Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre butterfly
| Men's 200 metre butterfly at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | September 18, 2000 (heats & semifinals) September 19, 2000 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 46 from 40 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:55.35 OR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming events at the 2000 Summer Olympics  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.[1]
U.S. swimmer and top favorite Tom Malchow shattered his own Olympic record to claim a gold medal in the event. Coming from third place on the final turn, he held off a challenge from fast-pacing Denys Sylantyev of Ukraine to touch the wall first in 1:55.35.[2][3] Sylantyev trailed behind by almost half a second (0.50) to take a silver in 1:55.76, while Australia's Justin Norris settled only for the bronze in an Oceanian record of 1:56.17.[4][5]
Russia's Anatoly Polyakov finished outside the medals by 17-hundredths of a second in 1:56.34. 15-year-old Michael Phelps, the youngest ever male U.S. Olympic swimmer in 68 years, continued to improve his personal best of 1:56.50, but it was only enough to pull off a fifth-place finish.[5][6][7]
Phelps, who later emerged as the most-decorated Olympian of all-time, was followed in the sixth spot by Great Britain's Stephen Parry in 1:57.01. Defending Olympic champion Denis Pankratov seized a powerful lead on the first length, but faded shortly to seventh place in 1:57.97. France's Franck Esposito (1:58.39), bronze medalist in Barcelona eight years later, closed out the field.[5]
Earlier, Malchow posted a top-seeded time of 1:56.25 on the morning prelims to cut off Melvin Stewart's 1992 Olympic record by a hundredth of a second (0.01).[8] Followed by an evening session on day three, he eventually lowered it to 1:56.02 in the semifinals.[9]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Tom Malchow (USA) | 1:55.18 | Charlotte, United States | 17 June 2000 | [10] |
| Olympic record | Melvin Stewart (USA) | 1:56.26 | Barcelona, Spain | 30 July 1992 | [10] |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September | Heat 6 | Tom Malchow | United States | 1:56.25 | OR |
| 18 September | Semifinal 2 | Tom Malchow | United States | 1:56.02 | OR |
| 19 September | Final | Tom Malchow | United States | 1:55.35 | OR |
Results
Heats
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Denys Sylantyev |  Ukraine | 1:56.81 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Justin Norris |  Australia | 1:57.10 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Stephen Parry |  Great Britain | 1:57.23 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Takashi Yamamoto |  Japan | 1:57.66 | |
| 5 | 3 | James Hickman | Great Britain | 1:57.84 | |
| 6 | 7 | Heath Ramsay | Australia | 1:57.90 | |
| 7 | 1 | Hisayoshi Tanaka | Japan | 1:58.06 | |
| 8 | 8 | Sergey Fesenko | Ukraine | 1:59.03 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Tom Malchow | United States | 1:56.02 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 3 | Anatoly Polyakov |  Russia | 1:56.78 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Michael Phelps | United States | 1:57.00 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Franck Esposito |  France | 1:57.04 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Denis Pankratov | Russia | 1:57.24 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | Andrew Livingston |  Puerto Rico | 1:58.63 | NR |
| 7 | 1 | Stefan Aartsen |  Netherlands | 1:58.66 | |
| 8 | 7 | Thomas Rupprath |  Germany | 1:58.96 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | Tom Malchow | United States | 1:55.35 | OR |
 | 3 | Denys Sylantyev | Ukraine | 1:55.76 | NR |
 | 7 | Justin Norris | Australia | 1:56.17 | OC |
| 4 | 5 | Anatoly Polyakov | Russia | 1:56.34 | |
| 5 | 6 | Michael Phelps | United States | 1:56.50 | |
| 6 | 1 | Stephen Parry | Great Britain | 1:57.01 | |
| 7 | 8 | Denis Pankratov | Russia | 1:57.97 | |
| 8 | 2 | Franck Esposito | France | 1:58.39 |
References
- ↑ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ↑ Fitzpatrick, Frank (20 September 2000). "Malchow Captures Gold In Butterfly He Suffers From Asthma And Says He Is Not Much Of An Athlete. But, Yesterday The 200-meter Race Was His". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ Bondy, Filip (20 September 2000). "Malchow's gold has ripple effect". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- 1 2 3 Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated (CNN). 19 September 2000. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ Dillman, Lisa (13 August 2000). "Phelps to Sydney, Oh, Boy!". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ McMullen, Paul (18 September 2000). "Another Phelps growth spurt in 200 fly". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- ↑ Whitten, Phillip (18 September 2000). "Olympic Day 3 Finals (100 Breast, 100 Back M, 100 Back W, 200 Free)". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
- 1 2 3 "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 200m Butterfly Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 210–212. Retrieved 6 June 2013.