# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle

The women's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 16 and 17.
Camelia Potec became the second Romanian swimmer to claim a gold medal in swimming (the first being done by Diana Mocanu in Sydney), outside the record time of 1:58.03. The silver medal was awarded to 15-year-old Federica Pellegrini of Italy, who finished behind Potec by 0.19 of a second, clocking at 1:58.22. France's Solenne Figuès, on the other hand, took home the bronze in 1:58.45. World record holder Franziska van Almsick, however, finished outside of medals in fifth place, with a time of 1:58.88.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Franziska van Almsick (GER) | 1:56.64 | Berlin, Germany | 3 August 2002 |
| Olympic record | Heike Friedrich (GDR) | 1:57.65 | Seoul, South Korea | 21 September 1988 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 2 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 1:59.49 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | 2 | Claudia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:59.50 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 7 | Paulina Barzycka | Poland | 1:59.52 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:59.80 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | 3 | Solenne Figuès | France | 1:59.90 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | 7 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 2:00.04 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 6 | Elka Graham | Australia | 2:00.13 | Q |
| 8 | 6 | 4 | Lindsay Benko | United States | 2:00.21 | Q |
| 9 | 6 | 5 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 2:00.23 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 4 | Melanie Marshall | Great Britain | 2:00.46 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 5 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 2:00.50 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Alena Popchanka | Belarus | 2:00.67 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 1 | Tomoko Nagai | Japan | 2:00.73 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 5 | Pang Jiaying | China | 2:00.80 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 3 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 2:01.00 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 4 | Yang Yu | China | 2:01.33 | Q |
| 17 | 6 | 8 | Brittany Reimer | Canada | 2:01.39 | |
| 18 | 4 | 7 | Sara Isaković | Slovenia | 2:01.71 | |
| 19 | 6 | 6 | Linda Mackenzie | Australia | 2:02.04 | |
| 20 | 5 | 2 | Sara Harstick | Germany | 2:02.25 | |
| 21 | 5 | 1 | Nataliya Shalagina | Russia | 2:02.37 | |
| 22 | 3 | 5 | Olena Lapunova | Ukraine | 2:02.71 | |
| 23 | 5 | 8 | Mariana Brochado | Brazil | 2:02.91 | |
| 24 | 3 | 3 | Hanna Miluska | Switzerland | 2:03.28 | |
| 25 | 3 | 1 | Florencia Szigeti | Argentina | 2:03.29 | |
| 26 | 4 | 8 | Kim Hyun-joo | South Korea | 2:03.33 | |
| 27 | 6 | 1 | Zoi Dimoschaki | Greece | 2:03.38 | |
| 28 | 3 | 4 | Elina Partõka | Estonia | 2:03.54 | |
| 29 | 3 | 2 | Alison Fitch | New Zealand | 2:03.58 | |
| 30 | 3 | 8 | Janelle Atkinson | Jamaica | 2:04.06 | |
| 31 | 3 | 7 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:04.22 | |
| 32 | 3 | 6 | Petra Banović | Croatia | 2:04.24 | |
| 33 | 2 | 2 | Jana Myšková | Czech Republic | 2:04.62 | |
| 34 | 2 | 4 | Vesna Stojanovska | Macedonia | 2:04.64 | |
| 35 | 1 | 3 | Pilin Tachakittiranan | Thailand | 2:05.29 | |
| 36 | 1 | 4 | Yang Chin-kuei | Chinese Taipei | 2:05.65 | |
| 37 | 2 | 3 | Louise Mai Jansen | Denmark | 2:06.06 | |
| 38 | 2 | 5 | Larisa Lăcustă | Romania | 2:06.62 | |
| 39 | 2 | 6 | Sze Hang Yu | Hong Kong | 2:07.55 | |
| 40 | 2 | 7 | Khadija Ciss | Senegal | 2:09.04 | |
| 41 | 1 | 5 | Yuliya Rissik | Kazakhstan | 2:09.93 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:58.02 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Pang Jiaying | China | 1:58.68 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 1:59.31 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Claudia Poll | Costa Rica | 1:59.79 | |
| 5 | 7 | Alena Popchanka | Belarus | 1:59.87 | |
| 6 | 6 | Lindsay Benko | United States | 2:00.22 | |
| 7 | 8 | Yang Yu | China | 2:00.52 | |
| 8 | 2 | Melanie Marshall | Great Britain | 2:01.06 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Solenne Figuès | France | 1:58.65 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 1:59.04 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Paulina Barzycka | Poland | 1:59.10 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:59.13 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 1:59.25 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Elka Graham | Australia | 1:59.44 | |
| 7 | 8 | Martina Moravcová | Slovakia | 1:59.96 | |
| 8 | 1 | Tomoko Nagai | Japan | 2:00.09 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time |
| | 1 | Camelia Potec | Romania | 1:58.03 |
| | 4 | Federica Pellegrini | Italy | 1:58.22 |
| | 5 | Solenne Figuès | France | 1:58.45 |
| 4 | 2 | Paulina Barzycka | Poland | 1:58.62 |
| 5 | 7 | Franziska van Almsick | Germany | 1:58.88 |
| 6 | 6 | Dana Vollmer | United States | 1:58.98 |
| 7 | 3 | Pang Jiaying | China | 1:59.16 |
| 8 | 8 | Josefin Lillhage | Sweden | 1:59.20 |