Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle

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Men's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
YANNICK AGNEL a.jpg
Gold medalist Yannick Agnel
Venue London Aquatics Centre
DatesJuly 29, 2012 (heats &
semifinals)
July 30, 2012 (final)
Competitors40 from 31 nations
Winning time1:43.14
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France
Silver medal icon.svg Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Silver medal icon.svg Park Tae-Hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
  2008
2016  

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1] There were 40 competitors from 31 nations. [2]

After overhauling the Americans in the 4 × 100 freestyle relay with a stunning anchor leg, France's Yannick Agnel pulled away from a star-studded field by over a full body length to earn his second Olympic gold in swimming at these Games. Billed as the "Race of the Century", he came up again with a spectacular swim on the final stretch to hit the wall first in 1:43.14, posting a textile best in the process and moving rapidly to third in the world's all time rankings. [3] [4] Meanwhile, South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan and China's Sun Yang tied for the silver medal in a matching time of 1:44.93, following a dramatic rivalry in the 400 m freestyle final two days earlier. [5] [6] Agnel's gold was France's first medal in the men's 200 metre freestyle, with Sun's silver the first for China. Park was the fifth man to win multiple medals in the event, adding to his 2008 silver.

U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte, the reigning world champion, missed the podium by 11-hundredths of a second with a fourth-place time in 1:45.04. [7] [8] Germany's world-record holder Paul Biedermann faded down the stretch to pick up a fifth spot in 1:45.53, edging out British home favorite Robbie Renwick by a full body length with a highly-creditable, sixth-place effort (1:46.53). [9] Australia's Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:46.93) and Russia's Danila Izotov (1:47.75) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the stellar championship field. [6]

Notable swimmers missed out the final roster featuring Lochte's teammate Ricky Berens, who replaced Michael Phelps to fill out the slot for the Americans but placed ninth (1:46.87); and Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry, a sixth-place finalist in Beijing four years earlier, who finished fifteenth in the semifinals (1:48.25). [10]

Background

This was the 14th appearance of the 200 metre freestyle event. It was first contested in 1900. It would be contested a second time, though at 220 yards, in 1904. After that, the event did not return until 1968; since then, it has been on the programme at every Summer Games. [2]

Four of the 8 finalists from the 2008 Games returned: silver medalist Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea, fifth-place finisher Paul Biedermann of Germany, sixth-place finisher Dominik Meichtry of Switzerland, and eighth-place finisher Robbie Renwick of Great Britain. Reigning gold medalist Michael Phelps qualified but elected not to compete in eight events again, dropping this event. Biedermann had won the 2009 World Championship and taken bronze in 2011. American Ryan Lochte was the reigning World Champion. Phelps had placed second both times. Lochte was the favourite without Phelps competing, though Park, Sun Yang of China (the 400 metres champion in London), and Yannick Agnel of France were serious contenders. [2]

Brunei, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay each made their debut in the event. Australia made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed in all prior editions of the event.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to two swimmers if both met the Olympic Qualifying Time (or "OQT"). An NOC with no swimmers meeting the OQT but at least one swimmer meeting the Olympic Selection Time (or "OST") was not guaranteed a place, but was eligible for selection to fill the overall 900 swimmer quota for the Games. For 2012, the OQT was 1:47.82 while the OST was 1:51.59. The qualifying window was 1 March 2011 to 3 July 2012; only approved meets (generally international competitions and national Olympic trials) during that period could be used to meet the standards. There were also universality places available; if no male swimmer from a nation qualified in any event, the NOC could enter one male swimmer in an event.

Nine nations (Australia, the Cayman Islands, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United States) had two swimmers meet the OQT. Five more (Hungary, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Korea, and Switzerland) had one swimmer qualify through the OQT. 12 NOCs received a place through OST selection. 6 nations used universality places in the men's 200 metre freestyle.

The two swimmers per NOC limit had been in place since the 1984 Games.

