 51.55s | 3 | | 3. OlgaV. Nazarova | RUS | 51.55s | 6 | | 4. Olabisi Afolabi | NGR | 51.79s | 4 | | 5. Grace Birungi |  UGA | 53.92s | 8 | | 6. Ngozi Mwanamwambwa |  ZAM | 53.92s | 5 | | 7. Xifang Lu | CHN | 56.64s | 2 |
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| Heat 3 9:40 | time | L | | 1. Marie-Jose Perec | FRA | 51.24s | 7 | | 2. Yuliya Sotnikova | RUS | 51.39s | 3 | | 3. Hengyun Zhang | CHN | 51.51s | 2 | | 4. Uta Rohla:nder | GER | 51.68s | 4 | | 5. Norfalia Carabali | COL | 51.96s | 5 | | 6. Oznur Dursun |  TUR | 54.21s | 8 | | -. Kannan Solaimathi |  IND | DNS | 6 |
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| Heat 4 9:45 | time | L | | 1. Sandra Myers | ESP | 51.18s | 6 | | 2. Pauline Davis-Thompson | BAH | 51.21s | 1 | | 3. Kim Graham | USA | 51.39s | 2 | | 4. Jing Li | CHN | 51.50s | 3 | | 5. Sandra Kuschmann | GER | 51.99s | 5 | | 6. Olga Moroz | UKR | 52.31s | 7 | | 7. Sharron Celecia |  GIB | 1:01.03 | 8 | | -. Kate Clarke |  LBR | DNS | 4 |
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| Heat 5 9.50h | time | L | | 1. Falilat Ogunkoya | NGR | 50.72s | 4 | | 2. Jearl Miles-Clark | USA | 50.94s | 5 | | 3. Claudine Williams | JAM | 51.32s | 3 | | 4. Nancy McLeon | CUB | 51.39s | 2 | | 5. Evelyne Elien | FRA | 53.34s | 8 | | 6. Mercy Addy |  GHA | 54.29s | 6 | | -. Bernice Morton |  STK | DQ | 7 |
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| Heat 6 9.55h | time | L | | 1. Sandie Richards | JAM | 51.30s | 5 | | 2. Yelena Rurak | UKR | 51.32s | 7 | | 3. Daniela Spasova-Georgieva | BUL | 51.37s | 4 | | 4. Helena Dziurova-Fuchsova |  CZE | 51.96s | 6 | | 5. Lee Naylor | AUS | 52.37s | 2 | | 6. Vernetta Lesforis |  STL | 56.43s | 1 | | 7. Mirna El-Laz |  LIB | 59.96s | 8 | | -. Francine Landre | FRA | DNF | 3 |
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| Heat 7 10.00h | time | L | | 1. Fatima Yusuf | NGR | 50.60s | 6 | | 2. Renee Poetschka | AUS | 51.26s | 4 | | 3. Ximena Restrepo | COL | 51.57s | 2 | | 4. Ludmila Formanova | CZE | 52.05s | 7 | | 5. Merlene Frazer | JAM | 52.24s | 3 | | 6. Dora Kyriakou |  CYP | 52.81s | 5 | | 7. Mary-Estelle Kapalu |  VAN | 53.92s | 1 | | 8. Bipendu Mbombo |  COD | 1:01.60 | 8 |
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