Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Venue | London Aquatics Centre | ||||||||||||
Date | August 1, 2012 (heats & semifinals) August 2, 2012 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 34 from 27 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 2:19.59 WR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
---|---|---|
Qualification | ||
Freestyle | ||
50 m | men | women |
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
800 m | women | |
1500 m | men | |
Backstroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Breaststroke | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Butterfly | ||
100 m | men | women |
200 m | men | women |
Individual medley | ||
200 m | men | women |
400 m | men | women |
Freestyle relay | ||
4 × 100 m | men | women |
4 × 200 m | men | women |
Medley relay | ||
4 × 100 m | men | women |
Marathon | ||
10 km | men | women |
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August 2012 at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]
U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni cleared a 2:20-barrier in a remarkable world record to defend her Olympic title for the first time in the event's history. Dominating the race from the start, she threw down a stunning time of 2:19.59 to open up a full-body length gap over the rest of the field on the final stretch. [2] [3] Meanwhile, Japan's Satomi Suzuki powered home with silver in a scorching time of 2:20.72 to match an Asian record previously held by Rie Kaneto in 2009. [4] Russia's Yuliya Yefimova, who trained with Soni at the Trojan Swim Club, snatched the bronze medal with an astonishing European record in 2:20.92. [5] [6]
Denmark's Rikke Pedersen fell short of the podium by almost a full second with a fourth-place time in 2:21.65, and was followed in fifth by Canada's Martha McCabe (2:23.16) and sixth by Soni's teammate Micah Lawrence (2:23.27). [7] South Africa's Suzaan van Biljon got off to a flying start in the first length, but dropped back to seventh in 2:23.72, while Australia's Sally Foster rounded out the field to eighth in 2:26.00. [6] [8]
Before the breakthrough finale, Soni scorched the field with a world-record time in 2:20.00 to pick up a top seed in the semifinals, slicing 0.12 seconds off the standard set by Canada's Annamay Pierse in a since-banned high tech bodysuit from the 2009 World Championships. [9] [10]
Other notable swimmers missed the final roster featuring Serbia's Nađa Higl, the 2009 world champion; Norway's Sara Nordenstam, the defending bronze medalist; and Jamaica's Alia Atkinson, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke. [11]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | Annamay Pierse (CAN) | 2:20.12 | Rome, Italy | 30 July 2009 | [12] [13] |
Olympic record | Rebecca Soni (USA) | 2:20.22 | Beijing, China | 15 August 2008 | [14] |
The following records were established during the competition:
Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 1 | Semifinal 2 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:20.00 | WR |
August 2 | Final | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:19.59 | WR |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 2:22.23 | Q, NR |
2 | 1 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 2:23.02 | Q |
3 | 5 | Micah Lawrence | United States | 2:23.39 | Q |
4 | 2 | Sally Foster | Australia | 2:24.46 | Q |
5 | 6 | Back Su-Yeon | South Korea | 2:24.67 | |
6 | 3 | Joline Höstman | Sweden | 2:24.77 | |
7 | 7 | Kanako Watanabe | Japan | 2:27.32 | |
8 | 8 | Tessa Wallace | Australia | 2:27.38 |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:20.00 | Q, WR |
2 | 5 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 2:22.40 | Q |
3 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 2:23.21 | Q, AF |
4 | 1 | Martha McCabe | Canada | 2:24.09 | Q |
5 | 7 | Sara El Bekri | Morocco | 2:25.86 | NR |
6 | 3 | Anastasia Chaun | Russia | 2:26.08 | |
7 | 6 | Ji Liping | China | 2:27.26 | |
8 | 8 | Jeong Da-Rae | South Korea | 2:28.74 |
Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:19.59 | WR | |
3 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 2:20.72 | = AS | |
6 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 2:20.92 | EU | |
4 | 5 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 2:21.65 | NR |
5 | 1 | Martha McCabe | Canada | 2:23.16 | |
6 | 7 | Micah Lawrence | United States | 2:23.27 | |
7 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 2:23.72 | |
8 | 8 | Sally Foster | Australia | 2:26.00 |
Leisel Marie Jones, OAM is an Australian former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medallist. A participant in the 2000 Summer Olympics – at just 15 years old – and 2004 Summer Olympics, she was part of gold-medal-winning Australian team in the women's 4×100-metre medley relay at the Athens Games in 2004 and a gold medallist for 100-metre breaststroke in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Annamay Pierse is a former competitive swimmer who represented Canada in major international swimming championships including the Summer Olympics, FINA World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships.
Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley, 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke. After making her Olympic debut in 2008, she went on to win the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke in 2012, and silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2016. She is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013, 2017, and 2019. In 2019, she became the first woman to win the 200 metre breaststroke at a FINA World Aquatics Championships three times. She is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke. She has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups.
Suzaan van Biljon is an Olympic-swimmer from South Africa. She swam for South Africa at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and as of June 2009 holds both African and South African records. She holds the African record for the long course 200 m breaststroke, set at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the short course records in the 100 and 200 m breaststroke.
The first world record in the men's 200 metres breaststroke in long course (50 metres) swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in 1908 and the first world record in the women's 200 metres breaststroke was recognised in 1921. In the short course (25 metres) swimming events the world's governing body recognizes world records since March 3, 1991.
Rebecca Soni is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist. She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke, and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds. As a member of the U.S. national team, she held the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay from 2012 to 2017.
The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–15 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Jeong Da-rae is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She is a gold medalist in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
The women's 100 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29–30 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
Rikke Møller Pedersen is a Danish competitive swimmer specialising in breaststroke and from 2013 to 2021 world record holder in the 200 m breaststroke (2:19.11).
Micah Sumrall is an American competition swimmer who specializes in the breaststroke. She was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and finished sixth in the world in the 200-meter breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Back Su-Yeon is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She edged out her teammate Jung Seul-Ki to take a bronze medal by 0.31 of a second in the 200 m breaststroke at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, with a time of 1:10.22. Back is also a member of Kang-won-do Cheong swimming club in Seoul. Previously in 2006, Back had won bronze in the 100 m breaststroke at the 2006 Asian Games.
Rie Kaneto is a Japanese competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke events. She won the gold medal in the 200 meter breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Megumi Taneda is a Japanese swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. She claimed the 200 m breaststroke title in a close race against U.S. swimmer and eventual Olympic champion Rebecca Soni by 0.03 of a second at the 2005 Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey with a time of 2:27.81. Taneda is an economics graduate at Kanagawa University in Kanagawa.
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event in swimming at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships took place on 1–2 August at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.
The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 9–10 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 10–11 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held from 28 to 30 July 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. It was the event's twenty-third consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1924.
Emma Reaney is a former competition breaststroke and individual medley swimmer and current swim coach. She is an 8-time All-American and 5-time All-American honorable mention. She medaled for Team USA at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships and the 2015 Summer Universiade. She has set American records in both the 200-yard breaststroke and the 4x50 meter medley relay. As of 2021, Reaney still held 4 Notre Dame swimming event records.