Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
| Women's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | August 11, 2008 (heats) August 12, 2008(semifinals) August 13, 2008 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 46 from 37 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:54.82 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming events at the 2008 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 | ||
| Marathon | ||||
| 10 km | men | women | ||
The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 11–13 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]
Italy's Federica Pellegrini broke a new world record of 1:54.82 to claim a gold medal in the event, which was probably the weakest on the female program. Sara Isakovič, who finished behind Pellegrini by 0.15 of a second, cleared a 1:55 barrier to set a new Slovenian record of 1:54.97, and ultimately become the nation's first ever medalist in swimming. China's Pang Jiaying edged out U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff on the final lap to pick up a bronze in 1:55.05. Hoff settled only for fourth place in an American record of 1:55.78.[2][3][4]
Defending champion Camelia Potec finished outside the medals in fifth place, posting a Romanian record of 1:56.87. Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey earned a sixth spot in 1:57.65, and was followed by a seventh-place tie between Australia's Bronte Barratt and France's Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne in a matching time of 1:57.83. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went faster than a winning time of 1:58.03, previously set by Potec in Athens four years earlier.[2]
Earlier in the prelims, Pang broke one of the oldest Olympic records in the book, when she clocked at 1:57.37 to lead the fourth heat, slashing 0.28 seconds off the old, drug-tainted mark set by East Germany's Heike Friedrich from Seoul in 1988. Two heats later, Pellegrini posted a top-seeded time of 1:55.45 to erase Laure Manaudou's world record, set in 2007.[5]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Laure Manaudou (FRA) | 1:55.52 | Melbourne, Australia | 28 March 2007 | [6] |
| Olympic record |  Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.65 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 11 | Heat 4 | Pang Jiaying |  China | 1:57.37 | OR |
| August 11 | Heat 5 | Sara Isakovič |  Slovenia | 1:55.86 | OR |
| August 11 | Heat 6 | Federica Pellegrini |  Italy | 1:55.45 | WR |
| August 13 | Final | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:54.82 | WR |
Results
Heats
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Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Sara Isakovič | Slovenia |
1:56.50 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Katie Hoff |  United States |
1:57.01 | Q, AM |
| 3 | 3 | Pang Jiaying | China |
1:57.34 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Bronte Barratt |  Australia |
1:57.55 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Linda Mackenzie | Australia |
1:58.19 | |
| 6 | 6 | Haruka Ueda |  Japan |
1:58.44 | |
| 7 | 1 | Joanne Jackson |  Great Britain |
1:58.70 | |
| 8 | 8 | Ida Marko-Varga |  Sweden |
1:59.41 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy |
1:57.23 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Camelia Potec |  Romania |
1:57.71 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Caitlin McClatchey | Great Britain |
1:57.73 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne | France |
1:58.00 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Allison Schmitt | United States |
1:58.01 | |
| 6 | 8 | Aurore Mongel | France |
1:58.08 | |
| 7 | 3 | Ágnes Mutina |  Hungary |
1:58.15 | |
| 8 | 1 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden |
1:59.29 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 3 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:54.82 | WR |
 | 4 | Sara Isakovič | Slovenia | 1:54.97 | NR |
 | 6 | Pang Jiaying | China | 1:55.05 | AS |
| 4 | 5 | Katie Hoff | United States | 1:55.78 | AM |
| 5 | 7 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 1:56.87 | NR |
| 6 | 1 | Caitlin McClatchey | Great Britain | 1:57.65 | |
| 7 | 2 | Bronte Barratt | Australia | 1:57.83 | |
| 7 | 8 | Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne | France | 1:57.83 |
References
- ↑ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- 1 2 Lohn, John (12 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Federica Pellegrini Breaks 1:55, Lowers 200 Free World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ↑ "Pellegrini takes 200m free gold". BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ↑ "Katie Hoff falls short in 200 freestyle, 200 IM". NBC News. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ↑ Lohn, John (11 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Federica Pellegrini Downs World Record in 200 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ↑ "Phelps shines as records tumble". BBC News. 28 March 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2008.