The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 17 and 18.
David Andrew Wilkie was a Scottish swimmer who was the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in 1976, the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960. He is the only person to have held British, Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic swimming titles at the same time. Wilkie, a member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, has been described as Scotland's greatest and Britain's finest swimmer. Fellow Olympic breaststroke gold medallist Duncan Goodhew considered him an "extraordinary talent" and "one of Britain's greatest ever athletes".
Dániel Gyurta is a Hungarian former competitive swimmer who mainly competed in the 200-metre breaststroke. In 2016, Gyurta became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Athletes' Commission since 2013 and a member of the Athletes Commission since 2016.
Adrian David Moorhouse MBE is an English former competitive swimmer who dominated British swimming in the late 1980s. He won the gold medal in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Since then Moorhouse, a former pupil of Bradford Grammar School, has translated his sporting success to a successful career in the business world, as managing director of Lane4, a consultancy helping individuals and teams around the world reach their fullest potential.
Nicholas Gillingham, is an English former competitive swimmer, active in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Walsall, he represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA World championships and European championships, as well as representing England in the Commonwealth Games. Medalling in two Olympic Games in 1988 and 1992, he was a World, European and Commonwealth champion in his specialist event, the 200 metres breaststroke. His career broadly overlapped with fellow British breaststroker and Olympic 100 metre breaststroke champion, Adrian Moorhouse.
Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley, 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke. After making her Olympic debut in 2008, she went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2012, and silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2016. She is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, she became the first woman to win the 200 metre breaststroke at a FINA World Aquatics Championships three times. She is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke. She has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups.
Eric Lee Shanteau is an American former competition swimmer who won two gold medals as a member of winning United States relay teams at the World Championships. He was a member of the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams, and earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Shanteau formerly held the 4×100-meter medley relay world record as a member of the U.S. team that competed at the 2009 FINA World Championship in Rome.
The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 12–14 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Giedrius Titenis is a Lithuanian swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a four-time Olympian, a multiple-time Lithuanian record holder in the men's breaststroke, and a double swimming champion in the same discipline at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China. Titenis is also a member of Anykščiai Swimming Club, and is coached and trained by Žilvinas Ovsiukas.
The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
Craig Benson is a Scottish former competitive swimmer who specialised in breaststroke. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics and European Championships.
Choi Kyu-Woong is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He shared silver medals with China's Xue Ruipeng in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, in a time of 2:12.25. He also collected two medals in both 100 and 200 m breaststroke at the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong, China. Choi is a member of the swimming team at the Korea National Sport University in Seoul, under his personal coach Lee Woo-Shin.
Michael Williamson is an Irish former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He won a bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu, South Korea with a time of 2:15.52.
Ross Murdoch is a Scottish competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in 2016 and 2020, the FINA World Championships and the LEN European Championships, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games from 2014 to the present. Between 2014 and 2016, Murdoch became a World, European and Commonwealth champion.
The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 9–10 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
Anton Mikhailovich Chupkov is a Russian competitive swimmer. He is the European record holder in the long course 200 metre breaststroke and the Russian record holder in the long course 100 metre breaststroke. He formerly held the world record in the long course 200 metre breaststroke. At the 2015 European Games he won four gold medals in individual and relay events. He won the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He won the gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2017 and 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
Duncan William MacNaughton Scott is a Scottish swimmer representing Great Britain at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, LEN European Aquatics Championships, European Games and the Olympic Games, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Scott made history after winning four medals - more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games - in Tokyo 2020, simultaneously becoming Great Britain's most decorated swimmer in Olympic history. With an additional gold and silver medal in Paris 2024 bringing his total to eight, Scott became Scotland's most-decorated Olympian, and is currently tied with Bradley Wiggins as the second most-decorated Olympian in British history. Scott is the only athlete in the top three to still be actively competing, and the only member of the top four who is not a track cyclist.
James Wilby is a British competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. Wilby is the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion in 200 metre breaststroke, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion in 100 metre breaststroke, and the 2022 European champion in 200 metre breaststroke. He formed part of the Great Britain team that won World Championship gold in the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay in 2019, and the England team that won the Commonwealth Games Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay in 2014 and 2022.
Thomas William Darnton Dean is a British competitive freestyle swimmer. He is a triple Olympic gold medallist, winning gold individually in 200 metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics and as part of a team in 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Great Britain 
