| Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | ||||||||||||
| Date | September 20, 2000 (heats & semifinals) September 21, 2000 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 36 from 30 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 2:24.35 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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.[1]
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.[2][3] 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).[4][5]
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.[5]
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.[6] Shortly after the Games, she made a decision to officially announce her retirement from international swimming.[7][8]
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).[6] Following by an evening session, she eventually lowered it to 2:24.03 in the semifinals.[9][10]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | 2:23.64 | Sydney, Australia | 27 August 1999 | [11] | |
| Olympic record | 2:25.41 | Atlanta, United States | 23 July 1996 | [11] |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September | Heat 5 | Ágnes Kovács | 2:24.92 | OR | |
| 20 September | Semifinal 1 | Ágnes Kovács | 2:24.03 | OR |
Results
Heats
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 5 | Ágnes Kovács | 2:24.92 | Q, OR | |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Kristy Kowal | 2:26.73 | Q | |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Qi Hui | 2:26.76 | Q | |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Karine Brémond | 2:27.13 | Q, NR | |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | Masami Tanaka | 2:27.39 | Q | |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | Beatrice Căslaru | 2:27.59 | Q, WD | |
| 7 | 4 | 6 | Caroline Hildreth | 2:27.60 | Q | |
| 8 | 3 | 3 | Amanda Beard | 2:27.83 | Q | |
| 9 | 3 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | 2:27.84 | Q | |
| 10 | 5 | 3 | Olga Bakaldina | 2:28.19 | Q | |
| 11 | 4 | 8 | Ku Hyo-jin | 2:28.21 | Q, NR | |
| 12 | 4 | 7 | Rebecca Brown | 2:28.24 | Q | |
| 13 | 5 | 6 | Luo Xuejuan | 2:28.43 | Q | |
| 14 | 5 | 1 | Christin Petelski | 2:29.11 | Q | |
| 15 | 3 | 6 | Anne Poleska | 2:29.15 | Q | |
| 16 | 5 | 7 | Alicja Pęczak | 2:29.45 | Q | |
| 17 | 5 | 2 | Junko Isoda | 2:29.60 | Q | |
| 18 | 3 | 2 | Ina Hüging | 2:30.00 | ||
| 19 | 4 | 1 | Elvira Fischer | 2:30.05 | ||
| 20 | 5 | 4 | Penny Heyns | 2:30.17 | ||
| 21 | 3 | 1 | Brigitte Becue | 2:31.27 | ||
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Agata Czaplicki | 2:32.98 | ||
| 23 | 3 | 7 | Jaime King | 2:33.10 | ||
| 24 | 2 | 8 | İlkay Dikmen | 2:33.34 | NR | |
| 25 | 1 | 5 | Isabel Ceballos | 2:34.09 | ||
| 26 | 2 | 4 | Inna Nikitina | 2:34.20 | ||
| 27 | 2 | 2 | Siow Yi Ting | 2:34.52 | NR | |
| 28 | 2 | 3 | Margarita Kalmikova | 2:35.69 | ||
| 29 | 2 | 5 | Adriana Marmolejo | 2:36.93 | ||
| 30 | 2 | 7 | Nicolette Teo | 2:37.39 | ||
| 31 | 1 | 4 | Jenny Rose Guerrero | 2:38.10 | ||
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Íris Edda Heimisdóttir | 2:38.52 | ||
| 33 | 1 | 3 | Olga Moltchanova | 2:41.43 | ||
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez | 2:41.97 | ||
| 35 | 1 | 6 | Anastasiya Korolyova | 2:43.23 | ||
| 3 | 8 | Lourdes Becerra | DNS |
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kristy Kowal | 2:25.46 | Q | |
| 2 | 6 | Sarah Poewe | 2:25.54 | Q | |
| 3 | 7 | Luo Xuejuan | 2:25.86 | Q | |
| 4 | 5 | Karine Brémond | 2:27.86 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Caroline Hildreth | 2:28.30 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Ku Hyo-Jin | 2:28.50 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Anne Poleska | 2:28.99 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Junko Isoda | 2:31.71 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Ágnes Kovács | 2:24.03 | Q, OR | |
| 2 | 5 | Qi Hui | 2:24.21 | Q, NR | |
| 3 | 2 | Olga Bakaldina | 2:25.41 | Q, NR | |
| 4 | 3 | Masami Tanaka | 2:26.24 | Q | |
| 5 | 6 | Amanda Beard | 2:26.62 | Q | |
| 6 | 1 | Christin Petelski | 2:29.43 | ||
| 7 | 7 | Rebecca Brown | 2:29.90 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Alicja Pęczak | 2:30.02 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Ágnes Kovács | 2:24.35 | |||
| 6 | Kristy Kowal | 2:24.56 | AM | ||
| 8 | Amanda Beard | 2:25.35 | |||
| 4 | 5 | Qi Hui | 2:25.36 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Olga Bakaldina | 2:25.47 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Sarah Poewe | 2:25.72 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Masami Tanaka | 2:26.98 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Luo Xuejuan | 2:27.33 |
References
- ^ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Back again: American Krayzelburg wins 200-meter backstroke". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 18 September 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ Morrissey, Rick (22 September 2000). "Krayzelburg's Gold Leads U.S. Bonanza". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (21 September 2000). "Olympic Day 6 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Calling it quits". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 29 March 2001. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ Lord, Craig (20 September 2000). "Heyns Retires". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 5 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
- ^ "Sydney 2000: Notebook; Krayzelburg Favored; Thompson a Long Shot". New York Times. 20 September 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
- ^ a b c "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Breaststroke Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 269–270. Retrieved 19 June 2013.