# Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The final of the women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on August 4, 1984.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Cornelia Sirch (GDR) | 2:09.91 | Guayaquil, Ecuador | 8 August 1982 |
| Olympic record | Rica Reinisch (GDR) | 2:11.77 | Moscow, Soviet Union | 27 July 1980 |

## 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 | 2 | 4 | Jolanda de Rover | Netherlands | 2:13.50 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Georgina Parkes | Australia | 2:14.89 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Amy White | United States | 2:15.40 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Svenja Schlicht | West Germany | 2:15.69 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Tori Trees | United States | 2:16.23 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 4 | Carmen Bunaciu | Romania | 2:16.41 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 4 | Anca Pătrășcoiu | Romania | 2:16.71 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | 7 | Carmel Clark | New Zealand | 2:16.78 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 2 | 6 | Catherine White | Great Britain | 2:18.02 | q |
| 10 | 1 | 5 | Yolande van der Straeten | Belgium | 2:18.49 | q |
| 11 | 3 | 2 | Naomi Sekido | Japan | 2:18.52 | q |
| 12 | 4 | 3 | Katherine Read | Great Britain | 2:18.92 | q |
| 13 | 2 | 3 | Reema Abdo | Canada | 2:19.05 | q |
| 14 | 4 | 6 | Sandra Dahlmann | West Germany | 2:19.59 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 7 | Sofia Kraft | Sweden | 2:19.73 | q |
| 16 | 3 | 3 | Audrey Moore | Australia | 2:20.12 | q |
| 17 | 3 | 6 | Brigitte van der Lans | Netherlands | 2:20.63 | |
| 18 | 1 | 3 | Sabine Pauwels | Belgium | 2:21.36 | |
| 19 | 4 | 2 | Melinda Copp | Canada | 2:21.39 | |
| 20 | 2 | 2 | Teresa Rivera | Mexico | 2:22.94 | |
| 21 | 4 | 1 | Choi Yun-hui | South Korea | 2:23.80 | |
| 22 | 3 | 7 | Nozomi Sunouchi | Japan | 2:25.05 | |
| 23 | 1 | 6 | Manuela Carosi | Italy | 2:25.45 | |
| 24 | 1 | 7 | Eva Gysling | Switzerland | 2:25.69 | |
| 25 | 2 | 1 | Lotta Flink | Hong Kong | 2:29.00 | |
| 26 | 3 | 1 | Yan Hong | China | 2:32.33 | |
| 27 | 1 | 1 | Christine Jacob | Philippines | 2:32.91 | |
| | 1 | 2 | Lise Lotte Nylund | Norway | DNS | |
| | 4 | 8 | Kathy Wong | Hong Kong | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 7 | Sandra Dahlmann | West Germany | 2:16.93 |
| 10 | 4 | Catherine White | Great Britain | 2:17.63 |
| 11 | 6 | Katherine Read | Great Britain | 2:18.33 |
| 12 | 2 | Reema Abdo | Canada | 2:18.50 |
| 13 | 5 | Yolande van der Straeten | Belgium | 2:18.63 |
| 14 | 3 | Naomi Sekido | Japan | 2:18.87 |
| 15 | 1 | Sofia Kraft | Sweden | 2:19.37 |
| 16 | 8 | Audrey Moore | Australia | 2:21.36 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Jolanda de Rover | Netherlands | 2:12.38 | NR |
| | 3 | Amy White | United States | 2:13.04 | |
| | 1 | Anca Pătrășcoiu | Romania | 2:13.29 | |
| 4 | 5 | Georgina Parkes | Australia | 2:14.37 | |
| 5 | 2 | Tori Trees | United States | 2:15.73 | |
| 6 | 6 | Svenja Schlicht | West Germany | 2:15.93 | |
| 7 | 7 | Carmen Bunaciu | Romania | 2:16.15 | |
| 8 | 8 | Carmel Clark | New Zealand | 2:17.89 | |