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Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle

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Women's 200-metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
VenueSydney International Aquatic Centre
Date18 September 2000 (heats &
semi-finals)
19 September 2000 (final)
Competitors41 from 35 nations
Winning time1:58.24
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Susie O'Neill  Australia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Martina Moravcová  Slovakia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Claudia Poll  Costa Rica
← 1996
2004 →

The women's 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney.[1]

Australia's overwhelming favorite Susie O'Neill, dubbed as Madame Butterfly, gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate, as she claimed the gold medal in the event. Rocketed to the boisterous chants of "Susie, Susie" by her swimming fans, O'Neill held off a challenge from Slovakia's Martina Moravcová to strengthen her lead on the final lap before hitting the wall first in 1:58.24.[2][3] Moravcova trailed behind by a small fraction of a second to capture another silver at these Games in 1:58.32, while Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, defending Olympic champion, added a second bronze to her hardware from the 400 m freestyle, in a sterling time of 1:58.81.[4][5][6]

Russia's Nadezhda Chemezova and Germany's Kerstin Kielgass tied for fourth place in a matching time of 1:58.86, finishing off the podium by just five-hundredths of a second (0.05). Belarus' Natalya Baranovskaya pulled off a sixth-place finish in a national record of 1:59.28, while Romania's Camelia Potec (1:59.46) and China's Wang Luna (1:59.55) closed out the field.[6]

Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring world-record holder Franziska van Almsick, who faded shortly on the final lap and finished eleventh in the semi-finals; South Africa's Helene Muller, who posted a second-fastest prelims time (1:59.89) earlier but ended up only in ninth; and American duo Lindsay Benko and Rada Owen, both of whom earned a twelfth and a sixteenth spot, respectively.[7]

Shortly after the Games, O'Neill announced her retirement from swimming, and was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission, along with ten other athletes.[8][9]

Records

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

World record  Franziska van Almsick (GER) 1:56.78 Rome, Italy 6 September 1994 [10]
Olympic record  Heike Friedrich (GDR) 1:57.65 Seoul, South Korea 21 September 1988 [10]

Results

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Heats

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[10]

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 4 Susie O'Neill  Australia 1:59.14 Q
2 4 2 Helene Muller  South Africa 1:59.89 Q, AF
3 5 4 Claudia Poll  Costa Rica 2:00.11 Q
4 6 5 Lindsay Benko  United States 2:00.13 Q
5 4 4 Camelia Potec  Romania 2:00.18 Q
6 6 6 Kerstin Kielgaß  Germany 2:00.25 Q
7 5 5 Franziska van Almsick  Germany 2:00.37 Q
8 4 5 Martina Moravcová  Slovakia 2:00.46 Q
9 5 6 Nadezhda Chemezova  Russia 2:00.47 Q
10 4 3 Natalya Baranovskaya  Belarus 2:00.58 Q
11 6 1 Carla Geurts  Netherlands 2:00.60 Q
12 6 3 Wang Luna  China 2:00.89 Q
13 5 3 Giaan Rooney  Australia 2:00.99 Q
14 4 8 Mandy Leach  Zimbabwe 2:01.05 Q, NR
15 5 7 Rada Owen  United States 2:01.10 Q
16 4 1 Sara Parise  Italy 2:01.31 Q
17 5 2 Yang Yu  China 2:01.34
18 6 2 Jessica Deglau  Canada 2:01.42
4 7 Karen Pickering  Great Britain
20 4 6 Solenne Figuès  France 2:01.46
21 3 1 Rania Elwani  Egypt 2:01.93 NR
22 5 1 Nina van Koeckhoven  Belgium 2:02.15
23 6 8 Laura Nicholls  Canada 2:02.69
24 5 8 Laura Roca  Spain 2:03.37
25 3 2 Zoi Dimoschaki  Greece 2:04.06
26 3 5 Olena Lapunova  Ukraine 2:04.39
27 2 5 Lára Hrund Bjargardóttir  Iceland 2:05.22
28 3 4 Chantal Gibney  Ireland 2:05.24
29 2 6 Vesna Stojanovska  Macedonia 2:05.58
30 3 8 Pilin Tachakittiranan  Thailand 2:05.88
31 3 3 Elina Partõka  Estonia 2:05.90
32 3 6 Tsai Shu-min  Chinese Taipei 2:06.12
33 3 7 Roh Joo-hee  South Korea 2:07.21
34 2 7 Ivanka Moralieva  Bulgaria 2:07.61
35 2 3 Anna Korshikova  Kyrgyzstan 2:08.08
36 2 2 Petra Banović  Croatia 2:08.30
37 1 4 Nisha Millet  India 2:08.89
38 1 5 Pamela Vásquez  Honduras 2:15.83
39 1 3 Marella Mamoun  Syria 2:18.78
2 4 Florencia Szigeti  Argentina DSQ
6 7 Karen Legg  Great Britain DNS

Semi-finals

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Semi-final 1

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 Martina Moravcová  Slovakia 1:59.75 Q
2 3 Kerstin Kielgaß  Germany 1:59.78 Q
3 2 Natalya Baranovskaya  Belarus 1:59.90 Q, NR
4 7 Wang Luna  China 1:59.97 Q
5 4 Helene Muller  South Africa 2:00.04
6 8 Sara Parise  Italy 2:00.07
7 5 Lindsay Benko  United States 2:00.27
8 1 Mandy Leach  Zimbabwe 2:00.60

Semi-final 2

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Susie O'Neill  Australia 1:59.37 Q
2 3 Camelia Potec  Romania 1:59.54 Q
3 5 Claudia Poll  Costa Rica 1:59.63 Q
4 2 Nadezhda Chemezova  Russia 1:59.69 Q
5 6 Franziska van Almsick  Germany 2:00.26
6 1 Giaan Rooney  Australia 2:00.84
7 7 Carla Geurts  Netherlands 2:00.88
8 8 Rada Owen  United States 2:03.34

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Susie O'Neill  Australia 1:58.24
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2 Martina Moravcová  Slovakia 1:58.32
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3 Claudia Poll  Costa Rica 1:58.81
4 6 Nadezhda Chemezova  Russia 1:58.86
7 Kerstin Kielgaß  Germany
6 1 Natalya Baranovskaya  Belarus 1:59.28 NR
7 5 Camelia Potec  Romania 1:59.46
8 8 Wang Luna  China 1:59.55

References

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  1. ^ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ "O'Neill strikes gold for Australia". BBC Sport. 19 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 20 September 2000. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". Canoe.ca. 18 September 2000. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  7. ^ Whitten, Phillip (18 September 2000). "Olympic Day 3 Finals (100 Breast, 100 Back M, 100 Back W, 200 Free)". Swimming World. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Susie O'Neill Hangs Up Her Swim Suit". Swimming World. 23 November 2000. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Swimming star O'Neill retires". BBC Sport. 22 November 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Women's 200m Freestyle Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 186–187. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
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