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

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 11–13 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]

Women's 200 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 11, 2008 (heats)
August 12, 2008(semifinals)
August 13, 2008 (final)
Competitors46 from 37 nations
Winning time1:54.82 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Federica Pellegrini  Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sara Isakovič  Slovenia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Pang Jiaying  China
← 2004
2012 →

Italy's Federica Pellegrini broke a new world record of 1:54.82 to claim a gold medal in the event. Sara Isakovič, who finished behind Pellegrini by 0.15 of a second, cleared a 1:55 barrier to set a new Slovenian record of 1:54.97, and ultimately become the nation's first ever medalist in swimming. China's Pang Jiaying edged out U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff on the final lap to pick up a bronze in 1:55.05. Hoff finished in fourth place in an American record of 1:55.78.[2][3][4]

Defending champion Camelia Potec finished outside the medals in fifth place, posting a Romanian record of 1:56.87. Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey earned a sixth spot in 1:57.65, and was followed by a seventh-place tie between Australia's Bronte Barratt and France's Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne in a matching time of 1:57.83. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went faster than a winning time of 1:58.03, previously set by Potec in Athens four years earlier.[2]

Earlier in the prelims, Pang broke one of the oldest Olympic records in the book, when she clocked at 1:57.37 to lead the fourth heat, slashing 0.28 seconds off the old mark set by East Germany's Heike Friedrich from Seoul in 1988. Two heats later, Pellegrini posted a top-seeded time of 1:55.45 to erase Laure Manaudou's world record, set in 2007.[5]

Records

edit

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

World record   Laure Manaudou (FRA) 1:55.52 Melbourne, Australia 28 March 2007 [6]
Olympic record   Heike Friedrich (GDR) 1:57.65 Seoul, South Korea 21 September 1988 -

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

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record
August 11 Heat 4 Pang Jiaying   China 1:57.37 OR
August 11 Heat 5 Sara Isakovič   Slovenia 1:55.86 OR
August 11 Heat 6 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:55.45 WR
August 13 Final Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:54.82 WR

Results

edit

Heats

edit
Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 6 5 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:55.45 Q, WR
2 5 4 Sara Isakovič   Slovenia 1:55.86 Q, NR
3 5 3 Caitlin McClatchey   Great Britain 1:56.97 Q, NR
4 6 4 Katie Hoff   United States 1:57.20 Q
5 6 2 Ágnes Mutina   Hungary 1:57.25 Q, NR
6 4 2 Pang Jiaying   China 1:57.37 Q, AS
7 4 4 Allison Schmitt   United States 1:57.38 Q
8 6 1 Haruka Ueda   Japan 1:57.64 Q, NR
9 4 3 Camelia Potec   Romania 1:57.65 Q, NR
10 5 5 Bronte Barratt   Australia 1:57.75 Q
11 5 2 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne   France 1:57.93 Q
12 6 3 Linda Mackenzie   Australia 1:57.96 Q
13 5 6 Josefin Lillhage   Sweden 1:57.98 Q
14 4 5 Joanne Jackson   Great Britain 1:58.00 Q
15 6 6 Aurore Mongel   France 1:58.11 Q
16 5 1 Ida Marko-Varga   Sweden 1:58.21 Q
17 4 7 Stephanie Horner   Canada 1:58.35
18 4 1 Melania Costa   Spain 1:59.50
19 6 7 Zhu Qianwei   China 1:59.52
20 6 8 Daria Belyakina   Russia 1:59.72
21 4 8 Maki Mita   Japan 1:59.96
22 4 6 Annika Lurz   Germany 1:59.98
23 3 5 Ranomi Kromowidjojo   Netherlands 2:00.02
24 5 7 Petra Dallmann   Germany 2:00.21
25 5 8 Geneviève Saumur   Canada 2:00.49
26 3 7 Jördis Steinegger   Austria 2:00.52 NR
27 3 1 Anna Stylianou   Cyprus 2:00.55
28 3 6 Monique Ferreira   Brazil 2:00.64
2 4 Elina Partõka   Estonia NR
30 2 5 Nina Rangelova   Bulgaria 2:00.66
31 2 7 Hoi Shun Stephanie Au   Hong Kong 2:00.85
32 3 3 Paulina Barzycka   Poland 2:00.92
33 3 4 Melissa Corfe   South Africa 2:00.95
34 2 2 Louise Mai Jansen   Denmark 2:01.30
35 1 4 Nataliya Khudyakova   Ukraine 2:02.27
36 2 6 Lynette Lim   Singapore 2:02.30
37 3 8 Yang Chin-kuei   Chinese Taipei 2:02.84
38 1 5 Natthanan Junkrajang   Thailand 2:02.88
39 2 8 Christine Mailliet   Luxembourg 2:02.91
40 1 2 Milica Ostojić   Serbia 2:03.19
41 1 7 Heysi Villarreal   Cuba 2:03.23
42 1 3 Anja Trišić   Croatia 2:03.57
43 2 3 Melanie Nocher   Ireland 2:04.29
44 3 2 Eleni Kosti   Greece 2:04.55
45 1 6 Sigrún Brá Sverrisdóttir   Iceland 2:04.82
46 2 1 Lee Keo-ra   South Korea 2:05.71

Semifinals

edit

Semifinal 1

edit
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Sara Isakovič   Slovenia 1:56.50 Q
2 5 Katie Hoff   United States 1:57.01 Q
3 3 Pang Jiaying   China 1:57.34 Q
4 2 Bronte Barratt   Australia 1:57.55 Q
5 7 Linda Mackenzie   Australia 1:58.19
6 6 Haruka Ueda   Japan 1:58.44
7 1 Joanne Jackson   Great Britain 1:58.70
8 8 Ida Marko-Varga   Sweden 1:59.41

Semifinal 2

edit
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:57.23 Q
2 2 Camelia Potec   Romania 1:57.71 Q
3 5 Caitlin McClatchey   Great Britain 1:57.73 Q
4 7 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne   France 1:58.00 Q
5 6 Allison Schmitt   United States 1:58.01
6 8 Aurore Mongel   France 1:58.08
7 3 Ágnes Mutina   Hungary 1:58.15
8 1 Josefin Lillhage   Sweden 1:59.29

Final

edit
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
  3 Federica Pellegrini   Italy 1:54.82 WR
  4 Sara Isakovič   Slovenia 1:54.97 NR
  6 Pang Jiaying   China 1:55.05 AS
4 5 Katie Hoff   United States 1:55.78 AM
5 7 Camelia Potec   Romania 1:56.87 NR
6 1 Caitlin McClatchey   Great Britain 1:57.65
7 2 Bronte Barratt   Australia 1:57.83
8 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne   France

References

edit
  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b Lohn, John (12 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Federica Pellegrini Breaks 1:55, Lowers 200 Free World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Pellegrini takes 200m free gold". BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Katie Hoff falls short in 200 freestyle, 200 IM". NBC News. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  5. ^ Lohn, John (11 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Federica Pellegrini Downs World Record in 200 Free Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Phelps shines as records tumble". BBC News. 28 March 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
edit