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

Women's 200 metre backstroke
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
Date August 14, 2008 (heats)
August 15, 2008 (semifinals)
August 16, 2008 (final)
Competitors 35 from 24 nations
Winning time 2:05.24 WR
Medalists
1st, gold medalist(s) Kirsty Coventry  Zimbabwe
2nd, silver medalist(s) Margaret Hoelzer  United States
3rd, bronze medalist(s) Reiko Nakamura  Japan

The women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 14–16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

After claiming three silver medals at these Games, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry stormed home on the final lap to defend her Olympic title in the event. She posted a time of 2:05.24 to crush a world record set by U.S. swimmer Margaret Hoelzer from the Olympic trials one month earlier.[2] Meanwhile, Hoelzer added a silver to her hardware from the 100 m backstroke, when she touched the wall in 2:06.23, the second-fastest effort of her career.[3][4] Japan's Reiko Nakamura managed to repeat a bronze from Athens four years earlier, in an Asian record of 2:07.13.[5]

Russia's top favorite Anastasia Zuyeva finished fourth with a time of 2:07.88, and was followed in the fifth spot by American teenager Elizabeth Beisel, aged 16, in 2:08.23. Elizabeth Simmonds set a new British record of 2:08.51 to earn a sixth spot, while Aussies Meagan Nay (2:08.84) and Belinda Hocking (2:10.12) closed out the field.[5][6] Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Russia's Stanislava Komarova, silver medalist in Athens, and British top favorite Gemma Spofforth.[5]

Before her breakthrough final, Coventry broke one of the oldest Olympic records earlier in the prelims. She posted a top-seeded time of 2:06.76 to lead 34 other swimmers in the race, slashing four-tenths of a second (0.40) off the record set by Hungary's three-time Olympic champion Krisztina Egerszegi from Barcelona in 1992.[7][8]

Records

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

World record Margaret Hoelzer (USA)2:06.09Omaha, United States5 July 2008
Olympic record Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN)2:07.06Barcelona, Spain31 July 1992

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

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 14Heat 4Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe2:06.76OR
August 16FinalKirsty Coventry Zimbabwe2:05.24WR, OR

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144Kirsty Coventry Zimbabwe2:06.76Q, OR
256Elizabeth Simmonds Great Britain2:08.66Q, NR
343Meagen Nay Australia2:08.79Q
435Zhao Jing China2:08.97Q
533Anastasia Zuyeva Russia2:09.01Q
655Elizabeth Beisel United States2:09.02Q
754Margaret Hoelzer United States2:09.12Q
842Melissa Ingram New Zealand2:09.34Q
945Alexianne Castel France2:09.37Q
1034Laure Manaudou France2:09.39Q
1136Belinda Hocking Australia2:09.54Q
1253Reiko Nakamura Japan2:09.77Q
1357Stanislava Komarova Russia2:09.93Q
1446Hanae Ito Japan2:10.05Q
1531Anja Čarman Slovenia2:10.49Q, NR
1632Gemma Spofforth Great Britain2:10.58Q
1737Evelyn Verrasztó Hungary2:11.02
1852Nikolett Szepesi Hungary2:11.47
1948Chen Yanyan China2:11.95
2027Melanie Nocher Ireland2:12.29NR
2126Zuzanna Mazurek Poland2:12.46NR
2247Melissa Corfe South Africa2:12.64
58Kateryna Zubkova Ukraine
2451Escarlata Bernard Spain2:12.86
2524Lydia Morant Spain2:13.87
2613Kang Yeong-seo South Korea2:14.52
2715Gisela Morales Guatemala2:14.54
2828Fernanda González Mexico2:14.64
2921Stella Boumi Greece2:14.73
3038Lindsay Seemann Canada2:15.07
3123Sanja Jovanović Croatia2:15.57
3214Erin Volcán Venezuela2:15.58
3341Iryna Amshennikova Ukraine2:15.78
3425Christin Zenner Germany2:20.28
22Julia Wilkinson CanadaDNS

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 3 Elizabeth Beisel  United States 2:07.90 Q
2 7 Reiko Nakamura  Japan 2:08.21 Q
3 4 Elizabeth Simmonds  Great Britain 2:08.96 Q
4 8 Gemma Spofforth  Great Britain 2:09.19
5 5 Zhao Jing  China 2:09.59
6 6 Melissa Ingram  New Zealand 2:09.70
7 1 Hanae Ito  Japan 2:09.86
8 2 Laure Manaudou  France 2:12.04

Semifinal 2

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 4 Kirsty Coventry  Zimbabwe 2:07.76 Q
2 5 Meagen Nay  Australia 2:08.09 Q, OC
3 6 Margaret Hoelzer  United States 2:08.25 Q
4 7 Belinda Hocking  Australia 2:08.80 Q
5 3 Anastasia Zuyeva  Russia 2:09.07 Q
6 2 Alexianne Castel  France 2:10.04
7 1 Stanislava Komarova  Russia 2:10.50
8 8 Anja Čarman  Slovenia 2:12.46

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
1st, gold medalist(s) 4 Kirsty Coventry  Zimbabwe 2:05.24WR
2nd, silver medalist(s) 2 Margaret Hoelzer  United States 2:06.23
3rd, bronze medalist(s) 6 Reiko Nakamura  Japan 2:07.13AS
4 8 Anastasia Zuyeva  Russia 2:07.88
5 5 Elizabeth Beisel  United States 2:08.23
6 1 Elizabeth Simmonds  Great Britain 2:08.51NR
7 3 Meagen Nay  Australia 2:08.84
8 7 Belinda Hocking  Australia 2:10.12

References

  1. ↑ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Evans, Simon (15 August 2008). "Coventry's silver mine seeded with gold". Reuters. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "Margaret Hoelzer gets Olympic silver in 200 backstroke". Team USA. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Kelley, Steve (16 August 2008). "Margaret Hoelzer wins silver in backstroke". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Kirsty Coventry Wins 200 Back in World Record Fashion". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Paxinos, Stathi (16 August 2008). "Coventry wins backstroke gold". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Lohn, John (14 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Kirsty Coventry Dominates 200 Back Prelims, Sets Olympic Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Harris, Beth (16 August 2008). "Americans Hoff, Ziegler fail in 800 free heats". USA Today. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.