Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre individual medley

Women's 200 metre individual medley
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Stephanie Rice
Competitors 39
Medalists
  Stephanie Rice   Australia
  Kirsty Coventry   Zimbabwe
  Natalie Coughlin   United States
«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 women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 11–13 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This swimming event used medley swimming. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool. The first length was swum using the butterfly stroke, the second with the backstroke, the third length in breaststroke, and the fourth freestyle. Unlike other events using freestyle, swimmers could not use butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke for the freestyle leg; most swimmers use the front crawl in freestyle events anyway.

Five 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 were for the 2008 event were 2:15.27 (A norm) and 2:20.00 (B norm). Nations 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  Stephanie Rice (AUS) 2:08.92 Sydney, Australia 25 March 2008 [1]
Olympic record  Yana Klochkova (UKR) 2:10.68 Sydney, Australia 19 September 2000 -

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date Event Name Nationality Time OR WR
August 12 Semifinal 1 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:09.53 OR
August 13 Final Stephanie Rice Australia 2:08.45 OR WR

Heats

Heat 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 Ganna Dzerkal Ukraine 2:18.25
2 2 Erika Stewardt Colombia 2:18.54
3 3 Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai Hong Kong 2:18.91
4 4 Erla Dogg Iceland 2:20.53
5 7 Man-Hsu Lin Chinese Taipei 2:23.29
6 1 Fibriani Ratna Marita Indonesia 2:28.18
7 5 Maroua Mathlouthi Tunisia DNS

Heat 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 7 Joanna Maranhão Brazil 2:14.97
2 1 Sara Nordenstam Norway 2:15.13
3 2 Hyera Choi South Korea 2:15.26
4 3 Anja Klinar Slovenia 2:15.39
5 5 Jessica Pengelly South Africa 2:15.80
6 6 Femke Heemskerk Netherlands 2:16.28
7 8 Yi Ting Siow Malaysia 2:17.11
8 4 Georgina Bardach Argentina 2:25.74

Heat 3

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Natalie Coughlin United States 2:11.63 Q
2 6 Julie Hjorth-Hansen Denmark 2:11.99 Q
3 2 Asami Kitagawa Japan 2:12.47 Q
4 1 Li Jiaxing China 2:12.53 Q
5 7 Julia Wilkinson Canada 2:12.56 Q
6 5 Mireia Belmonte Spain 2:12.75 Q
7 3 Keri-Anne Payne Great Britain 2:12.78 Q
8 8 María Peláez Spain 2:15.97

Heat 4

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 3 Alicia Coutts Australia 2:11.55 Q
2 4 Katie Hoff United States 2:11.58 Q
3 5 Camille Muffat France 2:12.16 Q
4 1 Svetlana Karpeeva Russia 2:12.94 Q
5 8 Katinka Hosszú Hungary 2:13.05
6 6 Qi Hui China 2:14.25
7 2 Cylia Vabre France 2:14.34
8 7 Katharina Schiller Germany 2:18.00

Heat 5

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 3 Hannah Miley Great Britain 2:11.72 Q
2 4 Stephanie Rice Australia 2:12.07 Q
3 5 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:12.18 Q
4 6 Katarzyna Baranowska Poland 2:12.47 Q
5 2 Evelyn Verrasztó Hungary 2:12.52 Q
6 1 Helen Norfolk New Zealand 2:13.50
7 7 Erica Morningstar Canada 2:14.11
8 8 Sonja Schober Germany 2:20.18

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:09.53 Q OR
2 3 Stephanie Rice Australia 2:10.58 Q
3 4 Katie Hoff United States 2:10.90 Q
4 2 Katarzyna Baranowska Poland 2:12.13 Q, NR
5 5 Hannah Miley Great Britain 2:12.35
6 8 Svetlana Karpeeva Russia 2:13.26
7 1 Mireia Belmonte Spain 2:13.45
8 7 Li Jiaxing China 2:13.47

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 Natalie Coughlin United States 2:11.84 Q
2 1 Julia Wilkinson Canada 2:12.03 Q
2 4 Alicia Coutts Australia 2:12.03 Q
4 2 Asami Kitagawa Japan 2:12.18 Q
4 7 Evelyn Verrasztó Hungary 2:12.18
6 3 Julie Hjorth-Hansen Denmark 2:12.26
7 6 Camille Muffat France 2:12.36
8 8 Keri-Anne Payne Great Britain 2:14.14

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
5 Stephanie Rice Australia 2:08.45 WR[2]
4 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:08.59 [3]
6 Natalie Coughlin United States 2:10.34 [3]
4 3 Katie Hoff United States 2:10.68
5 2 Alicia Coutts Australia 2:11.43
6 8 Asami Kitagawa Japan 2:11.56
7 7 Julia Wilkinson Canada 2:12:43
8 1 Katarzyna Baranowska Poland 2:13.36

References

  1. ^ "Rice claims new world mark for medley". The Age. 2008-03-25. http://news.theage.com.au/rice-claims-new-world-mark-for-medley/20080325-21dj.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06. 
  2. ^ "Rice edges thrilling medley final". BBC News (BBC Sport). 2008-08-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/swimming/7557694.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
  3. ^ a b 2008 Beijing