The women's 200 metre breaststroke 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]
| Women's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre | ||||||||||||
| Date | August 18, 2004 (heats & semifinals) August 19, 2004 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 33 from 28 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 2:23.37 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
U.S. swimmer and world-record holder Amanda Beard completed a full set of medals in the event, adding a gold to her silver from Atlanta (1996) and bronze from Sydney (2000). She posted an Olympic record of 2:23.37, holding off Australia's Leisel Jones by 0.23 of a second for a silver medal in 2:23.60.[2][3][4] Anne Poleska, who had been seventh at the halfway mark, moved quickly into the field and finished strongly with a bronze in a personal best of 2:25.82, earning Germany's first individual medal of the meet since its reunification in 1990.[4]
Hungary's Ágnes Kovács, the gold medalist from Sydney, finished outside the medals in fifth place behind Japan's Masami Tanaka with a time of 2:26.12.[4]
Records edit
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record |  Amanda Beard (USA) |
2:22.44 | Long Beach, United States | 12 July 2004 | [5] |
| Olympic record |  Ágnes Kovács (HUN) |
2:24.03 | Sydney, Australia | 20 September 2000 | [5] |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 August | Final | Amanda Beard |  United States |
2:23.37 | OR |
Results edit
Heats edit
Semifinals edit
Semifinal 1 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Brooke Hanson |  Australia |
2:26.43 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Anne Poleska |  Germany |
2:26.59 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary |
2:26.63 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Qi Hui |  China |
2:26.75 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Caroline Bruce | United States |
2:27.60 | |
| 6 | 8 | Elena Bogomazova |  Russia |
2:30.35 | |
| 7 | 1 | Lauren van Oosten |  Canada |
2:30.39 | |
| 8 | 7 | Chiara Boggiatto |  Italy |
2:30.76 |
Semifinal 2 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Amanda Beard | United States |
2:25.62 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Masami Tanaka |  Japan |
2:26.38 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Leisel Jones | Australia |
2:26.71 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Mirna Jukić |  Austria |
2:26.95 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Kirsty Balfour |  Great Britain |
2:28.92 | |
| 6 | 6 | Birte Steven | Germany |
2:29.22 | |
| 7 | 1 | Marina Kuč |  Serbia and Montenegro |
2:31.77 | |
| 8 | Inna Kapishina |  Belarus |
DSQ |
Final edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Amanda Beard | United States |
2:23.37 | OR |
 |
7 | Leisel Jones | Australia |
2:23.60 | |
 |
6 | Anne Poleska | Germany |
2:25.82 | |
| 4 | 5 | Masami Tanaka | Japan |
2:25.87 | |
| 5 | 2 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary |
2:26.12 | |
| 6 | 1 | Qi Hui | China |
2:26.35 | |
| 7 | 8 | Mirna Jukić | Austria |
2:26.36 | |
| 8 | 3 | Brooke Hanson | Australia |
2:26.39 |
References edit
- ^ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
- ^ "Beard rolls to win in 200 breaststroke". Associated Press. ESPN. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
- ^ "Beard wins first gold in 200 breaststroke". NBC Sports. 19 August 2004. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
- ^ a b c Thomas, Stephen (19 August 2004). "Amanda Beard Edges out Leisel Jones for the Gold in the 200 Breaststroke". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Startlist Women's 200m Breaststroke Heats". www.omegatiming.com. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 9 July 2012.