Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

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Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Aaron peirsol-2.jpg
Gold medalist Aaron Peirsol (2008)
Venue Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DatesAugust 18, 2004 (heats & semifinals)
August 19, 2004 (final)
Competitors36 from 30 nations
Winning time1:54.95 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg Markus Rogan Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Bronze medal icon.svg Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
  2000
2008  

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 18 and 19. [1] There were 36 competitors from 30 nations. [2] Each nation had been limited to two swimmers in the event since 1984.

U.S. swimmer Aaron Peirsol won a gold medal in this event, with an Olympic record time of 1:54.95. Markus Rogan, silver medalist in the 100 metre backstroke, added another silver for Austria in the same stroke, in an outstanding time of 1:57.35. Romania's Răzvan Florea, who finished behind Rogan by 0.21 of a second, earned a bronze in 1:57.56. Peirsol became the fifth swimmer and fourth American in Olympic history to claim titles in two backstroke events. [3] He was also only the third swimmer to win multiple medals in the men's 200 backstroke (Roland Matthes and Mitch Ivey both did so in 1968 and 1972). It was the third consecutive, and sixth overall, victory for the United States in the event. It was Austria's first medal in the men's 200 metre backstroke since 1900; Romania had never won a medal in the event before.

In the final, Peirsol won the race but was disqualified for a noncontinuous backstroke turn [4] (in backstroke, a swimmer is allowed to rotate onto his/her stomach going into a turn, as long as 1) only one arm pull occurs while the swimmer is on his/her stomach and 2) the turn is one smooth motion [5] ). The judge in Peirsol's lane indicated that Peirsol had kicked in to the wall on the third turn. [2] [6] Peirsol's disqualification was appealed, and overturned, reinstating his time and finish. An initial statement from FINA was that the explanation given on the judge's report was "inadequate and not in the working language of FINA." [7] The judge was from France, and the official languages of FINA are French and English. [8] A later statement by FINA executive director Cornel Mărculescu revealed that the judge's report, which had also been signed off on by two other officials including referee Woon Sui Kut, was blank. [8] All three officials were removed from further involvement with the 2004 Olympic swimming competitions. [9] The British team have announced their intention to appeal to a higher body in an attempt to get their fourth-place swimmer James Goddard for a bronze medal. [10]

Background

This was the 12th 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]

Six of the 8 finalists from the 2000 Games returned: silver medalist Aaron Peirsol of the United States, bronze medalist Matt Welsh of Australia, fifth-place finisher (and 1996 bronze medalist) Emanuele Merisi of Italy, sixth-place finisher Răzvan Florea of Romania, seventh-place finisher Rogério Romero of Brazil, and eighth-place finisher Gordan Kožulj of Croatia. Peirsol had won the 2001 and 2003 World Championships, broken the world record in 2002 and again at the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials, and won the 100 metre backstroke earlier in Athens; he was heavily favoured. [2]

Finland made its debut in the event. Australia and Great Britain each made their 11th appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

The competition followed the format established in 2000, with 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. The top 16 swimmers from the heats advanced to the semifinals. The top 8 semifinalists advanced to the final. 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  Aaron Peirsol  (USA)1:54.74 Long Beach, United States 12 July 2004
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Lenny Krayzelburg  (USA)1:56.76 Sydney, Australia 21 September 2000

The following records were established during the competition:

DateEventSwimmerNationTimeRecord
18 AugustSemifinal Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:55.14 OR
19 AugustFinal Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:54.95 OR

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

DateTimeRound
Wednesday, 18 August 200410:23
19:50
Heats
Semifinals
Thursday, 19 August 200419:49Final

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
154 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:57.33Q
245 James Goddard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:57.96Q
355 Markus Rogan Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:58.06Q
456 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:58.81Q
544 Gregor Tait Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:59.35Q
653 Simon Dufour Flag of France.svg  France 1:59.52Q
743 Bryce Hunt Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:59.82Q
852 Jorge Sánchez Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2:00.10Q
957 Emanuele Merisi Flag of Italy (2003-2006).svg  Italy 2:00.10Q
1032 Nathaniel O'Brien Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:00.49Q
1151 Rogério Romero Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2:00.60Q
1234 Gordan Kožulj Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 2:00.94Q
1342 Keith Beavers Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:00.97Q
1435 Arkady Vyatchanin Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:01.09Q
1546 Blaž Medvešek Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 2:01.13Q
1636 Tomomi Morita Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2:01.19Q
1747 Yevgeny Aleshin Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 2:01.25
1831 Patrick Murphy Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:01.26
1933 Matt Welsh Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 2:01.73
2048 Cameron Gibson Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2:02.65
2125 Alex Lim Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 2:02.67
2223 Derya Büyükuncu Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 2:02.69
2327 Nicholas Neckles Flag of Barbados.svg  Barbados 2:02.84
2441 Viktor Bodrogi Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2:03.16
2524 Volodymyr Nikolaychuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 2:03.21
2622 Pavel Suškov Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania 2:03.54
2721 Adam Mania Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 2:03.73
2838 Antonios Gkioulmpas Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 2:04.30
2937 Aschwin Wildeboer Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2:04.33
3058 Yu Rui Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2:04.51
3126 Ahmed Hussein Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 2:04.82
3228 Sung Min Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 2:04.86
3315 Matti Mäki Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 2:06.29
3416 Andrei Mihailov Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova 2:06.97
3512 Omar Pinzón Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 2:07.26
3613 Iurii Zakharov Flag of Kyrgyzstan (1992-2023).svg  Kyrgyzstan 2:10.45

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
124 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:55.14Q, OR
214 James Goddard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:57.25Q
325 Markus Rogan Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:57.50Q
415 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:58.20Q
523 Gregor Tait Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:58.75Q
613 Simon Dufour Flag of France.svg  France 1:58.96Q
728 Blaž Medvešek Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 1:59.37Q
818 Tomomi Morita Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1:59.52Q
917 Gordan Kožulj Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 1:59.61
1026 Bryce Hunt Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:59.74
1111 Arkady Vyatchanin Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:59.80
1221 Keith Beavers Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:59.98
1316 Jorge Sánchez Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 2:00.12
1412 Nathaniel O'Brien Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 2:00.13
1527 Rogério Romero Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 2:00.48
1622 Emanuele Merisi Flag of Italy (2003-2006).svg  Italy 2:00.83

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Aaron Peirsol Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:54.95 OR
Silver medal icon.svg3 Markus Rogan Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:57.35
Bronze medal icon.svg6 Răzvan Florea Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 1:57.56
45 James Goddard Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:57.76
58 Tomomi Morita Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1:58.40 AS
67 Simon Dufour Flag of France.svg  France 1:58.49
72 Gregor Tait Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:59.28
81 Blaž Medvešek Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia 2:00.06

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