# Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre individual medley

The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 24 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Lin Li (CHN) | 2:11.65 | Barcelona, Spain | 30 July 1992 |
| Olympic record | Lin Li (CHN) | 2:11.65 | Barcelona, Spain | 30 July 1992 |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 3 | Marianne Limpert | Canada | 2:15.12 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 5 | Elli Overton | Australia | 2:15.81 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | Minouche Smit | Netherlands | 2:16.30 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | 3 | Lin Li | China | 2:16.31 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | Allison Wagner | United States | 2:16.32 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | Joanne Malar | Canada | 2:16.34 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Michelle Smith | Ireland | 2:16.35 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 1 | Louise Karlsson | Sweden | 2:16.37 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 7 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 2:16.50 | q, NR |
| 10 | 6 | 4 | Wu Yanyan | China | 2:16.55 | q |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | Beatrice Câșlaru | Romania | 2:16.80 | q |
| 12 | 6 | 2 | Emma Johnson | Australia | 2:17.02 | q, WD |
| 13 | 4 | 4 | Kristine Quance | United States | 2:17.48 | q |
| 13 | 6 | 1 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 2:17.48 | q |
| 15 | 3 | 2 | Silvia Parera | Spain | 2:17.67 | q |
| 16 | 5 | 7 | Sabine Herbst | Germany | 2:18.00 | q |
| 17 | 6 | 6 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 2:18.28 | q, WD |
| 18 | 4 | 1 | Britta Vestergaard | Denmark | 2:18.35 | q |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | Alenka Kejžar | Slovenia | 2:18.39 | NR |
| 20 | 6 | 7 | Lenka Maňhalová | Czech Republic | 2:18.43 | |
| 21 | 5 | 6 | Sue Rolph | Great Britain | 2:18.81 | |
| 22 | 4 | 6 | Gabrielle Rose | Brazil | 2:18.99 | |
| 23 | 3 | 6 | Aikaterini Sarakatsani | Greece | 2:19.74 | |
| 24 | 2 | 5 | Elin Austevoll | Norway | 2:19.81 | |
| 25 | 4 | 2 | Anna Wilson | New Zealand | 2:19.97 | |
| 26 | 5 | 8 | Darya Shmeleva | Russia | 2:20.34 | |
| 27 | 3 | 7 | Julia Russell | South Africa | 2:20.40 | |
| 28 | 5 | 2 | Fumie Kurotori | Japan | 2:20.58 | |
| 29 | 4 | 8 | Olena Lapunova | Ukraine | 2:20.76 | |
| 30 | 3 | 5 | Martina Nemec | Austria | 2:21.10 | |
| 31 | 2 | 3 | Carolyn Adel | Suriname | 2:21.54 | NR |
| 32 | 6 | 8 | Joscelin Yeo | Singapore | 2:21.76 | |
| 33 | 2 | 4 | Petra Chaves | Portugal | 2:22.03 | |
| 34 | 3 | 1 | Praphalsai Minpraphal | Thailand | 2:22.34 | |
| 35 | 2 | 7 | Lee Jie-hyun | South Korea | 2:22.97 | |
| 36 | 3 | 3 | Nadège Cliton | France | 2:25.25 | |
| 37 | 2 | 1 | Sonia Álvarez | Puerto Rico | 2:25.57 | |
| 38 | 2 | 2 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 2:25.87 | |
| 39 | 1 | 4 | Olga Bogatyreva | Kyrgyzstan | 2:26.42 | |
| 40 | 2 | 6 | Beáta Újhelyi | Hungary | 2:26.77 | |
| 41 | 2 | 8 | Tsai Shu-min | Chinese Taipei | 2:28.71 | |
| 42 | 1 | 5 | Meritxell Sabaté | Andorra | 2:37.38 | |
| 43 | 1 | 3 | Mira Ghniem | Jordan | 2:56.99 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 6 | Kristine Quance | United States | 2:15.24 |
| 10 | 5 | Wu Yanyan | China | 2:16.61 |
| 11 | 1 | Sabine Herbst | Germany | 2:16.68 |
| 12 | 3 | Beatrice Câșlaru | Romania | 2:16.75 |
| 13 | 4 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 2:17.40 |
| 14 | 8 | Britta Vestergaard | Denmark | 2:17.95 |
| 15 | 2 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 2:18.21 |
| 16 | 7 | Silvia Parera | Spain | 2:19.92 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 1 | Michelle Smith | Ireland | 2:13.93 | NR |
| | 4 | Marianne Limpert | Canada | 2:14.35 | NR |
| | 6 | Lin Li | China | 2:14.74 | |
| 4 | 7 | Joanne Malar | Canada | 2:15.30 | |
| 5 | 5 | Elli Overton | Australia | 2:16.04 | |
| 6 | 2 | Allison Wagner | United States | 2:16.43 | |
| 7 | 3 | Minouche Smit | Netherlands | 2:16.73 | |
| 8 | 8 | Louise Karlsson | Sweden | 2:17.25 | |