The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–15 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. There were 40 competitors from 31 nations.
Pedro Diogo Tavares Martins de Oliveira is a Portuguese swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and butterfly events. He is a two-time Olympian, and a double silver medalist in the 200 m backstroke at the European Junior Championships. He also holds four Portuguese records, two national titles, and has produced a stellar performance at the NCAA Swimming Championships, earning five All-American titles as a member of Louisville Cardinals.
István Hunor Mate is an Austrian swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is also a twenty-two time Austrian national champion, five-time Austrian national record holder, and a current member of Wolfsberger SV in Vienna, Austria.
Sebastian Stoss is an Austrian swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, a multiple-time Austrian champion, and also, a current member of Eisenstädter Swimming Club, under his personal coach Andrzej Szarzynski.
Carlos Fernandes Esteves de Almeida is a Portuguese swimmer, who specializes in breaststroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, an NCAA Champion, a 2011 Big East Conference champion, and a current Portuguese record holder in the 50, 100 and 200 m breaststroke in the long and short course. Almeida is a resident athlete for Amadora Swimming Club in Lisbon, and is coached and trained by Filipe Coelho.
Laurent Carnol is a Luxembourgish swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Carnol set national records of 1:01.39 and 2:09.78 in the men's breaststroke at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and at the 2012 European Long Course Meet in Luxembourg City, respectively. Carnol is also a member of SC Le Dauphin Ettelbruck under his personal coach Ian Armiger, and currently, a chemistry student at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England.
Irakli Bolkvadze is a Georgian swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke and individual medley events. He won a bronze medal in the boys' 200 m breaststroke at the 2012 European Junior Swimming Championships in Antwerp, Belgium with a time of 2:15.46. Bolkvadze is also trained by his personal coach Irina Minjulina.
Vladimir Sidorkin is an Estonian former swimmer, who specialized in both long and short course freestyle events. He represented his nation Estonia in middle-distance freestyle swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has currently owned a short-course Estonian record in the 100 m freestyle (47.99), set at the 2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Rijeka, Croatia.
Anna-Liisa Põld is an Estonian-born American competition swimmer who has represented Estonia in international events. She competes in the backstroke, butterfly, and individual medley events. She is a two-time national record-holder at the FINA World Championships, and a multiple-time high school and collegiate record-holder. She also represented her birth nation Estonia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Jonathan Massacand is a Swiss swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. He is a two-time current Swiss record holder for both 100 and 200 m backstroke. Massacand also won a gold medal, as a local favorite, in the same discipline at the 2012 Zurich International Meet, claiming a personal best of 56.49 seconds.
Sergey Pankov is an Uzbek swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and butterfly events. He won a bronze medal in the 200 m backstroke at the 2006 Asian Swimming Championships in Singapore, and had achieved an eighth-place finish in the same discipline at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Danil Bugakov is an Uzbek former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke, freestyle and individual medley events. He won two medals for the 50 m backstroke at the Asian Swimming Championships. He is also the brother of freestyle swimmer and three-time Olympian Mariya Bugakova.
Iurii Zakharov is a Kyrgyzstani former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and individual medley events. He represented his Kyrgyzstan in two editions of the Olympic Games.
Łukasz Wójt is a Polish swimmer, who specialized in middle-distance freestyle and individual medley events. He represented his nation Poland at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won two bronze medals in a major international competition, spanning the 2007 Summer Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand, and the 2008 European Short Course Championships in Rijeka, Croatia. Apart from his international career, Wojt has also claimed multiple Polish championship titles and currently holds the national record in the 200 (1:54.81) and 400 m individual medley (4:03.20), both set at the FINA World Cup meet in Berlin, Germany.
Melissa Jane Corfe is a South African swimmer, who specialised in freestyle and backstroke events. She is a multiple-time South African champion and record holder for her respective events. Corfe represented her nation South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won a total of five medals, including three golds in the women's freestyle, at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria. She also set two national records, as a member of the South African swimming team, in the freestyle and medley relays, at the 2008 FINA World Short Course Championships in Manchester, England.
Oleg Rabota is a Kazakh swimmer, who specialized in middle-distance freestyle and backstroke events. He represented his nation Kazakhstan at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won a silver medal in the 200 m freestyle at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games in Macau, China. Rabota also served as a member of the Southern Illinois Salukis swimming and diving team under head coach Rick Walker, while pursuing his sports management studies at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.
Viktar Aliaksandravich Vabishchevich is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He posted a Belarusian record time of 28.03 seconds in the prelims of the men's 50 m breaststroke at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He also won a bronze medal in the same event at the 2007 European Junior Swimming Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, clocking at 28.62 seconds.
Tomáš Fučík is a Czech former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke and individual medley events. He represented his nation Czech Republic at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has owned multiple Czech championship titles and national records in both the 100 m backstroke and 200 m individual medley. Fucik was also member of the Jihlavsky Swimming Club, under the tutelage of his personal coach Markéta Kaplanova.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Rylov is a Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic champion specializing in backstroke events. He won three gold medals at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and a bronze medal at his senior international debut at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. He also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, both were in the 200 metre backstroke event. In 2018, at the 2018 World Short Course Championships, he won gold medals in the 200 metre backstroke and 50 metre backstroke. At the 2019 World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke, silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, and silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Estonia 
