Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
VenueSydney International Aquatic Centre
DateSeptember 20, 2000 (heats &
semifinals)
September 21, 2000 (final)
Competitors36 from 30 nations
Winning time2:24.35
Medalists
Ágnes Kovács  Hungary
Kristy Kowal  United States
Amanda Beard  United States
← 1996
2004 →
Swimming at the
2000 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen
4 × 200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4 × 100 mmenwomen

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

Charging back from third at the 150-metre turn, Hungary's Ágnes Kovács edged out U.S. swimmer Kristy Kowal on the final stretch to capture the gold in 2:24.35. Kowal, who seized off a powerful lead from the start, took home the silver in a new American record of 2:24.56. Her teammate Amanda Beard, silver medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, gave the Americans a further reason to celebrate as she enjoyed the race to move up from eighth after the semifinals for the bronze in 2:25.35, holding off a fast-pacing Qi Hui of China (2:25.36) by a hundredth of a second (0.01).

Qi was followed in fifth by Russia's Olga Bakaldina (2:25.47) and in sixth by South Africa's Sarah Poewe (2:25.72), fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke. Japan's Masami Tanaka (2:26.98) and Qi's teammate Luo Xuejuan (2:27.33) closed out the field.

World record holder Penny Heyns missed a chance to defend her Olympic title in the event, after helplessly winding up a twentieth-place effort in the prelims at 2:30.17. Shortly after the Games, she made a decision to officially announce her retirement from international swimming.

Earlier, Kovacs established a new Olympic standard of 2:24.92 on the morning prelims to clear a 2:25-barrier and cut off Heyns' record by almost half a second (0.50). Following by an evening session, she eventually lowered it to 2:24.03 in the semifinals.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World record  Penny Heyns (RSA) 2:23.64 Sydney, Australia 27 August 1999
Olympic record  Penny Heyns (RSA) 2:25.41 Atlanta, United States 23 July 1996

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
20 September Heat 5 Ágnes Kovács  Hungary 2:24.92 OR
20 September Semifinal 1 Ágnes Kovács  Hungary 2:24.03 OR

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 5 Ágnes Kovács  Hungary 2:24.92 Q, OR
2 3 4 Kristy Kowal  United States 2:26.73 Q
3 4 5 Qi Hui  China 2:26.76 Q
4 4 2 Karine Brémond  France 2:27.13 Q, NR
5 4 4 Masami Tanaka  Japan 2:27.39 Q
6 4 3 Beatrice Câșlaru  Romania 2:27.59 Q, WD
7 4 6 Caroline Hildreth  Australia 2:27.60 Q
8 3 3 Amanda Beard  United States 2:27.83 Q
9 3 5 Sarah Poewe  South Africa 2:27.84 Q
10 5 3 Olga Bakaldina  Russia 2:28.19 Q
11 4 8 Ku Hyo-jin  South Korea 2:28.21 Q, NR
12 4 7 Rebecca Brown  Australia 2:28.24 Q
13 5 6 Luo Xuejuan  China 2:28.43 Q
14 5 1 Christin Petelski  Canada 2:29.11 Q
15 3 6 Anne Poleska  Germany 2:29.15 Q
16 5 7 Alicja Pęczak  Poland 2:29.45 Q
17 5 2 Junko Isoda  Japan 2:29.60 Q
18 3 2 Ina Hüging  Germany 2:30.00
19 4 1 Elvira Fischer  Austria 2:30.05
20 5 4 Penny Heyns  South Africa 2:30.17
21 3 1 Brigitte Becue  Belgium 2:31.27
22 5 8 Agata Czaplicki  Switzerland 2:32.98
23 3 7 Jaime King  Great Britain 2:33.10
24 2 8 İlkay Dikmen  Turkey 2:33.34 NR
25 1 5 Isabel Ceballos  Colombia 2:34.09
26 2 4 Inna Nikitina  Ukraine 2:34.20
27 2 2 Siow Yi Ting  Malaysia 2:34.52 NR
28 2 3 Margarita Kalmikova  Latvia 2:35.69
29 2 5 Adriana Marmolejo  Mexico 2:36.93
30 2 7 Nicolette Teo  Singapore 2:37.39
31 1 4 Jenny Rose Guerrero  Philippines 2:38.10
32 2 6 Íris Edda Heimisdóttir  Iceland 2:38.52
33 1 3 Olga Moltchanova  Kyrgyzstan 2:41.43
34 2 1 Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez  Cuba 2:41.97
35 1 6 Anastasiya Korolyova  Uzbekistan 2:43.23
3 8 Lourdes Becerra  Spain DNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Kristy Kowal  United States 2:25.46 Q
2 6 Sarah Poewe  South Africa 2:25.54 Q
3 7 Luo Xuejuan  China 2:25.86 Q
4 5 Karine Brémond  France 2:27.86
5 3 Caroline Hildreth  Australia 2:28.30
6 2 Ku Hyo-Jin  South Korea 2:28.50
7 1 Anne Poleska  Germany 2:28.99
8 8 Junko Isoda  Japan 2:31.71

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Ágnes Kovács  Hungary 2:24.03 Q, OR, NR
2 5 Qi Hui  China 2:24.21 Q, NR
3 2 Olga Bakaldina  Russia 2:25.41 Q, NR
4 3 Masami Tanaka  Japan 2:26.24 Q
5 6 Amanda Beard  United States 2:26.62 Q
6 1 Christin Petelski  Canada 2:29.43
7 7 Rebecca Brown  Australia 2:29.90
8 8 Alicja Pęczak  Poland 2:30.02

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
4 Ágnes Kovács  Hungary 2:24.35
6 Kristy Kowal  United States 2:24.56 AM
8 Amanda Beard  United States 2:25.35
4 5 Qi Hui  China 2:25.36
5 3 Olga Bakaldina  Russia 2:25.47
6 2 Sarah Poewe  South Africa 2:25.72
7 1 Masami Tanaka  Japan 2:26.98
8 7 Luo Xuejuan  China 2:27.33

References

  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ Berlin, Peter (22 September 2000). "De Bruijn Takes Second Gold; Hungarian and Italian Also Triumph : European Swimmers Steal the Show". New York Times. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Back again: American Krayzelburg wins 200-meter backstroke". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on April 28, 2001. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  4. ^ Morrissey, Rick (22 September 2000). "Krayzelburg's Gold Leads U.S. Bonanza". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  5. ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (21 September 2000). "Olympic Day 6 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  6. ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (20 September 2000). "Olympic Day 5 Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Calling it quits". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 29 March 2001. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  8. ^ Lord, Craig (20 September 2000). "Heyns Retires". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  9. ^ Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 5 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  10. ^ "Sydney 2000: Notebook; Krayzelburg Favored; Thompson a Long Shot". New York Times. 20 September 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  11. ^ a b c "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Breaststroke Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 269–270. Retrieved 19 June 2013.