The women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 14–16 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.

After claiming three silver medals at these Games, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry stormed home on the final lap to defend her Olympic title in the event. She posted a time of 2:05.24 to crush a world record set by U.S. swimmer Margaret Hoelzer from the Olympic trials one month earlier. Meanwhile, Hoelzer added a silver to her hardware from the 100 m backstroke, when she touched the wall in 2:06.23, the second-fastest effort of her career. Japan's Reiko Nakamura managed to repeat a bronze from Athens four years earlier, in an Asian record of 2:07.13.

Russia's top favorite Anastasia Zuyeva finished fourth with a time of 2:07.88, and was followed in the fifth spot by American teenager Elizabeth Beisel, aged 16, in 2:08.23. Elizabeth Simmonds set a new British record of 2:08.51 to earn a sixth spot, while Aussies Meagan Nay (2:08.84) and Belinda Hocking (2:10.12) closed out the field. Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Russia's Stanislava Komarova, silver medalist in Athens, and British top favorite Gemma Spofforth.

Before her breakthrough final, Coventry broke one of the oldest Olympic records earlier in the prelims. She posted a top-seeded time of 2:06.76 to lead 34 other swimmers in the race, slashing four-tenths of a second (0.40) off the record set by Hungary's three-time Olympic champion Krisztina Egerszegi from Barcelona in 1992.

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 14 Heat 4 Kirsty Coventry 2:06.76 August 16 Final Kirsty Coventry 2:05.24

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 4 Kirsty Coventry 2:06.76 Q, OR 2 5 6 Elizabeth Simmonds 2:08.66 Q, NR 3 4 3 Meagen Nay 2:08.79 Q 4 3 5 Zhao Jing 2:08.97 Q 5 3 3 Anastasia Zuyeva 2:09.01 Q 6 5 5 Elizabeth Beisel 2:09.02 Q 7 5 4 Margaret Hoelzer 2:09.12 Q 8 4 2 Melissa Ingram 2:09.34 Q 9 4 5 Alexianne Castel 2:09.37 Q 10 3 4 Laure Manaudou 2:09.39 Q 11 3 6 Belinda Hocking 2:09.54Q 12 5 3 Reiko Nakamura 2:09.77 Q 13 5 7 Stanislava Komarova 2:09.93 Q 14 4 6 Hanae Ito 2:10.05 Q 15 3 1 Anja Čarman 2:10.49 Q, NR 16 3 2 Gemma Spofforth 2:10.58 Q 17 3 7 Evelyn Verrasztó 2:11.02 18 5 2 Nikolett Szepesi 2:11.47 19 4 8 Chen Yanyan 2:11.95 20 2 7 Melanie Nocher 2:12.29 NR 21 2 6 Zuzanna Mazurek 2:12.46 NR 22 4 7 Melissa Corfe 2:12.64 5 8 Kateryna Zubkova 24 5 1 Escarlata Bernard 2:12.86 25 2 4 Lydia Morant 2:13.87 26 1 3 Kang Yeong-seo 2:14.52 27 1 5 Gisela Morales 2:14.54 28 2 8 Fernanda González 2:14.64 29 2 1 Stella Boumi 2:14.73 30 3 8 Lindsay Seemann 2:15.07 31 2 3 Sanja Jovanović 2:15.57 32 1 4 Erin Volcán 2:15.58 33 4 1 Iryna Amshennikova 2:15.78 34 2 5 Christin Zenner 2:20.28 2 2 Julia Wilkinson

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 Elizabeth Beisel 2:07.90 Q 2 7 Reiko Nakamura 2:08.21 Q, NR 3 4 Elizabeth Simmonds 2:08.96 Q 4 8 Gemma Spofforth 2:09.19 5 5 Zhao Jing 2:09.59 6 6 Melissa Ingram 2:09.70 7 1 Hanae Ito 2:09.86 8 2 Laure Manaudou 2:12.04

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Kirsty Coventry 2:07.76 Q 2 5 Meagen Nay 2:08.09 Q, OC 3 6 Margaret Hoelzer 2:08.25 Q 4 7 Belinda Hocking 2:08.80 Q 5 3 Anastasia Zuyeva 2:09.07 Q 6 2 Alexianne Castel 2:10.04 7 1 Stanislava Komarova 2:10.50 8 8 Anja Čarman 2:12.46

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4Kirsty Coventry 2:05.24 2Margaret Hoelzer 2:06.23 6Reiko Nakamura 2:07.13 AS48Anastasia Zuyeva 2:07.88 55Elizabeth Beisel 2:08.23 61Elizabeth Simmonds 2:08.51 NR73Meagen Nay 2:08.84 87Belinda Hocking 2:10.12

References

External links Official Olympic Report