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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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

The medals for the competition were presented by Roland Baar, IOC Member, Olympian, Bronze Medalist in Barcelona, and Silver Medalist in Atlanta, Germany; and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Francis Luyce, FINA Bureau Member; France.

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

Results

Heats

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

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 Martina Moravcová 1:59.75 Q 2 3 Kerstin Kielgaß 1:59.78 Q 3 2 Natalya Baranovskaya 1:59.90 Q, NR 4 7 Wang Luna 1:59.97 Q 5 4 Helene Muller 2:00.04 6 8 Sara Parise 2:00.07 7 5 Lindsay Benko 2:00.27 8 1 Mandy Leach 2:00.60

Semi-final 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Susie O'Neill 1:59.37 Q 2 3 Camelia Potec 1:59.54 Q 3 5 Claudia Poll 1:59.63 Q 4 2 Nadezhda Chemezova 1:59.69 Q 5 6 Franziska van Almsick 2:00.26 6 1 Giaan Rooney 2:00.84 7 7 Carla Geurts 2:00.88 8 8 Rada Owen 2:03.34

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Susie O'Neill 1:58.24 2 Martina Moravcová 1:58.32 3 Claudia Poll 1:58.81 4 6 Nadezhda Chemezova 1:58.86 7 Kerstin Kielgaß 6 1 Natalya Baranovskaya 1:59.28 NR 7 5 Camelia Potec 1:59.46 8 8 Wang Luna 1:59.55

References

External links Official Olympic Report