# Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre breaststroke

The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Charging back from third at the 150-metre turn, Hungary's Ágnes Kovács edged out U.S. swimmer Kristy Kowal on the final stretch to capture the gold in 2:24.35. Kowal, who seized off a powerful lead from the start, took home the silver in a new American record of 2:24.56. Her teammate Amanda Beard, silver medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, gave the Americans a further reason to celebrate as she enjoyed the race to move up from eighth after the semifinals for the bronze in 2:25.35, holding off a fast-pacing Qi Hui of China (2:25.36) by a hundredth of a second (0.01).
Qi was followed in fifth by Russia's Olga Bakaldina (2:25.47) and in sixth by South Africa's Sarah Poewe (2:25.72), fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke. Japan's Masami Tanaka (2:26.98) and Qi's teammate Luo Xuejuan (2:27.33) closed out the field.
World record holder Penny Heyns missed a chance to defend her Olympic title in the event, after helplessly winding up a twentieth-place effort in the prelims at 2:30.17. Shortly after the Games, she made a decision to officially announce her retirement from international swimming.
Earlier, Kovacs established a new Olympic standard of 2:24.92 on the morning prelims to clear a 2:25-barrier and cut off Heyns' record by almost half a second (0.50). Following by an evening session, she eventually lowered it to 2:24.03 in the semifinals.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were:
| World record | Penny Heyns (RSA) | 2:23.64 | Sydney, Australia | 27 August 1999 |
| Olympic record | Penny Heyns (RSA) | 2:25.41 | Atlanta, United States | 23 July 1996 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 20 September | Heat 5 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 2:24.92 | OR |
| 20 September | Semifinal 1 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 2:24.03 | OR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | 5 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 2:24.92 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Kristy Kowal | United States | 2:26.73 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Qi Hui | China | 2:26.76 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | Karine Brémond | France | 2:27.13 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 2:27.39 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | Beatrice Câșlaru | Romania | 2:27.59 | Q, WD |
| 7 | 4 | 6 | Caroline Hildreth | Australia | 2:27.60 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 3 | Amanda Beard | United States | 2:27.83 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 5 | Sarah Poewe | South Africa | 2:27.84 | Q |
| 10 | 5 | 3 | Olga Bakaldina | Russia | 2:28.19 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 8 | Ku Hyo-jin | South Korea | 2:28.21 | Q, NR |
| 12 | 4 | 7 | Rebecca Brown | Australia | 2:28.24 | Q |
| 13 | 5 | 6 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 2:28.43 | Q |
| 14 | 5 | 1 | Christin Petelski | Canada | 2:29.11 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | 6 | Anne Poleska | Germany | 2:29.15 | Q |
| 16 | 5 | 7 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 2:29.45 | Q |
| 17 | 5 | 2 | Junko Isoda | Japan | 2:29.60 | Q |
| 18 | 3 | 2 | Ina Hüging | Germany | 2:30.00 | |
| 19 | 4 | 1 | Elvira Fischer | Austria | 2:30.05 | |
| 20 | 5 | 4 | Penny Heyns | South Africa | 2:30.17 | |
| 21 | 3 | 1 | Brigitte Becue | Belgium | 2:31.27 | |
| 22 | 5 | 8 | Agata Czaplicki | Switzerland | 2:32.98 | |
| 23 | 3 | 7 | Jaime King | Great Britain | 2:33.10 | |
| 24 | 2 | 8 | İlkay Dikmen | Turkey | 2:33.34 | NR |
| 25 | 1 | 5 | Isabel Ceballos | Colombia | 2:34.09 | |
| 26 | 2 | 4 | Inna Nikitina | Ukraine | 2:34.20 | |
| 27 | 2 | 2 | Siow Yi Ting | Malaysia | 2:34.52 | NR |
| 28 | 2 | 3 | Margarita Kalmikova | Latvia | 2:35.69 | |
| 29 | 2 | 5 | Adriana Marmolejo | Mexico | 2:36.93 | |
| 30 | 2 | 7 | Nicolette Teo | Singapore | 2:37.39 | |
| 31 | 1 | 4 | Jenny Rose Guerrero | Philippines | 2:38.10 | |
| 32 | 2 | 6 | Íris Edda Heimisdóttir | Iceland | 2:38.52 | |
| 33 | 1 | 3 | Olga Moltchanova | Kyrgyzstan | 2:41.43 | |
| 34 | 2 | 1 | Imaday Nuñez Gonzalez | Cuba | 2:41.97 | |
| 35 | 1 | 6 | Anastasiya Korolyova | Uzbekistan | 2:43.23 | |
| | 3 | 8 | Lourdes Becerra | Spain | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Kristy Kowal | United States | 2:25.46 | Q |
| 2 | 6 | Sarah Poewe | South Africa | 2:25.54 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 2:25.86 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Karine Brémond | France | 2:27.86 | |
| 5 | 3 | Caroline Hildreth | Australia | 2:28.30 | |
| 6 | 2 | Ku Hyo-Jin | South Korea | 2:28.50 | |
| 7 | 1 | Anne Poleska | Germany | 2:28.99 | |
| 8 | 8 | Junko Isoda | Japan | 2:31.71 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 2:24.03 | Q, OR, NR |
| 2 | 5 | Qi Hui | China | 2:24.21 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 2 | Olga Bakaldina | Russia | 2:25.41 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 3 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 2:26.24 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Amanda Beard | United States | 2:26.62 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Christin Petelski | Canada | 2:29.43 | |
| 7 | 7 | Rebecca Brown | Australia | 2:29.90 | |
| 8 | 8 | Alicja Pęczak | Poland | 2:30.02 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Ágnes Kovács | Hungary | 2:24.35 | |
| | 6 | Kristy Kowal | United States | 2:24.56 | AM |
| | 8 | Amanda Beard | United States | 2:25.35 | |
| 4 | 5 | Qi Hui | China | 2:25.36 | |
| 5 | 3 | Olga Bakaldina | Russia | 2:25.47 | |
| 6 | 2 | Sarah Poewe | South Africa | 2:25.72 | |
| 7 | 1 | Masami Tanaka | Japan | 2:26.98 | |
| 8 | 7 | Luo Xuejuan | China | 2:27.33 | |