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

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Women's 200 metre breaststroke
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Venue Sydney International Aquatic Centre
DateSeptember 20, 2000 (heats &
semifinals)
September 21, 2000 (final)
Competitors36 from 30 nations
Winning time2:24.35
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Silver medal icon.svg Kristy Kowal Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Bronze medal icon.svg Amanda Beard Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  1996
2004  

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. [1]

Charging back from third at the 150-metre turn, Hungary's Ágnes Kovács edged out U.S. swimmer Kristy Kowal on the final stretch to capture the gold in 2:24.35. [2] [3] Kowal, who seized off a powerful lead from the start, took home the silver in a new American record of 2:24.56. Her teammate Amanda Beard, silver medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, gave the Americans a further reason to celebrate as she enjoyed the race to move up from eighth after the semifinals for the bronze in 2:25.35, holding off a fast-pacing Qi Hui of China (2:25.36) by a hundredth of a second (0.01). [4] [5]

Qi was followed in fifth by Russia's Olga Bakaldina (2:25.47) and in sixth by South Africa's Sarah Poewe (2:25.72), fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke. Japan's Masami Tanaka (2:26.98) and Qi's teammate Luo Xuejuan (2:27.33) closed out the field. [5]

World record holder Penny Heyns missed a chance to defend her Olympic title in the event, after helplessly winding up a twentieth-place effort in the prelims at 2:30.17. [6] Shortly after the Games, she made a decision to officially announce her retirement from international swimming. [7] [8]

Earlier, Kovacs established a new Olympic standard of 2:24.92 on the morning prelims to clear a 2:25-barrier and cut off Heyns' record by almost half a second (0.50). [6] Following by an evening session, she eventually lowered it to 2:24.03 in the semifinals. [9] [10]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:

World recordFlag of South Africa.svg  Penny Heyns  (RSA)2:23.64 Sydney, Australia27 August 1999 [11]
Olympic recordFlag of South Africa.svg  Penny Heyns  (RSA)2:25.41 Atlanta, United States23 July 1996 [11]

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
20 SeptemberHeat 5 Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:24.92 OR
20 SeptemberSemifinal 1 Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:24.03 OR

Results

Heats

[11]

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
155 Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:24.92Q, OR
234 Kristy Kowal Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:26.73Q
345 Qi Hui Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:26.76Q
442 Karine Brémond Flag of France.svg  France 2:27.13Q, NR
544 Masami Tanaka Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:27.39Q
643 Beatrice Câșlaru Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 2:27.59Q, WD
746 Caroline Hildreth Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:27.60Q
833 Amanda Beard Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:27.83Q
935 Sarah Poewe Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2:27.84Q
1053 Olga Bakaldina Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:28.19Q
1148 Ku Hyo-jin Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 2:28.21Q, NR
1247 Rebecca Brown Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:28.24Q
1356 Luo Xuejuan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:28.43Q
1451 Christin Petelski Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:29.11Q
1536 Anne Poleska Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2:29.15Q
1657 Alicja Pęczak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2:29.45Q
1752 Junko Isoda Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:29.60Q
1832 Ina Hüging Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2:30.00
1941 Elvira Fischer Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 2:30.05
2054 Penny Heyns Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2:30.17
2131 Brigitte Becue Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 2:31.27
2258 Agata Czaplicki Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 2:32.98
2337 Jaime King Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 2:33.10
2428 İlkay Dikmen Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 2:33.34 NR
2515 Isabel Ceballos Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 2:34.09
2624 Inna Nikitina Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2:34.20
2722 Siow Yi Ting Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 2:34.52 NR
2823 Margarita Kalmikova Flag of Latvia (3-2).svg  Latvia 2:35.69
2925 Adriana Marmolejo Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 2:36.93
3027 Nicolette Teo Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 2:37.39
3114 Jenny Rose Guerrero Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 2:38.10
3226 Íris Edda Heimisdóttir Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 2:38.52
3313 Olga Moltchanova Flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 2:41.43
3421 Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Cuba 2:41.97
3516 Anastasiya Korolyova Flag of Uzbekistan (3-2).svg  Uzbekistan 2:43.23
38 Lourdes Becerra Flag of Spain.svg  Spain DNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
14 Kristy Kowal Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:25.46Q
26 Sarah Poewe Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2:25.54Q
37 Luo Xuejuan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:25.86Q
45 Karine Brémond Flag of France.svg  France 2:27.86
53 Caroline Hildreth Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:28.30
62 Ku Hyo-Jin Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 2:28.50
71 Anne Poleska Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2:28.99
88 Junko Isoda Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:31.71

Semifinal 2

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
14 Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:24.03Q, OR , NR
25 Qi Hui Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:24.21Q, NR
32 Olga Bakaldina Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:25.41Q, NR
43 Masami Tanaka Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:26.24Q
56 Amanda Beard Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:26.62Q
61 Christin Petelski Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:29.43
77 Rebecca Brown Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:29.90
88 Alicja Pęczak Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2:30.02

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Ágnes Kovács Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:24.35
Silver medal icon.svg6 Kristy Kowal Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:24.56 AM
Bronze medal icon.svg8 Amanda Beard Flag of the United States.svg  United States 2:25.35
45 Qi Hui Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:25.36
53 Olga Bakaldina Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:25.47
62 Sarah Poewe Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 2:25.72
71 Masami Tanaka Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:26.98
87 Luo Xuejuan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:27.33

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