# Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke

The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Domenico Fioravanti emerged as a major force on the international swimming after effortlessly winning his second gold at these Games. He maintained a lead from start to finish and posted a European record of 2:10.87, the second-fastest of all time, making him the first ever swimmer in Olympic history to strike a breaststroke double. South Africa's Terence Parkin, a deaf mute since birth, enjoyed the race of his life to take a silver medal in an African record of 2:12.50. Fioravanti's fellowman Davide Rummolo gave Italy a further reason to celebrate, as he powered home with the bronze in 2:12.73.
Acknowledging a massive cheer from the home crowd, Australia's Regan Harrison swam his lifetime best, but finished outside the podium by 15-hundredths of a second in 2:12.88. Czech Republic's Daniel Málek pulled off a fifth-place finish in a national record of 2:13.20, while Kyle Salyards, the only U.S. swimmer in the final, earned a sixth spot with a time of 2:13.27. France's Yohann Bernard (2:13.31) and another Aussie Ryan Mitchell (2:14.00) rounded out the finale. Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring Hungary's Norbert Rózsa, the defending Olympic champion, who placed thirteenth (2:14.67), and Canada's Morgan Knabe, who had the fastest 100-metre split, but faded badly on the final lap to place tenth (2:14.01).
Shortly before the next Olympics, Fioravanti was forced to retire from swimming after failing a routine medical test carried by the Italian National Olympic Committee. Tests revealed that he was diagnosed with a genetic heart anomaly.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Mike Barrowman (USA) | 2:10.16 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 1992 |
| Olympic record | Mike Barrowman (USA) | 2:10.16 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 1992 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | 7 | Davide Rummolo | Italy | 2:12.75 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | Daniel Málek | Czech Republic | 2:14.10 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 7 | 2 | Morgan Knabe | Canada | 2:14.18 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | 7 | Maxim Podoprigora | Austria | 2:14.37 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | Ryan Mitchell | Australia | 2:14.69 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | 4 | Stéphan Perrot | France | 2:14.79 | Q |
| 7 | 7 | 6 | Regan Harrison | Australia | 2:14.85 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 7 | Martin Gustavsson | Sweden | 2:15.02 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 2 | Domenico Fioravanti | Italy | 2:15.04 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | 3 | Terence Parkin | South Africa | 2:15.06 | Q |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | Norbert Rózsa | Hungary | 2:15.27 | Q |
| 12 | 6 | 4 | Yohann Bernard | France | 2:15.35 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 3 | Akira Hayashi | Japan | 2:15.54 | Q |
| 14 | 6 | 5 | Kyle Salyards | United States | 2:15.57 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | 2 | Alexander Tkachev | Kyrgyzstan | 2:15.63 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | 5 | Dmitry Komornikov | Russia | 2:15.70 | Q |
| 17 | 7 | 3 | Kosuke Kitajima | Japan | 2:15.71 | |
| 18 | 4 | 3 | Marek Krawczyk | Poland | 2:16.08 | |
| 19 | 4 | 4 | Valērijs Kalmikovs | Latvia | 2:16.21 | NR |
| 20 | 5 | 4 | Roman Sloudnov | Russia | 2:16.26 | |
| 21 | 5 | 5 | Tom Wilkens | United States | 2:16.30 | |
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Aliaksandr Hukau | Belarus | 2:16.93 | |
| 23 | 5 | 1 | Benno Kuipers | Netherlands | 2:17.03 | |
| 24 | 6 | 6 | Adam Whitehead | Great Britain | 2:17.16 | |
| 25 | 4 | 8 | Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson | Iceland | 2:17.86 | NR |
| 26 | 7 | 8 | José Couto | Portugal | 2:18.08 | |
| 27 | 4 | 1 | Andrew Bree | Ireland | 2:18.14 | |
| 28 | 2 | 6 | Oleg Lisogor | Ukraine | 2:18.28 | |
| 29 | 3 | 2 | Joe Kyong-fan | South Korea | 2:19.16 | NR |
| 30 | 3 | 5 | Li Tsung-chueh | Chinese Taipei | 2:19.30 | |
| 31 | 4 | 7 | Steven Ferguson | New Zealand | 2:19.31 | |
| 32 | 4 | 6 | Tal Stricker | Israel | 2:19.33 | |
| 33 | 3 | 4 | Raiko Pachel | Estonia | 2:19.71 | |
| 34 | 2 | 3 | Jarno Pihlava | Finland | 2:19.76 | |
| 35 | 3 | 8 | Francisco Suriano | El Salvador | 2:20.10 | |
| 36 | 2 | 5 | Jeremy Knowles | Bahamas | 2:20.31 | |
| 37 | 1 | 4 | Andrés Bicocca | Argentina | 2:20.98 | |
| 38 | 5 | 2 | Zhu Yi | China | 2:21.60 | |
| 39 | 3 | 6 | Alvaro Fortuny | Guatemala | 2:21.78 | |
| 40 | 3 | 1 | Muhammad Akbar Nasution | Indonesia | 2:23.81 | |
| 41 | 4 | 2 | Ratapong Sirisanont | Thailand | 2:23.95 | |
| 42 | 3 | 7 | Tam Chi Kin | Hong Kong | 2:24.04 | |
| 43 | 3 | 3 | Juan José Madrigal | Costa Rica | 2:24.49 | |
| 44 | 7 | 1 | Elvin Chia | Malaysia | 2:26.84 | |
| 45 | 1 | 3 | Nguyễn Ngọc Anh | Vietnam | 2:29.54 | |
| 46 | 2 | 7 | Sergey Voytsekhovich | Uzbekistan | 2:30.23 | |
| 47 | 1 | 5 | Leonard Ngoma | Zambia | 2:32.90 | |
| | 2 | 4 | Vadim Tatarov | Moldova | DNS | |
| | 6 | 8 | Jens Kruppa | Germany | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Kyle Salyards | United States | 2:13.38 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Daniel Málek | Czech Republic | 2:13.46 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 7 | Yohann Bernard | France | 2:13.48 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Terence Parkin | South Africa | 2:13.57 | Q |
| 5 | 8 | Dmitry Komornikov | Russia | 2:13.95 | |
| 6 | 5 | Maxim Podoprigora | Austria | 2:14.20 | |
| 7 | 3 | Stéphan Perrot | France | 2:14.59 | |
| 8 | 6 | Martin Gustavsson | Sweden | 2:15.23 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Domenico Fioravanti | Italy | 2:12.37 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | Davide Rummolo | Italy | 2:13.23 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Regan Harrison | Australia | 2:13.75 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Ryan Mitchell | Australia | 2:13.87 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Morgan Knabe | Canada | 2:14.01 | |
| 6 | 7 | Norbert Rózsa | Hungary | 2:14.67 | |
| 7 | 1 | Akira Hayashi | Japan | 2:15.16 | |
| 8 | 8 | Alexander Tkachev | Kyrgyzstan | 2:16.90 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Domenico Fioravanti | Italy | 2:10.87 | EU |
| | 7 | Terence Parkin | South Africa | 2:12.50 | AF |
| | 5 | Davide Rummolo | Italy | 2:12.73 | |
| 4 | 1 | Regan Harrison | Australia | 2:12.88 | OC |
| 5 | 6 | Daniel Málek | Czech Republic | 2:13.20 | NR |
| 6 | 3 | Kyle Salyards | United States | 2:13.27 | |
| 7 | 2 | Yohann Bernard | France | 2:13.31 | |
| 8 | 8 | Ryan Mitchell | Australia | 2:14.00 | |