Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
| Women's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | August 16, 2004 (heats & semifinals) August 17, 2004 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 41 from 36 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:58.03 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming events at the 2004 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 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 16 and 17.[1]
Camelia Potec became the second Romanian swimmer to claim a gold medal in swimming (the first being done by Diana Mocanu in Sydney), outside the record time of 1:58.03. The silver medal was awarded to 15-year-old Federica Pellegrini of Italy, who finished behind Potec by 0.19 of a second, clocking at 1:58.22. France's Solenne Figuès, on the other hand, took home the bronze in 1:58.45. World record holder Franziska van Almsick, however, finished outside of medals in fifth place, with a time of 1:58.88.[2][3]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Franziska van Almsick (GER) | 1:56.64 | Berlin, Germany | 3 August 2002 |
| Olympic record |  Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.65 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 |
No new records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Federica Pellegrini | .svg.png){kind=small} Italy | 1:58.02 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Pang Jiaying |  China | 1:58.68 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Josefin Lillhage |  Sweden | 1:59.31 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Claudia Poll | .svg.png){kind=small} Costa Rica | 1:59.79 | |
| 5 | 7 | Alena Popchanka | .svg.png){kind=small} Belarus | 1:59.87 | |
| 6 | 6 | Lindsay Benko |  United States | 2:00.22 | |
| 7 | 8 | Yang Yu | China | 2:00.52 | |
| 8 | 2 | Melanie Marshall |  Great Britain | 2:01.06 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Solenne Figuès |  France | 1:58.65 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 1:59.04 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Paulina Barzycka |  Poland | 1:59.10 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:59.13 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Camelia Potec |  Romania | 1:59.25 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Elka Graham |  Australia | 1:59.44 | |
| 7 | 8 | Martina Moravcová |  Slovenia | 1:59.96 | |
| 8 | 1 | Tomoko Nagai |  Japan | 2:00.09 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 1:58.03 | |
 | 4 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:58.22 | |
 | 5 | Solenne Figuès | France | 1:58.45 | |
| 4 | 2 | Paulina Barzycka | Poland | 1:58.62 | |
| 5 | 7 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:58.88 | |
| 6 | 6 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 1:58.98 | |
| 7 | 3 | Pang Jiaying | China | 1:59.16 | |
| 8 | 8 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 1:59.20 |
References
- ↑ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
- ↑ "Potec wins freestyle gold". BBC Sport. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- ↑ "Camelia Potec Takes 200 Freestyle from Lane Ones". Swimming World Magazine. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2013.