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


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.
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. 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 by a hundredth of a second.
Qi was followed in fifth by Russia's Olga Bakaldina and in sixth by South Africa's Sarah Poewe, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke. Japan's Masami Tanaka and Qi's teammate Luo Xuejuan closed out the field.
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. Shortly after the Games, she made a decision to officially announce her retirement from international swimming.
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. Following by an evening session, she eventually lowered it to 2:24.03 in the semifinals.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
20 SeptemberHeat 5Ágnes Kovács2:24.92
20 SeptemberSemifinal 1Ágnes Kovács2:24.03

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
155Ágnes Kovács2:24.92Q,
234Kristy Kowal2:26.73Q
345Qi Hui2:26.76Q
442Karine Brémond2:27.13Q, NR
544Masami Tanaka2:27.39Q
643Beatrice Căslaru2:27.59Q,
746Caroline Hildreth2:27.60Q
833Amanda Beard2:27.83Q
935Sarah Poewe2:27.84Q
1053Olga Bakaldina2:28.19Q
1148Ku Hyo-jin2:28.21Q, NR
1247Rebecca Brown2:28.24Q
1356Luo Xuejuan2:28.43Q
1451Christin Petelski2:29.11Q
1536Anne Poleska2:29.15Q
1657Alicja Pęczak2:29.45Q
1752Junko Isoda2:29.60Q
1832Ina Hüging2:30.00
1941Elvira Fischer2:30.05
2054Penny Heyns2:30.17
2131Brigitte Becue2:31.27
2258Agata Czaplicki2:32.98
2337Jaime King2:33.10
2428İlkay Dikmen2:33.34NR
2515Isabel Ceballos2:34.09
2624Inna Nikitina2:34.20
2722Siow Yi Ting2:34.52NR
2823Margarita Kalmikova2:35.69
2925Adriana Marmolejo2:36.93
3027Nicolette Teo2:37.39
3114Jenny Rose Guerrero2:38.10
3226Íris Edda Heimisdóttir2:38.52
3313Olga Moltchanova2:41.43
3421Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez2:41.97
3516Anastasiya Korolyova2:43.23
38Lourdes Becerra

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final