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 freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke. 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 Germany.svg  Paul Biedermann  (GER)1:42.00 Rome, Italy28 July 2009 [11] [12]
Olympic recordFlag of the United States.svg  Michael Phelps  (USA)1:42.96 Beijing, China12 August 2008 [13]

Schedule

The competition returned to a two-day schedule, with heats and semifinals on the same day.

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

DateTimeRound
Sunday, 29 July 201210:20
19:37
Heats
Semifinals
Monday, 30 July 201219:43Final

Results

Heats

The top 16 advanced to the semifinals. [14]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
155 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1:46.24Q
254 Ryan Lochte Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:46.45Q
364 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 1:46.60Q
445 Danila Izotov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:46.61Q
565 Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1:46.79Q
642 Robert Renwick Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.86Q
762 Kenrick Monk Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:46.94Q
853 Ricky Berens Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:47.07Q
957 Dominik Kozma Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 1:47.18Q
1044 Paul Biedermann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:47.27Q
1163 Sebastiaan Verschuren Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:47.31Q
1243 Grégory Mallet Flag of France.svg  France 1:47.39Q
1366 Thomas Fraser-Holmes Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:47.50Q
1452 Brett Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 1:47.74Q
1567 Artem Lobuzov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:47.91Q
1646 Dominik Meichtry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:47.97Q
1733 Blake Worsley Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1:48.14
1861 Matthew Stanley Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 1:48.19
1941 Ieuan Lloyd Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:48.52
2068 Shaune Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 1:48.53
2134 Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 1:48.60
2235 Cristian Quintero Valero Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 1:48.71
2356 Li Yunqi Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1:48.72
2447 Clemens Rapp Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:48.75
2537 Glenn Surgeloose Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 1:48.77
2658 Benjamin Hockin Flag of Paraguay (1990-2013).svg  Paraguay 1:48.91
2732 David Brandl Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1:49.00
51 Dion Dreesens Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:49.00
2948 Marco Belotti Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 1:49.14
3036 Ahmed Mathlouthi Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 1:49.68
3125 Matias Koski Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 1:49.84
3224 Radovan Siljevski Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 1:51.40
3322 Mario Montoya Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica 1:51.66
3423 Sebastián Jahnsen Madico Flag of Peru.svg  Peru 1:52.36
3538 Tiago Venâncio Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 1:52.36
3626 Jessie Lacuna Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 1:52.91
3714 Nicholas Schwab Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg  Dominican Republic 1:53.41 NR
3827 Raúl Martínez Colomer Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 1:54.23
3915 Mathieu Marquet Flag of Mauritius.svg  Mauritius 1:58.91
4013 Anderson Lim Flag of Brunei.svg  Brunei 2:02.26NR
31 Mads Glæsner Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark DNS

Semifinals

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
124 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1:45.61Q
225 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 1:45.84Q
323 Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1:46.02Q
412 Paul Biedermann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:46.10Q
514 Ryan Lochte Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:46.31Q
613 Robbie Renwick Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.65Q
15 Danila Izotov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:46.65Q
821 Thomas Fraser-Holmes Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:46.80Q
916 Ricky Berens Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:46.87
1022 Dominik Kozma Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 1:46.93
1127 Sebastiaan Verschuren Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 1:46.95
1211 Brett Fraser Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg  Cayman Islands 1:47.01
1326 Kenrick Monk Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:47.38
1417 Grégory Mallet Flag of France.svg  France 1:47.56
1518 Dominik Meichtry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 1:48.25
1628 Artem Lobuzov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:48.26

Final

RankLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg5 Yannick Agnel Flag of France.svg  France 1:43.14 NR
Silver medal icon.svg4 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1:44.93 NR
3 Park Tae-hwan Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1:44.93
42 Ryan Lochte Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1:45.04
56 Paul Biedermann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1:45.53
61 Robbie Renwick Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1:46.53
78 Thomas Fraser-Holmes Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 1:46.93
87 Danila Izotov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1:47.75

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