# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The women's 200-metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 2–3 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
U.S. teenage sensation Missy Franklin blistered the field with a remarkable world record in textile to strike a backstroke double for the first time, since Romania's Diana Mocanu did so in 2000. Dominating the race from the start, she threw down a sterling time of 2:04.06 to broaden a full-body length gap over the rest of the field and to slice three-quarters of a second (0.75) off the previous record set by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in a now-banned polyurethane bodysuit from the 2009 World Championships. Russia's Anastasia Zuyeva cleared a 2:06-barrier to take the silver in 2:05.92, while Franklin's teammate Elizabeth Beisel snatched the bronze in 2:06.55, handing over an entire medal haul for the Americans with a one-three finish.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Great Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds fell short of the podium with a fourth-place time in 2:07.26. Australia's Meagan Nay finished fifth in 2:07.43, while Coventry, a two-time Olympic champion, missed a chance to produce another historic three-peat as she claimed a distant sixth spot in 2:08.18. France's Alexianne Castel (2:08.43) and Canada's Sinead Russell (2:09.86) closed out the championship field.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) | 2:04.81 | Rome, Italy | 1 August 2009 |
| Olympic record | Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) | 2:05.24 | Beijing, China | 16 August 2008 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 3 | Final | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:04.06 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:07.54 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | 5 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:07.82 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:08.14 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:08.40 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:08.75 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 6 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.92 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 2:09.04 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 4 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:09.36 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 3 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:09.40 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 7 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 2:09.72 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 7 | Stephanie Proud | Great Britain | 2:10.01 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | 6 | Simona Baumrtová | Czech Republic | 2:10.03 | Q, NR |
| 13 | 3 | 1 | Karin Prinsloo | South Africa | 2:10.34 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:10.37 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Jenny Mensing | Germany | 2:10.54 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 3 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 2:10.60 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Melissa Ingram | New Zealand | 2:10.63 | |
| 18 | 4 | 2 | Hilary Caldwell | Canada | 2:10.75 | |
| 19 | 3 | 7 | Bai Anqi | China | 2:11.26 | |
| 20 | 5 | 8 | Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir | Iceland | 2:11.31 | NR |
| 21 | 2 | 4 | Miyu Otsuka | Japan | 2:11.65 | |
| 22 | 5 | 1 | Yao Yige | China | 2:12.14 | |
| 23 | 3 | 2 | Alessia Filippi | Italy | 2:12.40 | |
| 24 | 2 | 5 | María Fernanda González | Mexico | 2:12.75 | |
| 25 | 2 | 7 | Anja Čarman | Slovenia | 2:13.01 | |
| 26 | 1 | 4 | Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên | Vietnam | 2:13.35 | |
| 27 | 1 | 6 | Carolina Colorado Henao | Colombia | 2:13.64 | NR |
| 28 | 2 | 2 | Mie Nielsen | Denmark | 2:13.89 | |
| 29 | 3 | 8 | Alicja Tchórz | Poland | 2:14.02 | |
| 30 | 5 | 6 | Laure Manaudou | France | 2:14.29 | |
| 31 | 1 | 2 | Ham Chan-mi | South Korea | 2:15.30 | |
| 32 | 4 | 8 | Ekaterina Avramova | Bulgaria | 2:15.44 | |
| 33 | 2 | 1 | Kim Daniela Pavlin | Croatia | 2:15.67 | |
| 34 | 2 | 3 | Melanie Nocher | Ireland | 2:16.29 | |
| 35 | 1 | 3 | Dorina Szekeres | Hungary | 2:18.16 | |
| 36 | 2 | 8 | Hoi Shun Stephanie Au | Hong Kong | 2:18.47 | |
| 37 | 1 | 5 | Yulduz Kuchkarova | Uzbekistan | 2:18.60 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:06.18 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:07.42 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:07.88 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.24 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:08.48 | Q |
| 6 | 8 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | 2:09.50 | |
| 7 | 2 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 2:09.88 | |
| 8 | 7 | Simona Baumrtová | Czech Republic | 2:10.18 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:06.84 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:08.32 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 2:08.76 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Stephanie Proud | Great Britain | 2:09.04 | |
| 5 | 3 | Belinda Hocking | Australia | 2:09.35 | |
| 6 | 2 | Daryna Zevina | Ukraine | 2:09.70 | |
| 7 | 8 | Jenny Mensing | Germany | 2:10.68 | |
| 8 | 1 | Karin Prinsloo | South Africa | 2:11.42 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Missy Franklin | United States | 2:04.06 | WR |
| | 6 | Anastasia Zuyeva | Russia | 2:05.92 | |
| | 4 | Elizabeth Beisel | United States | 2:06.55 | |
| 4 | 1 | Elizabeth Simmonds | Great Britain | 2:07.26 | |
| 5 | 3 | Meagen Nay | Australia | 2:07.43 | |
| 6 | 7 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:08.18 | |
| 7 | 2 | Alexianne Castel | France | 2:08.43 | |
| 8 | 8 | Sinead Russell | Canada | 2:09.86 | |