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

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Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre 2.jpg
The pool at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
Venue Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
DatesSeptember 20, 2000 (heats & semifinals)
September 21, 2000 (final)
Competitors45 from 38 nations
Winning time1:56.76 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Matt Welsh Flag of Australia.svg  Australia
  1996
2004  

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. [1] There were 45 competitors from 38 nations. [2] Each nation had been limited to two swimmers in the event since 1984. The event was won by Lenny Krayzelburg of the United States, with his countryman Aaron Peirsol taking silver. It was the second consecutive Games that Americans had finished one-two in the event (Brad Bridgewater and Tripp Schwenk had done so in 1996). Bronze went to Matt Welsh of Australia, the nation's first medal in the event since 1980.

Soviet-born American Krayzelburg became the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to strike a backstroke double, since Roland Matthes did so in 1968 and 1972, John Naber in 1976, and Rick Carey in 1984. He powered past his nearest rivals Peirsol and Australia's overwhelming favorite Welsh to hit the wall first in a new Olympic record of 1:56.76. [3] [4] At only 17 years of age, Peirsol trailed behind by over half a second (0.59) to take a silver in 1:57.35. Meanwhile, Welsh settled only for the bronze in an Oceanian record of 1:57.59. [5] [6]

Iceland's Örn Arnarson came up with a spectacular swim to earn a fourth spot in 1:59.00, holding off Italy's Emanuele Merisi (1:59.01), bronze medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, by a hundredth of a second (0.01). Romania's Răzvan Florea finished sixth with a time of 1:59.05, while Brazil's Rogério Romero (1:59.27), competing at his fourth Olympics, and Croatia's Gordan Kožulj (1:59.38) closed out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went under a two-minute barrier. [6]

Earlier, Krayzelburg established a new Olympic standard of 1:58.40 on the morning prelims to cut off Martin López-Zubero's eight-year record by seven hundredths of a second (0.07). He lowered it to 1:57.27 in the semifinals. [7] [8]

Background

This was the 11th appearance of the 200 metre backstroke event. It was first held in 1900. The event did not return until 1964; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. From 1904 to 1960, a men's 100 metre backstroke was held instead. In 1964, only the 200 metres was held. Beginning in 1968 and ever since, both the 100 and 200 metre versions have been held. [2]

Two of the 8 finalists from the 1996 Games returned: bronze medalist Emanuele Merisi of Italy and seventh-place finisher Mirko Mazzari of Italy. The medalists at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships had been Lenny Krayzelburg of the United States, Ralf Braun of Germany, and Mark Versfeld of Canada. Krazyelburg and Braun were competing in Sydney; Versfeld was not. [2]

The Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Slovenia, and Ukraine each made their debut in the event. Australia and Great Britain each made their 10th appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

The competition altered the format that had been used since 1984. The tournament expanded to three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The advancement rule followed the format introduced in 1952. A swimmer's place in the heat was not used to determine advancement; instead, the fastest times from across all heats in a round were used. Instead of having the top 16 swimmers divided into a Final A for the top 8 and Final B for 9th through 16th, as was done in from 1984 to 1996, the 2000 competition added semifinals. The top 16 swimmers from the heats competed in the new semifinals. The top 8 semifinalists advanced to the final (there was no longer a classification final for 9th through 16th). Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties.

This swimming event used backstroke. Because an Olympic-size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Records

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

World recordFlag of the United States.svg  Lenny Krayzelburg  (USA)1:55.87 Sydney, Australia 27 August 1999 [9]
Olympic recordFlag of Spain.svg  Martin López-Zubero  (ESP)1:58.47 Barcelona, Spain 28 July 1992 [9]

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition, with Krayzelburg setting a new Olympic record each time he swam. All three medalists swam faster than the old Olympic record.

