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

Event:	Women's 200 metre backstroke
Games:	2000 Summer
Venue:	Sydney International Aquatic Centre
Date:	September 21, 2000 (heats &<br />semifinals) September 22, 2000 (final)
Competitors:	36
Nations:	29
Win Value:	2:08.16
Gold:	Diana Mocanu
Goldnoc:	ROM
Silver:	Roxana Maracineanu
Silvernoc:	FRA
Bronze:	Miki Nakao
Bronzenoc:	JPN
Prev:	1996
Next:	2004

The women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 21–22 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.^[1]

Diana Mocanu emerged as a newcomer on the international swimming, after effortlessly winning her second gold at these Games. She maintained a lead from start to finish, and posted a new Romanian record of 2:08.16, the third-fastest of all time, making her the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to strike a backstroke double, since Ulrike Richter did so in 1976, Rica Reinisch in 1980, and Krisztina Egerszegi, the three-time champion in the event, in 1992.^[2] ^[3] France's world champion Roxana Maracineanu, born with Romanian heritage, seized off an early lead on the first length, but fell short only for the silver in 2:10.25. Japan's Miki Nakao powered home with the bronze in 2:11.05 to hold off her fast-pacing teammate Tomoko Hagiwara (2:11.21) by 16-hundredths of a second.^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

U.S. swimmer Amanda Adkins improved a lifetime best of 2:12.35 to move herself up from seventh to fifth spot on the final half, finishing ahead of Spain's Nina Zhivanevskaya (2:12.75), the bronze medalist in the 100 m backstroke five days earlier, by four-tenths of a second (0.40). Meanwhile, Germany's Antje Buschschulte (2:13.31) and Canada's Kelly Stefanyshyn (2:14.57) rounded out the finale.^[6]

Records

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

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Time	Notes
1	3	5	2:09.21	Q, NR
2	5	3	2:11.01	Q, NR
3	5	4	2:11.60	Q
4	4	4	2:11.69	Q
5	3	4	2:12.15	Q
6	4	6	2:12.72	Q
7	4	3	2:12.99	Q
8	5	5	2:13.42	Q
9	5	6	2:13.54	Q
10	5	7	2:13.61	Q, NR
11	3	3	2:13.87	Q
12	4	5	2:14.18	Q
13	3	6	2:14.28	Q
14	3	2	2:14.61	Q
15	3	7	2:14.78	Q
16	3	1	2:15.10	Q
17	2	2	2:15.86	NR
18	4	7	2:15.97
19	4	1	2:16.13
20	4	8	2:16.22
21	2	4	2:16.23
22	5	8	2:16.67
23	5	1	2:16.71
24	4	2	2:17.05
25	2	5	2:18.07
26	2	3	2:19.35
27	2	8	2:19.37	NR
28	2	6	2:20.40
29	2	7	2:21.28
30	2	1	2:21.59
31	1	5	2:22.59
32	1	3	2:24.33
33	1	6	2:24.61
34	1	4	2:25.42
35	3	8	2:26.42
	5	2

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	2:11.93	Q
2	5	2:12.49	Q
3	6	2:12.64	Q
4	3	2:13.73
5	7	2:14.24
6	1	2:14.25
7	8	2:14.95
8	2	2:14.97

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
1	4	2:09.64	Q
2	3	2:11.02	Q
3	5	2:11.93	Q
4	2	2:12.97	Q
5	1	2:13.39	Q
6	6	2:13.57
7	7	2:13.85
8	8	2:15.11

Final

Rank	Lane	Time	Notes
	4	2:08.16	NR
	3	2:10.25	NR
	2	2:11.05
4	5	2:11.21
5	1	2:12.35
6	6	2:12.75
7	7	2:13.31
8	8	2:14.57

External links

Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

Web site: Swimming schedule . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. 14 May 2013.
News: Harris. Beth. Bennett Wins Gold in 800m Freestyle. ABC News. 22 September 2000. 15 June 2013.
News: Berlin. Peter. Tie in 50-Meter Freestyle Is Only the 2nd in the History of the Games : Ervin and Hall Strike Gold Together. New York Times. 23 September 2000. 17 June 2013.
News: Mocanu takes double. ABC News Australia. 22 September 2000. 17 June 2013.
News: Mocanu wins women's 200m Olympic backstroke gold. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 22 September 2000. 17 June 2013.
News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 7 Finals (50 Free, 800 Free, 200 Back, 100 Fly). Swimming World Magazine. 22 September 2000. 13 May 2013.