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

Event:	Women's 200-metre freestyle
Games:	2000 Summer
Venue:	Sydney International Aquatic Centre
Date:	18 September 2000 (heats &<br />semi-finals) 19 September 2000 (final)
Competitors:	41
Nations:	35
Win Value:	1:58.24
Gold:	Susie O'Neill
Goldnoc:	AUS
Silver:	Martina Moravcová
Silvernoc:	SVK
Bronze:	Claudia Poll
Bronzenoc:	CRC
Prev:	1996
Next:	2004

The women's 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney.^[1]

Australia's overwhelming favorite Susie O'Neill, dubbed as Madame Butterfly, gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate, as she claimed the gold medal in the event. Rocketed to the boisterous chants of "Susie, Susie" by her swimming fans, O'Neill held off a challenge from Slovakia's Martina Moravcová to strengthen her lead on the final lap before hitting the wall first in 1:58.24.^{[2] [3]} Moravcova trailed behind by a small fraction of a second to capture another silver at these Games in 1:58.32, while Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, defending Olympic champion, added a second bronze to her hardware from the 400 m freestyle, in a sterling time of 1:58.81.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Russia's Nadezhda Chemezova and Germany's Kerstin Kielgass tied for fourth place in a matching time of 1:58.86, finishing off the podium by just five-hundredths of a second (0.05). Belarus' Natalya Baranovskaya pulled off a sixth-place finish in a national record of 1:59.28, while Romania's Camelia Potec (1:59.46) and China's Wang Luna (1:59.55) closed out the field.^[6]

Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring world-record holder Franziska van Almsick, who faded shortly on the final lap and finished eleventh in the semi-finals; South Africa's Helene Muller, who posted a second-fastest prelims time (1:59.89) earlier but ended up only in ninth; and American duo Lindsay Benko and Rada Owen, both of whom earned a twelfth and a sixteenth spot, respectively.^[7]

Shortly after the Games, O'Neill announced her retirement from swimming, and was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission, along with ten other athletes.^{[8] [9]}

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	6	4			1:59.14	Q
2	4	2			1:59.89	Q, AF
3	5	4			2:00.11	Q
4	6	5			2:00.13	Q
5	4	4			2:00.18	Q
6	6	6			2:00.25	Q
7	5	5			2:00.37	Q
8	4	5			2:00.46	Q
9	5	6			2:00.47	Q
10	4	3			2:00.58	Q
11	6	1			2:00.60	Q
12	6	3			2:00.89	Q
13	5	3			2:00.99	Q
14	4	8			2:01.05	Q, NR
15	5	7			2:01.10	Q
16	4	1			2:01.31	Q
17	5	2			2:01.34
18	6	2			2:01.42
	4	7
20	4	6			2:01.46
21	3	1			2:01.93	NR
22	5	1			2:02.15
23	6	8			2:02.69
24	5	8			2:03.37
25	3	2			2:04.06
26	3	5			2:04.39
27	2	5			2:05.22
28	3	4			2:05.24
29	2	6			2:05.58
30	3	8			2:05.88
31	3	3			2:05.90
32	3	6			2:06.12
33	3	7			2:07.21
34	2	7			2:07.61
35	2	3			2:08.08
36	2	2			2:08.30
37	1	4			2:08.89
38	1	5			2:15.83
39	1	3			2:18.78
	2	4
	6	7

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	6			1:59.75	Q
2	3			1:59.78	Q
3	2			1:59.90	Q, NR
4	7			1:59.97	Q
5	4			2:00.04
6	8			2:00.07
7	5			2:00.27
8	1			2:00.60

Semi-final 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4			1:59.37	Q
2	3			1:59.54	Q
3	5			1:59.63	Q
4	2			1:59.69	Q
5	6			2:00.26
6	1			2:00.84
7	7			2:00.88
8	8			2:03.34

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4			1:58.24
	2			1:58.32
	3			1:58.81
4	6			1:58.86
	7
6	1			1:59.28	NR
7	5			1:59.46
8	8			1:59.55

External links

• Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

1. Web site: Swimming schedule . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. 14 May 2013.
2. News: O'Neill strikes gold for Australia. BBC Sport. 19 September 2000. 15 June 2013.
3. News: Aussies rule relays. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 20 September 2000. 15 June 2013.
4. News: Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly. https://archive.today/20130615050120/http://www.canoe.ca/2000GamesSwimming/sep18_mal.html. usurped. 15 June 2013. Canoe.ca. 18 September 2000. 28 May 2013.
5. News: Longman. Jere. Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall. The New York Times. 20 September 2000. 8 June 2013.
6. News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 4 Finals. Swimming World. 19 September 2000. 8 June 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154751/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1804.asp. 30 September 2007. dmy-all.
7. News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 3 Finals (100 Breast, 100 Back M, 100 Back W, 200 Free). Swimming World. 18 September 2000. 23 May 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154738/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1799.asp. 30 September 2007. dmy-all.
8. News: Susie O'Neill Hangs Up Her Swim Suit. Swimming World. 23 November 2000. 16 June 2013.
9. News: Swimming star O'Neill retires. BBC Sport. 22 November 2000. 15 June 2013.