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

Event:	Women's 200 metre breaststroke
Games:	2000 Summer
Venue:	Sydney International Aquatic Centre
Date:	September 20, 2000 (heats &<br />semifinals) September 21, 2000 (final)
Competitors:	36
Nations:	30
Win Value:	2:24.35
Gold:	Ágnes Kovács
Goldnoc:	HUN
Silver:	Kristy Kowal
Silvernoc:	USA
Bronze:	Amanda Beard
Bronzenoc:	USA
Prev:	1996

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:

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

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
20 September	Heat 5		align=left		2:24.92
20 September	Semifinal 1		align=left		2:24.03

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Notes
1	5	5	2:24.92	Q,
2	3	4	2:26.73	Q
3	4	5	2:26.76	Q
4	4	2	2:27.13	Q, NR
5	4	4	2:27.39	Q
6	4	3	2:27.59	Q,
7	4	6	2:27.60	Q
8	3	3	2:27.83	Q
9	3	5	2:27.84	Q
10	5	3	2:28.19	Q
11	4	8	2:28.21	Q, NR
12	4	7	2:28.24	Q
13	5	6	2:28.43	Q
14	5	1	2:29.11	Q
15	3	6	2:29.15	Q
16	5	7	2:29.45	Q
17	5	2	2:29.60	Q
18	3	2	2:30.00
19	4	1	2:30.05
20	5	4	2:30.17
21	3	1	2:31.27
22	5	8	2:32.98
23	3	7	2:33.10
24	2	8	2:33.34	NR
25	1	5	2:34.09
26	2	4	2:34.20
27	2	2	2:34.52	NR
28	2	3	2:35.69
29	2	5	2:36.93
30	2	7	2:37.39
31	1	4	2:38.10
32	2	6	2:38.52
33	1	3	2:41.43
34	2	1	2:41.97
35	1	6	2:43.23
	3	8

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	2:25.46	Q
2	6	2:25.54	Q
3	7	2:25.86	Q
4	5	2:27.86
5	3	2:28.30
6	2	2:28.50
7	1	2:28.99
8	8	2:31.71

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	2:24.03	Q,, NR
2	5	2:24.21	Q, NR
3	2	2:25.41	Q, NR
4	3	2:26.24	Q
5	6	2:26.62	Q
6	1	2:29.43
7	7	2:29.90
8	8	2:30.02

Final

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
	4	2:24.35
	6	2:24.56	AM
	8	2:25.35
4	5	2:25.36
5	3	2:25.47
6	2	2:25.72
7	1	2:26.98
8	7	2:27.33

External links

Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

Web site: Swimming schedule . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. 14 May 2013.
News: Berlin. Peter. De Bruijn Takes Second Gold; Hungarian and Italian Also Triumph : European Swimmers Steal the Show. New York Times. 22 September 2000. 2 June 2013.
News: Back again: American Krayzelburg wins 200-meter backstroke. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 18 September 2000. 19 June 2013.
News: Morrissey. Rick. Krayzelburg's Gold Leads U.S. Bonanza. Chicago Tribune. 22 September 2000. 19 June 2013.
News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 6 Finals. Swimming World Magazine. 21 September 2000. 23 May 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120902050655/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1813.asp. 2 September 2012.
News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 5 Prelims. Swimming World Magazine. 20 September 2000. 19 June 2013. dead. https://archive.today/20130624172243/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1805.asp. 24 June 2013.
News: Calling it quits. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 29 March 2001. 19 June 2013.
News: Lord. Craig. Heyns Retires. Swimming World Magazine. 20 September 2000. 19 June 2013.
News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 5 Finals. Swimming World Magazine. 19 September 2000. 4 June 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154751/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1804.asp. 30 September 2007.
News: Sydney 2000: Notebook; Krayzelburg Favored; Thompson a Long Shot. New York Times. 20 September 2000. 19 June 2013.