Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke
| Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | London Aquatics Centre | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | August 1, 2012 (heats & semifinals) August 2, 2012 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 34 from 27 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:19.59 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2012 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 breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]
U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni cleared a 2:20-barrier in a remarkable world record to defend her Olympic title for the first time in the event's history. Dominating the race from the start, she threw down a stunning time of 2:19.59 to open up a full-body length gap over the rest of the field on the final stretch.[2][3] Meanwhile, Japan's Satomi Suzuki powered home with silver in a scorching time of 2:20.72 to match an Asian record previously held by Rie Kaneto in 2009.[4] Russia's Yuliya Yefimova, who trained with Soni at the Trojan Swim Club, snatched the bronze medal with an astonishing European record in 2:20.92.[5][6]
Denmark's Rikke Pedersen fell short of the podium by almost a full second with a fourth-place time in 2:21.65, and was followed in fifth by Canada's Martha McCabe (2:23.16) and sixth by Soni's teammate Micah Lawrence (2:23.27).[7] South Africa's Suzaan van Biljon got off to a flying start in the first length, but dropped back to seventh in 2:23.72, while Australia's Sally Foster rounded out the field to eighth in 2:26.00.[6][8]
Before the breakthrough finale, Soni scorched the field with a world-record time in 2:20.00 to pick up a top seed in the semifinals, slicing 0.12 seconds off the standard set by Canada's Annamay Pierse in a since-banned high tech bodysuit from the 2009 World Championships.[9][10]
Other notable swimmers missed the final roster featuring Serbia's Nađa Higl, the 2009 world champion; Norway's Sara Nordenstam, the defending bronze medalist; and Jamaica's Alia Atkinson, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke.[11]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Annamay Pierse (CAN) | 2:20.12 | Rome, Italy | 30 July 2009 | [12][13] |
| Olympic record |  Rebecca Soni (USA) | 2:20.22 | Beijing, China | 15 August 2008 | [14] |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1 | Semifinal 2 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:20.00 | WR |
| August 2 | Final | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:19.59 | WR |
Results
Heats
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:21.40 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 6 | Rikke Pedersen |  Denmark | 2:22.69 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | Satomi Suzuki |  Japan | 2:23.22 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | Micah Lawrence | United States | 2:24.50 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | Anastasia Chaun |  Russia | 2:25.39 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 1 | Joline Höstman |  Sweden | 2:25.44 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | Ji Liping |  China | 2:25.76 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 1 | Back Su-Yeon |  South Korea | 2:25.76 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon |  South Africa | 2:25.94 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | 6 | Sally Foster |  Australia | 2:26.04 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 7 | Sara El Bekri |  Morocco | 2:26.05 | Q, NR |
| 12 | 4 | 5 | Kanako Watanabe | Japan | 2:26.38 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 6 | Martha McCabe | Canada | 2:26.39 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 4 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 2:26.83 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 7 | Jeong Da-Rae | South Korea | 2:26.83 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 1 | Tessa Wallace | Australia | 2:26.94 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | 5 | Ganna Dzerkal |  Ukraine | 2:27.09 | NR |
| 18 | 4 | 8 | Stacey Tadd |  Great Britain | 2:27.18 | |
| 19 | 5 | 7 | Fanny Lecluyse | .svg.png){kind=small} Belgium | 2:27.30 | |
| 20 | 5 | 2 | Marina Garcia Urzainqui |  Spain | 2:27.57 | |
| 21 | 3 | 5 | Tera van Beilen | Canada | 2:27.70 | |
