# Swimming at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 1992 Summer Olympics took place on 27 July at the Piscines Bernat Picornell in Barcelona, Spain.

## 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 | Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.65 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 |

## 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 | 3 | 4 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:57.90 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Nicole Haislett | United States | 1:59.33 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 2 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 2:00.51 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Kerstin Kielgaß | Germany | 2:00.55 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 3 | Lü Bin | China | 2:00.56 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 2:00.67 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 7 | Olga Kirichenko | Unified Team | 2:00.67 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Suzu Chiba | Japan | 2:00.96 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 6 | Susie O'Neill | Australia | 2:01.05 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 2 | Karen Pickering | Great Britain | 2:01.09 | q |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | Yelena Dendeberova | Unified Team | 2:01.28 | q |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | Jenny Thompson | United States | 2:01.71 | q, WD |
| 13 | 5 | 5 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 2:01.84 | q |
| 14 | 3 | 3 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 2:02.27 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | Nicole Stevenson | Australia | 2:02.50 | q |
| 16 | 5 | 8 | Carla Negrea | Romania | 2:03.16 | q |
| 17 | 5 | 2 | Yoko Koikawa | Japan | 2:03.32 | q, WD |
| 18 | 5 | 1 | Malin Nilsson | Sweden | 2:03.44 | q |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | Nikki Dryden | Canada | 2:03.59 | |
| 20 | 3 | 7 | Isabelle Arnould | Belgium | 2:04.06 | |
| 21 | 5 | 6 | Zhuang Yong | China | 2:04.12 | |
| 22 | 2 | 5 | Allison Higson | Canada | 2:04.25 | |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Irene Dalby | Norway | 2:04.28 | |
| 24 | 2 | 4 | Natalia Pulido | Spain | 2:04.39 | |
| 25 | 3 | 1 | Sandra Cam | Belgium | 2:04.72 | |
| 26 | 4 | 1 | Diana van der Plaats | Netherlands | 2:05.42 | |
| 27 | 2 | 3 | Rita Jean Garay | Puerto Rico | 2:07.08 | |
| 28 | 2 | 2 | Joscelin Yeo | Singapore | 2:07.09 | |
| 29 | 1 | 3 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 2:07.95 | |
| 30 | 1 | 5 | Robyn Lamsam | Hong Kong | 2:08.60 | |
| 31 | 2 | 2 | Rania Elwani | Egypt | 2:08.93 | |
| 32 | 1 | 4 | María José Marenco | El Salvador | 2:09.36 | |
| 33 | 1 | 6 | Claudia Fortin | Honduras | 2:12.24 | |
| 34 | 1 | 7 | Sharon Pickering | Fiji | 2:12.43 | |
| 35 | 2 | 1 | Corinne Leclair | Mauritius | 2:12.55 | |
| 36 | 2 | 7 | May Ooi | Singapore | 2:13.20 | |
| 37 | 1 | 2 | Paola Peñarrieta | Bolivia | 2:15.74 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 3 | Yelena Dendeberova | Unified Team | 2:00.09 | |
| 10 | 5 | Karen Pickering | Great Britain | 2:00.33 | NR |
| 11 | 4 | Susie O'Neill | Australia | 2:00.89 | |
| 12 | 8 | Malin Nilsson | Sweden | 2:02.02 | NR |
| 13 | 6 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 2:02.14 | |
| 14 | 2 | Gitta Jensen | Denmark | 2:02.32 | |
| 15 | 1 | Carla Negrea | Romania | 2:02.96 | |
| 16 | 7 | Nicole Stevenson | Australia | 2:04.21 | |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Nicole Haislett | United States | 1:57.90 | AM |
| | 4 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:58.00 | |
| | 6 | Kerstin Kielgaß | Germany | 1:59.67 | |
| 4 | 1 | Catherine Plewinski | France | 1:59.88 | NR |
| 5 | 3 | Luminița Dobrescu | Romania | 2:00.48 | NR |
| 6 | 8 | Suzu Chiba | Japan | 2:00.64 | NR |
| 7 | 7 | Olga Kirichenko | Unified Team | 2:00.90 | |
| 8 | 2 | Lü Bin | China | 2:02.10 | |