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

Women's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
VenueAthens Olympic Aquatic Centre
DateAugust 19, 2004 (heats &
semifinals)
August 20, 2004 (final)
Competitors35 from 27 nations
Winning time2:09.19 AF
Medalists
   Zimbabwe
   Russia
   Japan
   Germany
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 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 19 and 20.[1]

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry added gold to her silver and bronze medals by a storming victory in this event, breaking an African record time of 2:09.19. Russia's Stanislava Komarova took home the silver at 2:09.72, while Japan's Reiko Nakamura and Germany's Antje Buschschulte shared their triumph for the bronze medal, in a joint time of 2:09.88.[2] British swimmer and world champion Katy Sexton, on the other hand, finished outside the medals in seventh place, with a time of 2:12.11. Since Zimbabwe made its official debut in 1980, Coventry also became the nation's first athlete in its history to claim an individual Olympic medal.[3]

Records

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

World record  Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) 2:06.62 Athens, Greece 25 August 1991
Olympic record  Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) 2:07.06 Barcelona, Spain 31 July 1992

No new records were set during this competition.

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 4 Stanislava Komarova Russia 2:10.71 Q
2 3 4 Reiko Nakamura Japan 2:11.14 Q
3 3 1 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:12.49 Q
4 5 4 Margaret Hoelzer United States 2:12.55 Q
5 4 6 Antje Buschschulte Germany 2:12.96 Q
6 5 2 Jennifer Fratesi Canada 2:13.00 Q
7 5 3 Louise Ørnstedt Denmark 2:13.05 Q
8 3 5 Katy Sexton Great Britain 2:13.25 Q
9 4 1 Hannah McLean New Zealand 2:13.33 Q
10 4 5 Aya Terakawa Japan 2:13.55 Q
11 3 2 Melissa Morgan Australia 2:14.06 Q
12 2 2 Evelyn Verrasztó Hungary 2:14.07 Q
13 5 6 Nicole Hetzer Germany 2:14.42 Q
14 5 5 Iryna Amshennikova Ukraine 2:14.49 Q
15 5 1 Frances Adcock Australia 2:14.85 Q
16 4 8 Sanja Jovanović Croatia 2:15.01 Q
17 4 2 Kristen Caverly United States 2:15.34
18 3 7 Elizabeth Warden Canada 2:15.77
19 2 6 Kateřina Pivoňková Czech Republic 2:16.08
20 4 3 Karen Lee Great Britain 2:16.10
21 3 8 Alessia Filippi Italy 2:17.29
21 2 7 Şadan Derya Erke Turkey 2:17.29
23 5 7 Anja Čarman Slovenia 2:17.62
24 2 1 Lin Man-Hsu Chinese Taipei 2:17.68
25 2 5 Lee Da-Hye South Korea 2:17.73
26 2 3 Gisela Morales Guatemala 2:18.23
27 5 8 Alexandra Putra France 2:19.75
28 1 4 Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai Hong Kong 2:19.83
29 2 8 Chonlathorn Vorathamrong Thailand 2:21.11
30 2 4 Eirini Karastergiou Greece 2:21.93
31 1 5 Gretchen Gotay Cordero Puerto Rico 2:23.39
32 1 3 Saida Iskandarova Uzbekistan 2:26.17
33 3 3 Zhan Shu China 2:31.56
35 3 6 Chen Xiujun China DSQ
35 4 7 Alenka Kejžar Slovenia DNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Reiko Nakamura Japan 2:10.14 Q
2 5 Margaret Hoelzer United States 2:11.68 Q
3 2 Aya Terakawa Japan 2:12.21 Q
4 6 Katy Sexton Great Britain 2:12.62 Q
5 3 Jennifer Fratesi Canada 2:12.64
6 8 Sanja Jovanović Croatia 2:13.76
7 7 Evelyn Verrasztó Hungary 2:13.98
8 1 Iryna Amshennikova Ukraine 2:14.83

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Stanislava Komarova Russia 2:09.62 Q
2 5 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:10.04 Q, AF
3 3 Antje Buschschulte Germany 2:10.66 Q
4 6 Louise Ørnstedt Denmark 2:11.77 Q
5 2 Hannah McLean New Zealand 2:12.87
6 1 Nicole Hetzer Germany 2:13.01
7 7 Melissa Morgan Australia 2:13.34
8 8 Frances Adcock Australia 2:15.69

Final

Rank Lane Swimmer Nation Time Notes
1st 5 Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe 2:09.19 AF
2nd 4 Stanislava Komarova Russia 2:09.72
3rd 3 Reiko Nakamura Japan 2:09.88
3rd 6 Antje Buschschulte Germany 2:09.88
5 2 Margaret Hoelzer United States 2:10.70
6 7 Louise Ørnstedt Denmark 2:11.15
7 8 Katy Sexton Great Britain 2:12.11
8 1 Aya Terakawa Japan 2:12.90

References

  1. ↑ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
  2. ↑ "Coventry takes backstroke". BBC Sport. 20 August 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Zimbabwe puts aside racial tensions to give hero's welcome to triple medal winner". USA Today. 25 August 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2013.

External links