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Chiara Boggiatto |  Italy | 2:27.74 | |
| 23 | 3 | 8 | Sara Nordenstam |  Norway | 2:27.90 | |
| 24 | 4 | 3 | Sun Ye | China | 2:27.94 | |
| 25 | 4 | 2 | Nađa Higl |  Serbia | 2:28.38 | |
| 26 | 2 | 6 | Martina Moravčíková |  Czech Republic | 2:28.54 | |
| 27 | 1 | 5 | Alia Atkinson |  Jamaica | 2:28.77 | NR |
| 28 | 2 | 4 | Hrafnhildur Luthersdóttir |  Iceland | 2:29.60 | |
| 29 | 1 | 4 | Anna Sztankovics |  Hungary | 2:29.67 | |
| 30 | 2 | 7 | Dilara Buse Günaydin |  Turkey | 2:30.64 | |
| 31 | 2 | 1 | Sarra Lajnef |  Tunisia | 2:31.15 | |
| 32 | 2 | 2 | Jenna Laukkanen |  Finland | 2:31.23 | |
| 33 | 2 | 3 | Tanja Šmid |  Slovenia | 2:32.19 | |
| 34 | 1 | 3 | Dariya Talanova |  Kyrgyzstan | 2:38.01 |
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 2:22.23 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 1 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 2:23.02 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Micah Lawrence | United States | 2:23.39 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Sally Foster | Australia | 2:24.46 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Back Su-Yeon | South Korea | 2:24.67 | |
| 6 | 3 | Joline Höstman | Sweden | 2:24.77 | |
| 7 | 7 | Kanako Watanabe | Japan | 2:27.32 | |
| 8 | 8 | Tessa Wallace | Australia | 2:27.38 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:20.00 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 5 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 2:22.40 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 2:23.21 | Q, AF |
| 4 | 1 | Martha McCabe | Canada | 2:24.09 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Sara El Bekri | Morocco | 2:25.86 | NR |
| 6 | 3 | Anastasia Chaun | Russia | 2:26.08 | |
| 7 | 6 | Ji Liping | China | 2:27.26 | |
| 8 | 8 | Jeong Da-Rae | South Korea | 2:28.74 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | Rebecca Soni | United States | 2:19.59 | WR |
 | 3 | Satomi Suzuki | Japan | 2:20.72 | =AS |
 | 6 | Yuliya Yefimova | Russia | 2:20.92 | EU |
| 4 | 5 | Rikke Pedersen | Denmark | 2:21.65 | NR |
| 5 | 1 | Martha McCabe | Canada | 2:23.16 | |
| 6 | 7 | Micah Lawrence | United States | 2:23.27 | |
| 7 | 2 | Suzaan van Biljon | South Africa | 2:23.72 | |
| 8 | 8 | Sally Foster | Australia | 2:26.00 |
References
- ↑ "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ↑ Auerbach, Nicole (2 August 2012). "Rebecca Soni sets world record in winning gold". USA Today. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Rebecca Soni breaks 200 breast world record again, wins gold". London 2012 (NBC Olympics). 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Swimmers Irie, Suzuki add silver to Japan’s medal count". The Japan Times. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "US swimmer Rebecca Soni sets another world record in the 200-meter breaststroke". Fox News. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "2012 London Olympics: Rebecca Soni Clears 2:20 In Remarkable World Record Swim to Defend 200 Breast Title; Satomi Suzuki, Yuliya Efimova Round Out Podium; Micah Lawrence Sixth". Swimming World Magazine. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "McCabe finishes fifth; Hayden fails to advance". The Vancouver Sun. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Van Biljon falls short in final". Sport24. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "2012 London Olympics: USA's Rebecca Soni Throws Down World Record in 200 Breast Semis; Micah Lawrence Makes Finals". Swimming World Magazine. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Soni sets world record in 200 breast semifinals". Gillette News-Record. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "2012 London Olympics: Rebecca Soni Surges to Olympic Textile Best in 200 Breast; Micah Lawrence Fourth". Swimming World Magazine. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Pierse sets world breaststroke record". CBC Sports. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Canadian Pierse sets world swim record". CBC Sports. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ↑ "Rebecca Soni breaks 200m breaststroke record". France 24. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ↑ "Women's 200m Breaststroke – Heats". London 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.