DateEventSwimmerNationTimeRecord
20 SeptemberHeat 6 Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:58.40 OR
20 SeptemberSemifinal 2 Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:57.27 OR
21 SeptemberFinal Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:56.76 OR

Schedule

The expansion of the event to three rounds also resulted in the event now taking place over two days instead of a single day.

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

DateTimeRound
Wednesday, 20 September 200010:29
19:31
Heats
Semifinals
Thursday, 21 September 200019:21Final

Results

Heats

Krayzelburg had the fastest time in the heats, setting a new Olympic record. [9]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
164 Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:58.40Q, OR
254 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:59.10Q
366 Cameron Delaney Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:59.61Q
465 Matt Welsh Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:59.76Q
541 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:59.79Q
648 Örn Arnarson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 1:59.80Q, NR
756 Emanuele Merisi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:59.92Q
862 Sergey Ostapchuk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:00.17Q
944 Gordan Kožulj Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 2:00.19Q
1055 Rogério Romero Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2:00.48Q
1146 Chris Renaud Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:00.51Q
1257 Marko Strahija Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 2:00.72Q
1352 Yoav Gath Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 2:00.80Q
1432 Klaas-Erik Zwering Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 2:00.94Q, NR
1543 Volodymyr Nikolaychuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2:01.07Q, NR
1645 Leonardo Costa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2:01.08Q
1753 Simon Dufour Flag of France.svg  France 2:01.09
1867 Adam Ruckwood Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 2:01.11
1961 Simon Militis Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 2:01.20
2068 Dustin Hersee Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:01.34
2163 Ralf Braun Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2:01.35
2235 Scott Talbot-Cameron Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2:01.53
2337 Blaž Medvešek Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 2:01.67
2422 Neisser Bent Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 2:02.05
2551 Mirko Mazzari Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 2:02.13
2647 Fu Yong Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:02.70
2734 Markus Rogan Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 2:02.84
2833 Alejandro Bermúdez Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 2:03.43
2958 Guillermo Mediano Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2:03.45
3024 Mario Carvalho Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2:03.82
3136 Miroslav Machovič Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 2:04.73
3238 Arūnas Savickas Flag of Lithuania (1988-2004).svg  Lithuania 2:05.06
3313 Alex Fong Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 2:05.47 NR
3426 Eduardo Germán Otero Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 2:05.51
3527 Torwai Sethsothorn Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 2:05.52
3623 Ahmed Hussein Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 2:06.10
3728 Gary Tan Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 2:06.32
3814 Andrei Mihailov Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 2:06.67
3921 Lee Jong-min Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 2:07.14
4015 Ivan Angelov Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 2:07.30
4117 Guillermo Cabrera Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  Dominican Republic 2:08.22
4231 Alex Lim Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 2:08.23
4316 Miloš Cerović Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg  FR Yugoslavia 2:09.07
4412 Aleksandr Yegorov Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg  Kyrgyzstan 2:13.85
42 Viktor Bodrogi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary DSQ
25 Simon Thirsk Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa DNS

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
124 Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:57.27Q, OR
214 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:58.44Q
315 Matt Welsh Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:58.57Q
413 Örn Arnarson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 1:58.99Q, NR
523 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:59.44Q, NR
622 Gordan Kožulj Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1:59.56Q
712 Rogério Romero Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:59.69Q
826 Emanuele Merisi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:59.78Q
917 Marko Strahija Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1:59.85
1011 Klaas-Erik Zwering Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 2:00.06 NR
1125 Cameron Delaney Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:00.39
1216 Sergey Ostapchuk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:00.47
1327 Chris Renaud Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:01.19
1418 Leonardo Costa Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2:02.26
1528 Volodymyr Nikolaychuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2:02.27
1621 Yoav Gath Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 2:03.80

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Lenny Krayzelburg Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:56.76 OR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:57.35
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Matt Welsh Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:57.59 OC
46 Örn Arnarson Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 1:59.00
58 Emanuele Merisi Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:59.01
62 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:59.05 NR
71 Rogério Romero Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 1:59.27
87 Gordan Kožulj Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1:59.38

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