Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Medalists
  Ryan Lochte   United States
  Aaron Peirsol   United States
  Arkady Vyatchanin   Russia
«2004 2012»
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 Men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place between August 13 and 15, at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This swimming event used the backstroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Six heats were held, with most containing the maximum number of swimmers (eight). The heat in which a swimmer competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the swimmers with the top sixteen times from the entire field qualified for the semifinals. Two semifinal heats of eight swimmers each were held. The swimmers with the eight fastest times again advanced to the finals; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements.

The qualifying standards for the 2008 event were 1:59.72 (A norm) and 2:03.90 (B norm). NOCs with two or more swimmers meeting the A standard could enter any two such swimmers; otherwise, they could enter a single swimmer meeting the B standard.

Contents

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record  Ryan Lochte (USA)
 Aaron Peirsol (USA)		 1:54.32 Melbourne, Australia
Omaha, United States		 30 March 2007
4 July 2008		 [1]
[2]
Olympic record  Aaron Peirsol (USA) 1:54.95 Athens, Greece 19 August 2004 -

The record now stands as recorded below:

World record  Aaron Peirsol (USA) 1:51.92 Rome, Italy 31 July 2009
Olympic record  Ryan Lochte (USA) 1:53.94 Beijing, China 15 August 2008 -

Heats

Heat 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Brett Fraser Cayman Islands 2:01.17
2 5 Oleg Rabota Kazakhstan 2:01.95
3 3 Sergey Pankov Uzbekistan 2:03.51

Heat 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 Itai Chammah Israel 2:00.93
2 1 Pedro Medel Cuba 2:01.32
3 2 Květoslav Svoboda Czech Republic 2:03.12
4 4 Jian Deng China 2:03.34
5 6 Oleksandr Isakov Ukraine 2:03.59
6 3 Andres Olvik Estonia 2:03.66
6 Simon Sjödin Sweden DNS

Heat 3

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 7 George du Rand South Africa 1:58.62 Q, AF
2 4 Tobias Oriwol Canada 1:58.94 Q
3 1 Omar Pinzón Colombia 1:59.11
4 6 Derya Büyükuncu Turkey 1:59.86
5 8 Jiheun Kim South Korea 2:00.72
6 2 Pedro Oliveira Portugal 2:01.08
7 3 Jonathan Massacand Switzerland 2:01.80
8 5 Dimitrios Chasiotis Greece 2:02.30

Heat 4

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Markus Rogan Austria 1:56.64 Q
2 5 Hayden Stoeckel Australia 1:57.15 Q
3 3 Razvan Ionut Florea Romania 1:57.97 Q
4 2 Damiano Lestingi Italy 1:58.53 Q
5 1 Sebastian Stoss Austria 1:59.44
6 6 Takashi Nakano Japan 1:59.59
7 7 Gabor Balog Hungary 2:01.42
8 8 Simon Dufour France 2:02.00

Heat 5

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:56.35 Q
2 5 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 1:56.97 Q
3 3 Ryosuke Irie Japan 1:57.68 Q
4 6 Helge Meeuw Germany 1:58.42 Q
5 2 Pierre Roger France 1:59.01
6 8 Lucas Salatta Brazil 1:59.91
7 1 Nick Driebergen Netherlands 2:00.24
8 7 Mattia Aversa Italy 2:00.25

Heat 6

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Ryan Lochte United States 1:56.29 Q
2 5 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:57.03 Q
3 7 Gordan Kožulj Croatia 1:57.81 Q
4 3 Ashley Delaney Australia 1:57.87 Q
5 6 Stanislav Donets Russia 1:58.68 Q
6 8 Keith Beavers Canada 1:58.84 Q
7 1 Roland Rudolf Hungary 1:59.44
8 2 Aschwin Wildeboer Spain DNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:55.26 Q
2 2 Razvan Ionut Florea Romania 1:56.45 Q
3 3 Hayden Stoeckel Australia 1:56.73 Q, OC
4 5 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 1:56.85 Swim-Off
5 7 Damiano Lestingi Italy 1:58.25
6 6 Gordan Kožulj Croatia 1:59.22
7 8 Tobias Oriwol Canada 1:59.50
8 1 Stanislav Donets Russia 1:59.87

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Ryan Lochte United States 1:55.40 Q
2 5 Markus Rogan Austria 1:56.34 Q
3 6 Ryosuke Irie Japan 1:56.35 Q
4 3 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:56.72 Q
5 7 Helge Meeuw Germany 1:56.85 Swim-Off
6 2 Ashley Delaney Australia 1:57.73
7 8 Keith Beavers Canada 1:58.50
8 1 George du Rand South Africa 1:58.61

Swim-Off

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 1:57.75 Q
2 5 Helge Meeuw Germany 2:00.97

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
5 Ryan Lochte United States 1:53.94 WR
4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:54.33
8 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 1:54.93 ER
4 3 Markus Rogan Austria 1:55.49 NR
5 6 Ryosuke Irie Japan 1:55.72
6 1 Hayden Stoeckel Australia 1:56.39 OC
7 2 Razvan Ionut Florea Romania 1:56.52
8 7 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:57.00

References

  1. ^ Clarey, Christopher (2007-03-31). "American sets a record, but, no, it’s not Phelps". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/sports/othersports/31swim.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  2. ^ Van Valkenburg, Kevin (2008-07-05). "Phelps in a world of his own". The Baltimore Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-sp.swim05jul05001526,0,5528117.story. Retrieved 2008-08-06.