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.
Kosuke Kitajima is a Japanese retired breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals at the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and the 2008 Summer Olympics – becoming the first and only swimmer to sweep the breaststroke events at consecutive Olympic games.
Brendan Joseph Hansen is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.
Vladislav Vitalyevich Polyakov is a Kazakhstani swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He swam for his native Kazakhstan at three Olympic Games, and eventually finished fifth in both 100 and 200 m breaststroke at his official Olympic debut in Athens. In total, he has won eight medals in major international tournaments, including his first career gold from the 2006 FINA World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, China. While residing in the United States, Polyakov is a five-time SEC champion, a double NCAA titleholder, and a two-time gold medalist at the national championships. He also earned a total of twelve All-American titles while playing for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2003 to 2007.
The men's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 9–11 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 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28–29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
Nguyễn Hữu Việt was a Vietnamese swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. He won a total of five medals, and set numerous records for both the 100 and 200 m breaststroke at the Southeast Asian Games (2003–2009).
Pāvels Murāns is a Latvian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a member of Rīga Swimming School, and is coached and trained by Jeļena Solovjova. Murans also had an opportunity to represent Latvia at the 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing fifty-first in the 100-metre breaststroke.
Aleksandr Baldin is an Estonian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a 15-time long-course Estonian swimming champion in the breaststroke, and a member of SK Garant in Tallinn, under the tutelage of his personal coach Dmitri Kapelin. Baldin also represented his nation Estonia in a breaststroke double at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Aurimas Valaitis is a Lithuanian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He beat a 29-second barrier to earn a bronze medal in the 50 m breaststroke at the 2006 European Junior Swimming Championships in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, with his personal best of 28.98.
You Seung-hun is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He shared bronze medals with Sung Min, Jeong Doo-Hee, and Park Tae-Hwan in the 4 × 100 m medley relay (3:41.33) at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Daniel Tam Chi-kin is a Hong Kong former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a two-time Olympian, and a double finalist in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. Tam is a member of the swimming team for SLA Sports Club, and is trained by an Australian-born coach Anthony Giorgi.
Chen Cho-yi is a Taiwanese Olympic swimmer, bioinformatician, and computational biologist. He is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Harvard University.
Andrei Capitanciuc is a Moldovan former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Capitanciuc qualified for the men's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by achieving a FINA B-standard of 1:04.98 from the Russian Open Championships in Moscow. He challenged seven other swimmers in heat two, including three-time Olympians Jean Luc Razakarivony of Madagascar and Yevgeny Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan. He shared a second seed with Saudi Arabia's Ahmed Al-Kudmani in a time of 1:05.65. Capitanciuc failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed forty-seventh overall out of 60 swimmers on the first day of preliminaries.
Kyriakos Dimosthenous is a Cypriot former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Dimosthenous qualified for the men's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by achieving a FINA B-standard of 1:04.74 from the Greek Open Championships in Piraeus. He challenged seven other swimmers in heat three, including 15-year-old Nguyen Huu Viet of Vietnam. He edged out Estonia's Aleksander Baldin to take a sixth spot by a tenth of a second (0.10) with a time of 1:05.54. Dimosthenous failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed forty-sixth overall out of 60 swimmers on the first day of preliminaries.
Cristian Mauro Soldano is an Argentine former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He is a two-time semifinalist in the 100 m breaststroke at the Pan American Games.
Oleg Sidorov is an Uzbek former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Sidorov qualified for the men's 100 m breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, by achieving a FINA B-standard of 1:04.91 from the Russian Championships in Moscow. He challenged seven other swimmers in heat two, including three-time Olympians Jean Luc Razakarivony of Madagascar and Yevgeny Petrashov of Kyrgyzstan. He rounded out the field to last place by more than half a second (0.50) behind Petrashov in 1:08.30. Sidorov failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed fifty-sixth overall out of 60 swimmers on the first day of preliminaries.
Eric Williams is a Nigerian former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He represented Nigeria at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and in all three editions of the FINA World Championships since 2003.
Amar Shah is a Kenyan former swimmer who specialized in breaststroke, but also competed in the freestyle relays. He is a single-time Olympian (2004), and a two-time swimmer at the Commonwealth Games. Shah qualified for the semifinals in 2010 Commonwealth Games setting a national record in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 30.53. He currently holds three long-course Kenyan records in the 50, 100 and 200 m breaststroke. Shah also won a total of bronze medals, as a member of the Kenyan swimming team, in the freestyle and medley relays at the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.
