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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]

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

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

Heats

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

Semifinal 1

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

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

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 3 Federica Pellegrini  Italy 1:54.82 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 Sara Isakovič  Slovenia 1:54.97 NR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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

  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.

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