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

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place between 20–21 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 | Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.55 | East Berlin, East Germany | 18 June 1986 |
| Olympic record | Barbara Krause (GDR) | 1:58.33 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 24 July 1980 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Round | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 21 September | Final A | Heike Friedrich | East Germany | 1:57.65 | OR |

## 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 | Heike Friedrich | East Germany | 1:59.02 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:59.22 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 6 | Mary Wayte | United States | 1:59.50 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Manuela Stellmach | East Germany | 2:00.30 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 2:00.54 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Stephanie Ortwig | West Germany | 2:00.66 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Mitzi Kremer | United States | 2:01.45 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | Cécile Prunier | France | 2:01.60 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | Chikako Nakamori | Japan | 2:01.76 | q |
| 10 | 4 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 2:01.80 | q |
| 11 | 6 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 2:01.93 | q |
| 12 | 4 | Ruth Gilfillan | Great Britain | 2:02.11 | q |
| 13 | 4 | Stela Pura | Romania | 2:02.26 | q |
| 14 | 6 | Patricia Noall | Canada | 2:02.31 | q |
| 15 | 5 | Zhuang Yong | China | 2:02.40 | q |
| 16 | 1 | Birgit Lohberg-Schulz | West Germany | 2:02.77 | q |
| 17 | 3 | Diana van der Plaats | Netherlands | 2:03.02 | |
| 18 | 6 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 2:03.32 | |
| 18 | 6 | Suzanne Nilsson | Sweden | 2:03.32 | |
| 20 | 5 | Sheridan Burge-Lopez | Australia | 2:03.42 | |
| 21 | 6 | June Croft | Great Britain | 2:03.63 | |
| 22 | 4 | Karin Brienesse | Netherlands | 2:04.36 | |
| 23 | 5 | Silvia Persi | Italy | 2:04.40 | |
| 24 | 4 | Annette Jørgensen | Denmark | 2:04.71 | |
| 25 | 3 | Patrícia Amorim | Brazil | 2:04.74 | |
| 26 | 4 | Susie Baumer | Australia | 2:04.82 | |
| 27 | 3 | Nurul Huda Abdullah | Malaysia | 2:04.85 | |
| 28 | 6 | Jane Kerr | Canada | 2:04.92 | |
| 29 | 3 | Kaori Sasaki | Japan | 2:04.92 | |
| 30 | 3 | Senda Gharbi | Tunisia | 2:06.60 | |
| 31 | 3 | Karen Dieffenthaler | Trinidad and Tobago | 2:07.09 | NR |
| 32 | 2 | Bryndís Ólafsdóttir | Iceland | 2:07.11 | |
| 33 | 3 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | 2:07.44 | |
| 34 | 2 | Natasha Aguilar | Costa Rica | 2:10.22 | |
| 35 | 3 | Patricia Kohlmann | Mexico | 2:10.36 | |
| 36 | 2 | Fenella Ng | Hong Kong | 2:10.43 | |
| 37 | 2 | Kim Eun-jung | South Korea | 2:10.85 | |
| 38 | 2 | Chang Hui-chien | Chinese Taipei | 2:11.50 | |
| 39 | 2 | Park Joo-li | South Korea | 2:11.53 | |
| 40 | 2 | Qian Hong | China | 2:12.44 | |
| 41 | 1 | Catherine Fogarty | Zimbabwe | 2:13.44 | |
| 42 | 2 | Hung Cee Kay | Hong Kong | 2:13.61 | |
| 43 | 1 | Angela Birch | Fiji | 2:16.79 | |
| 44 | 1 | Cina Munch | Fiji | 2:18.45 | |
| | 1 | Nancy Khalaf | Lebanon | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 7 | Patricia Noall | Canada | 2:00.77 |
| 10 | 6 | Ruth Gilfillan | Great Britain | 2:01.66 |
| 11 | 5 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 2:01.84 |
| 12 | 3 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 2:01.98 |
| 13 | 2 | Stela Pura | Romania | 2:02.30 |
| 14 | 4 | Chikako Nakamori | Japan | 2:02.31 |
| 15 | 8 | Birgit Lohberg-Schulz | West Germany | 2:02.32 |
| 16 | 1 | Zhuang Yong | China | 2:14.23 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Heike Friedrich | East Germany | 1:57.65 | OR |
| | 5 | Silvia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:58.67 | NR |
| | 6 | Manuela Stellmach | East Germany | 1:59.01 | |
| 4 | 3 | Mary Wayte | United States | 1:59.04 | |
| 5 | 2 | Natalia Trefilova | Soviet Union | 1:59.24 | |
| 6 | 1 | Mitzi Kremer | United States | 2:00.23 | |
| 7 | 7 | Stephanie Ortwig | West Germany | 2:00.73 | |
| 8 | 8 | Cécile Prunier | France | 2:02.88 | |