Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 200 m breaststroke (women)

sport	swim
discipline	200 meters chest
gender	Women
place	London Aquatics Center
Attendees	34 athletes from 27 countries
Competition phase	1./2. August 2012

The competition over 200m breaststroke women at the 2012 Olympics in London was on 1 and 2 August 2012 at London Aquatics Center held. 34 athletes took part.

There were five preliminary runs. The 16 fastest swimmers of all heats qualified for the two semi-finals, which were held on the same day. The eight fastest starters of both races qualified here for the final on the next day.

Abbreviations:
WR = world record, OR = Olympic record, NR = national record
ER = European record , NAR = North American record , SAR = South American record, ASR = Asian record, AFR = African record, OZR = Oceania record
PB = personal best, JWB = annual world record

Existing records

World record	Annamay Pierse ( Canada )	2: 20.12 min	Rome , Italy	July 30, 2009
Olympic record	Rebecca Soni ( United States )	2: 20.22 min	Beijing , People's Republic of China	August 15, 2008

Title holder

Olympic champion	Rebecca Soni ( United States )	2: 20.22 min	Beijing 2008
World Champion		2: 21.47 min	Shanghai 2011
European champion	Sara Nordenstam ( Norway )	2: 26.91 min	Debrecen 2012

leader

Forward 1

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Alia Atkinson	Jamaica	2: 28.77 min	NO
2	Anna Sztankovics	Hungary	2: 29.67 min
3	Daria Talanova	Kyrgyzstan	2: 38.01 min

Forward 2

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Hanna Dzerkal	Ukraine	2: 27.09 min	NO
2	Martina Moravčíková	Czech Republic	2: 28.54 min
3	Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir	Iceland	2: 29.60 min
4th	Dilara Buse Günaydın	Turkey	2: 30.64 min
5	Sarra Lajnef	Tunisia	2: 31.15 min
6th	Jenna Laukkanen	Finland	2: 31.23 min
7th	Tanja Šmid	Slovenia	2: 32.19 min

Forward 3

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Satomi Suzuki	Japan	2: 23.22 min
2	Ji Liping	People's Republic of China	2: 25.76 min
2	Back Su-yeon	South Korea	2: 25.76 min
4th	Suzaan van Biljon	South Africa	2: 25.94 min
5	Sally Foster	Australia	2: 26.04 min
6th	Sara El-Bekri	Morocco	2: 26.05 min	NO
7th	Tara van Beilen	Canada	2: 27.70 min
8th	Sara Nordenstam	Norway	2: 27.90 min

Forward 4

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Joline Höstman	Sweden	2: 25.44 min
2	Kanako Watanabe	Japan	2: 26.38 min
3	Martha McCabe	Canada	2: 26.39 min
4th	Yulia Efimova	Russia	2: 26.83 min
4th	Jeong Da-rae	South Korea	2: 26.83 min
6th	Stacey Tadd	United Kingdom	2: 27.18 min
7th	Sun Ye	People's Republic of China	2: 27.94 min
8th	Nađa Higl	Serbia	2: 28.38 min

Forward 5

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rebecca Soni	United States	2: 21.40 min
2	Rikke Møller Pedersen	Denmark	2: 22.69 min	NO
3	Micah Lawrence	United States	2: 24.50 min
4th	Anastassija Tschaun	Russia	2: 25.39 min
5	Tessa Wallace	Australia	2: 26.94 min
6th	Fanny Lecluyse	Belgium	2: 27.30 min
7th	Marina García Urzainqui	Spain	2: 27.57 min
8th	Chiara Boggiatto	Italy	2: 27.74 min

Semifinals

Run 1

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rikke Møller Pedersen	Denmark	2: 22.23 min	NO
2	Yulia Efimova	Russia	2: 23.02 min
3	Micah Lawrence	United States	2: 23.39 min
4th	Sally Foster	Australia	2: 24.46 min
5	Back Su-yeon	South Korea	2: 24.67 min
6th	Joline Höstman	Sweden	2: 24.77 min
7th	Kanako Watanabe	Japan	2: 27.32 min
8th	Tessa Wallace	Australia	2: 27.38 min

Run 2

August 1, 2012

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rebecca Soni	United States	2: 20.00 min	WR , OR
2	Satomi Suzuki	Japan	2: 22.40 min
3	Suzaan van Biljon	South Africa	2: 23.21 min	AFR
4th	Martha McCabe	Canada	2: 24.09 min
5	Sara El Bekri	Morocco	2: 25.86 min	NO
6th	Anastassija Tschaun	Russia	2: 26.08 min
7th	Ji Liping	People's Republic of China	2: 27.26 min
8th	Jeong Da-rae	South Korea	2: 28.74 min

final

Winner Rebecca Soni improved the world record twice. For the first time, an athlete swam faster than 2:20 minutes. For the first time, with Soni, an Olympic champion was able to defend her title over 200 meters chest.
El Bakri (MAR), who was eliminated in the semi-finals, was able to improve the national record twice, and Danish Rikke Møller Pedersen , who swam in fourth place in the final, even three times.
Yulia Efimova managed to win the first Russian medal in this discipline.

August 2, 2012, 7:40 p.m. CET

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Rebecca Soni	United States	2: 19.59 min	WR , OR
2	Satomi Suzuki	Japan	2: 20.72 min	ASR
3	Yulia Efimova	Russia	2: 20.92 min	HE
4th	Rikke Møller Pedersen	Denmark	2: 21.65 min	NO
5	Martha McCabe	Canada	2: 23.16 min
6th	Micah Lawrence	United States	2: 23.27 min
7th	Suzaan van Biljon	South Africa	2: 23.72 min
8th	Sally Foster	Australia	2: 26.00 min

Picture gallery

• 

  Defending champion and world champion Rebecca Soni (USA) wins with a new world record

• 

  Rikke Møller Pedersen (DEN) finished fourth in the final with a national record

• 

  Nađa Higl (SRB) fails in the preliminary (here at the EM 2010)

Web links

• Olympic Summer Games 2012 / Swimming - 200 m chest in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence