Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

Men's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DatesAugust 18, 2004 (heats &
semifinals)
August 19, 2004 (final)
Competitors36 from 30 nations
Winning time1:54.95 OR
Medalists
   United States
   Austria
   Romania
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 men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 18 and 19.[1]

U.S. swimmer Aaron Peirsol won a gold medal in this event, with an Olympic record time of 1:54.95. Markus Rogan added another silver for Austria in the same stroke, in an outstanding time of 1:57.35. Romania's Răzvan Florea, who finished behind Rogan by 0.21 of a second, earned a bronze in 1:57.56. Peirsol became the fifth swimmer and fourth American in Olympic history to claim titles in two backstroke events.[2]

In the final, Peirsol won the race but was disqualified for a noncontinuous backstroke turn[3] (in backstroke, a swimmer is allowed to rotate onto his/her stomach going into a turn, as long as 1) only one arm pull occurs while the swimmer is on his/her stomach and 2) the turn is one smooth motion [4]). Peirsol's disqualification was appealed, and overturned, reinstating his time and finish. The British team have announced their intention to appeal to a higher body in an attempt to get their fourth-place swimmer James Goddard for a bronze medal.[5]

Records

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

World record  Aaron Peirsol (USA) 1:54.74 Long Beach, United States 12 July 2004
Olympic record  Lenny Krayzelburg (USA) 1:56.76 Sydney, Australia 21 September 2000

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
18 August Semifinal Aaron Peirsol United States 1:55.14 OR
19 August Final Aaron Peirsol United States 1:54.95 OR

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 5 4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:57.33 Q
2 4 5 James Goddard Great Britain 1:57.96 Q
3 5 5 Markus Rogan Austria 1:58.06 Q
4 5 6 Răzvan Florea Romania 1:58.81 Q
5 4 4 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:59.35 Q
6 5 3 Simon Dufour France 1:59.52 Q
7 4 3 Bryce Hunt United States 1:59.82 Q
8 5 2 Jorge Sánchez Spain 2:00.10 Q
9 5 7 Emanuele Merisi Italy 2:00.10 Q
10 3 2 Nathaniel O'Brien Canada 2:00.49 Q
11 5 1 Rogério Romero Brazil 2:00.60 Q
12 3 4 Gordan Kožulj Croatia 2:00.94 Q
13 4 2 Keith Beavers Canada 2:00.97 Q
14 3 5 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 2:01.09 Q
15 4 6 Blaž Medvešek Slovenia 2:01.13 Q
16 3 6 Tomomi Morita Japan 2:01.19 Q
17 4 7 Yevgeny Aleshin Russia 2:01.25
18 3 1 Patrick Murphy Australia 2:01.26
19 3 3 Matt Welsh Australia 2:01.73
20 4 8 Cameron Gibson New Zealand 2:02.65
21 2 5 Alex Lim Malaysia 2:02.67
22 2 3 Derya Büyükuncu Turkey 2:02.69
23 2 7 Nicholas Neckles Barbados 2:02.84
24 4 1 Viktor Bodrogi Hungary 2:03.16
25 2 4 Volodymyr Nikolaychuk Ukraine 2:03.21
26 2 2 Pavel Suškov Lithuania 2:03.54
27 2 1 Adam Mania Poland 2:03.73
28 3 8 Antonios Gkioulmpas Greece 2:04.30
29 3 7 Aschwin Wildeboer Faber Spain 2:04.33
30 5 8 Yu Rui China 2:04.51
31 2 6 Ahmed Hussein Egypt 2:04.82
32 2 8 Sung Min South Korea 2:04.86
33 1 5 Matti Mäki Finland 2:06.29
34 1 6 Andrei Mihailov Moldova 2:06.97
35 1 2 Omar Pinzón Colombia 2:07.26
36 1 3 Iurii Zakharov Kyrgyzstan 2:10.45

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 James Goddard Great Britain 1:57.25 Q
2 5 Răzvan Florea Romania 1:58.20 Q
3 3 Simon Dufour France 1:58.96 Q
4 8 Tomomi Morita Japan 1:59.52 Q
5 7 Gordan Kožulj Croatia 1:59.61
6 1 Arkady Vyatchanin Russia 1:59.80
7 6 Jorge Sánchez Spain 2:00.12
8 2 Nathaniel O'Brien Canada 2:00.13

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:55.14 Q, OR
2 5 Markus Rogan Austria 1:57.50 Q
3 3 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:58.75 Q
4 8 Blaž Medvešek Slovenia 1:59.37 Q
5 6 Bryce Hunt United States 1:59.74
6 1 Keith Beavers Canada 1:59.98
7 7 Rogério Romero Brazil 2:00.48
8 2 Emanuele Merisi Italy 2:00.83

Final

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st 4 Aaron Peirsol United States 1:54.95 OR
2nd 3 Markus Rogan Austria 1:57.35
3rd 6 Răzvan Florea Romania 1:57.56
4 5 James Goddard Great Britain 1:57.76
5 8 Tomomi Morita Japan 1:58.40 AS
6 7 Simon Dufour France 1:58.49
7 2 Gregor Tait Great Britain 1:59.28
8 1 Blaž Medvešek Slovenia 2:00.06

References

  1. ↑ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. ↑ "Peirsol gets gold after all". ESPN. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Svrluga, Barry (19 August 2004). "Beard: Worth their wait in gold". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "FINA Rules for Backstroke". FINA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Peirsol wins gold after DQ overturned". NBC Sports. 20 August 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

External links