Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
| Women's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | September 18, 2000 (heats & semifinals) September 19, 2000 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 41 from 35 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:58.24 | |||||||||
| 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 women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.[1]
Australia's overwhelming favorite Susie O'Neill, dubbed as Madame Butterfly, gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate, as she claimed the gold medal in the event. Rocketed to the boisterous chants of "Susie, Susie" by her swimming fans, O'Neill held off a challenge from Slovakia's Martina Moravcová to strengthen her lead on the final lap before hitting the wall first in 1:58.24.[2][3] Moravcova trailed behind by a small fraction of a second to capture another silver at these Games in 1:58.32, while Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, defending Olympic champion, added a second bronze to her hardware from the 400 m freestyle, in a sterling time of 1:58.81.[4][5][6]
Russia's Nadezhda Chemezova and Germany's Kerstin Kielgass tied for fourth place in a matching time of 1:58.86, finishing off the podium by just five-hundredths of a second (0.05). Belarus' Natalya Baranovskaya pulled off a sixth-place finish in a national record of 1:59.28, while Romania's Camelia Potec (1:59.46) and China's Wang Luna (1:59.55) closed out the field.[6]
Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring world-record holder Franziska van Almsick, who faded shortly on the final lap and finished eleventh in the semifinals; South Africa's Helene Muller, who posted a second-fastest prelims time (1:59.89) earlier but ended up only in ninth; and American duo Lindsay Benko and Rada Owen, both of whom earned a twelfth and a sixteenth spot, respectively.[7]
Shortly after the Games, O'Neill announced her retirement from swimming, and was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission, along with ten other athletes.[8][9]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Franziska van Almsick (GER) | 1:56.78 | Rome, Italy | 6 September 1994 | [10] |
| Olympic record |  Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.65 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 | [10] |
No new records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
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Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Martina Moravcová |  Slovakia | 1:59.75 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Kerstin Kielgass | Germany | 1:59.78 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Natalya Baranovskaya | .svg.png){kind=small} Belarus | 1:59.90 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 7 | Wang Luna |  China | 1:59.97 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Helene Muller |  South Africa | 2:00.04 | |
| 6 | 8 | Sara Parise |  Italy | 2:00.07 | |
| 7 | 5 | Lindsay Benko |  United States | 2:00.27 | |
| 8 | 1 | Mandy Leach |  Zimbabwe | 2:00.60 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Susie O'Neill |  Australia | 1:59.37 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Camelia Potec |  Romania | 1:59.54 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Claudia Poll | .svg.png){kind=small} Costa Rica | 1:59.63 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Nadezhda Chemezova |  Russia | 1:59.69 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 2:00.26 | |
| 6 | 1 | Giaan Rooney | Australia | 2:00.84 | |
| 7 | 7 | Carla Geurts |  Netherlands | 2:00.88 | |
| 8 | 8 | Rada Owen | United States | 2:03.34 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | Susie O'Neill | Australia | 1:58.24 | |
 | 2 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 1:58.32 | |
 | 3 | Claudia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:58.81 | |
| 4 | 6 | Nadezhda Chemezova | Russia | 1:58.86 | |
| 4 | 7 | Kerstin Kielgass | Germany | 1:58.86 | |
| 6 | 1 | Natalya Baranovskaya | Belarus | 1:59.28 | NR |
| 7 | 5 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 1:59.46 | |
| 8 | 8 | Wang Luna | China | 1:59.55 |
References
- ↑ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ↑ "O'Neill strikes gold for Australia". BBC Sport. 19 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ↑ "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated (CNN). 20 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ↑ "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". Canoe.ca. 18 September 2000. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ↑ Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- 1 2 Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. 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.
- ↑ "Susie O'Neill Hangs Up Her Swim Suit". Swimming World Magazine. 23 November 2000. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ↑ "Swimming star O'Neill retires". BBC Sport. 22 November 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- 1 2 3 "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 186–187. Retrieved 14 June 2013.