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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 5 Federica Pellegrini 1:55.45 Q, 2 5 4 Sara Isakovič 1:55.86 Q, NR 3 5 3 Caitlin McClatchey 1:56.97 Q, NR 4 6 4 Katie Hoff 1:57.20 Q 5 6 2 Ágnes Mutina 1:57.25 Q, NR 6 4 2 Pang Jiaying 1:57.37 Q, AS 7 4 4 Allison Schmitt 1:57.38 Q 8 6 1 Haruka Ueda 1:57.64 Q, NR 9 4 3 Camelia Potec 1:57.65 Q, NR 10 5 5 Bronte Barratt 1:57.75 Q 11 5 2 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne 1:57.93 Q 12 6 3 Linda Mackenzie 1:57.96 Q 13 5 6 Josefin Lillhage 1:57.98 Q 14 4 5 Joanne Jackson 1:58.00 Q 15 6 6 Aurore Mongel1:58.11 Q 16 5 1 Ida Marko-Varga 1:58.21 Q 17 4 7 Stephanie Horner 1:58.35 18 4 1 Melania Costa1:59.50 19 6 7 Zhu Qianwei 1:59.52 20 6 8Daria Belyakina1:59.72 21 4 8 Maki Mita 1:59.96 22 4 6 Annika Lurz1:59.98 23 3 5 Ranomi Kromowidjojo 2:00.02 24 5 7 Petra Dallmann 2:00.21 25 5 8 Geneviève Saumur2:00.49 26 3 7 Jördis Steinegger 2:00.52 NR 27 3 1 Anna Stylianou 2:00.5528 3 6Monique Ferreira 2:00.64 2 4 Elina Partõka NR 30 2 5Nina Rangelova 2:00.66 31 2 7 Hoi Shun Stephanie Au 2:00.85 32 3 3Paulina Barzycka 2:00.92 33 3 4Melissa Corfe2:00.95 34 2 2 Louise Mai Jansen 2:01.30 35 1 4 Nataliya Khudyakova 2:02.27 36 2 6 Lynette Lim 2:02.30 37 3 8 Yang Chin-kuei 2:02.84 38 1 5 Natthanan Junkrajang 2:02.88 39 2 8 Christine Mailliet2:02.91 40 1 2 Milica Ostojić 2:03.19 41 1 7 Heysi Villarreal 2:03.23 42 1 3 Anja Trišić 2:03.57 43 2 3 Melanie Nocher 2:04.29 44 3 2Eleni Kosti2:04.55 45 1 6 Sigrún Brá Sverrisdóttir 2:04.82 46 2 1 Lee Keo-ra2:05.71

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Sara Isakovič 1:56.50 Q 2 5 Katie Hoff 1:57.01 Q 3 3 Pang Jiaying 1:57.34 Q 4 2 Bronte Barratt 1:57.55 Q 5 7 Linda Mackenzie 1:58.19 66 Haruka Ueda 1:58.44 7 1 Joanne Jackson 1:58.7088 Ida Marko-Varga1:59.41

Semifinal 2

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

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 3 Federica Pellegrini 1:54.82 4 Sara Isakovič 1:54.97 NR 6 Pang Jiaying 1:55.05 AS 4 5 Katie Hoff 1:55.78 AM 5 7 Camelia Potec 1:56.87 NR 6 1 Caitlin McClatchey 1:57.65 7 2 Bronte Barratt 1:57.83 8 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne

References

External links Official Olympic Report