# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place between 20 and 21 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Allison Higson (CAN) | 2:27.27 | Montreal, Canada | 28 May 1988 |
| Olympic record | Lina Kačiušytė (URS) | 2:29.54 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 23 July 1980 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 20 September | Heat 6 | Silke Hörner | East Germany | 2:27.63 | OR |
| 21 September | Final A | Silke Hörner | East Germany | 2:26.71 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Silke Hörner | East Germany | 2:27.63 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 5 | Yuliya Bogacheva | Soviet Union | 2:28.94 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Antoaneta Frenkeva | Bulgaria | 2:29.57 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Allison Higson | Canada | 2:29.67 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Tanya Dangalakova | Bulgaria | 2:29.91 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Huang Xiaomin | China | 2:30.03 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Ingrid Lempereur | Belgium | 2:30.07 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | Manuela Dalla Valle | Italy | 2:30.60 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | Susanne Börnike | East Germany | 2:30.71 | q |
| 10 | 4 | Svetlana Kuzmina | Soviet Union | 2:30.93 | q |
| 11 | 5 | Linda Moes | Netherlands | 2:31.98 | q |
| 12 | 6 | Tracey McFarlane | United States | 2:32.11 | q |
| 13 | 4 | Annalisa Nisiro | Italy | 2:32.77 | q |
| 14 | 6 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 2:33.13 | q |
| 15 | 6 | Susan Rapp | United States | 2:34.21 | q |
| 16 | 5 | Guylaine Cloutier | Canada | 2:34.36 | q |
| 17 | 4 | Britta Dahm | West Germany | 2:35.06 | |
| 18 | 3 | Silvia Parera | Spain | 2:35.57 | |
| 19 | 6 | Yoshie Nishioka | Japan | 2:35.81 | |
| 20 | 3 | Suki Brownsdon | Great Britain | 2:36.14 | |
| 21 | 5 | Kornelia Stawicka | Poland | 2:36.86 | |
| 22 | 6 | Virginie Bojaryn | France | 2:37.38 | |
| 23 | 5 | Hiroko Nagasaki | Japan | 2:37.44 | |
| 24 | 1 | Karen Horning | Peru | 2:37.84 | |
| 25 | 5 | Pia Sørensen | Denmark | 2:38.49 | |
| 26 | 4 | Pascaline Louvrier | France | 2:38.75 | |
| 27 | 3 | Ragnheiður Runólfsdóttir | Iceland | 2:39.10 | |
| 28 | 3 | Dorota Chylak | Poland | 2:39.38 | |
| 29 | 2 | Park Sung-won | South Korea | 2:39.40 | |
| 30 | 3 | Lara Hooiveld | Australia | 2:39.97 | |
| 31 | 2 | Nancy Kemp-Arendt | Luxembourg | 2:40.78 | |
| 32 | 3 | Anamarija Petričević | Yugoslavia | 2:40.80 | |
| 33 | 2 | Helen Frank | Great Britain | 2:41.12 | |
| 34 | 6 | Heike Esser | West Germany | 2:41.34 | |
| 35 | 1 | Carwai Seto | Chinese Taipei | 2:42.31 | |
| 36 | 2 | Patricia Brülhart | Switzerland | 2:42.82 | |
| 37 | 1 | Montserrat Hidalgo | Costa Rica | 2:44.72 | |
| 38 | 2 | Sigrid Niehaus | Costa Rica | 2:45.35 | |
| 39 | 3 | Alicia María Boscatto | Argentina | 2:45.80 | |
| 40 | 3 | Chen Huiling | China | 2:45.87 | |
| 41 | 2 | Kimberly Chen | Chinese Taipei | 2:50.84 | |
| 42 | 1 | Dipika Chanmugam | Sri Lanka | 2:51.60 | |
| | 2 | Valentina Aracil | Argentina | DSQ | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 4 | Susanne Börnike | East Germany | 2:28.55 |
| 10 | 5 | Svetlana Kuzmina | Soviet Union | 2:30.03 |
| 11 | 3 | Linda Moes | Netherlands | 2:30.83 |
| 12 | 2 | Annalisa Nisiro | Italy | 2:31.19 |
| 13 | 1 | Susan Rapp | United States | 2:32.90 |
| 14 | 6 | Tracey McFarlane | United States | 2:33.46 |
| 15 | 8 | Guylaine Cloutier | Canada | 2:33.50 |
| 16 | 7 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 2:34.10 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Silke Hörner | East Germany | 2:26.71 | WR |
| | 7 | Huang Xiaomin | China | 2:27.49 | AS |
| | 3 | Antoaneta Frenkeva | Bulgaria | 2:28.34 | |
| 4 | 2 | Tanya Dangalakova | Bulgaria | 2:28.43 | |
| 5 | 5 | Yuliya Bogacheva | Soviet Union | 2:28.54 | |
| 6 | 1 | Ingrid Lempereur | Belgium | 2:29.42 | NR |
| 7 | 6 | Allison Higson | Canada | 2:29.60 | |
| 8 | 8 | Manuela Dalla Valle | Italy | 2:29.86 | |