# Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre individual medley

The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 11–13 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Australia's Stephanie Rice became the third swimmer in Olympic history to strike a medley double, since Michelle Smith did so in 1996 and Yana Klochkova in 2000 and 2004. She established a sterling time of 2:08.45 to lower her world record from the Olympic trials by almost half a second (0.50). Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry added a third silver to her collection, finishing with an African record of 2:08.59. U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, who held the lead on the backstroke leg, picked up a bronze medal in 2:10.34.
Completing the second half of a difficult double, American Katie Hoff produced the same result from the 200 m freestyle, as she finished again in fourth place with a time of 2:10.68. Australia's Alicia Coutts placed fifth in 2:11.43, while Japan's Asami Kitagawa swam the outside lane to finish the race in sixth place at 2:11.56. On the strength of the breaststroke leg, Kitagawa won a swimoff for the last slot in the top 8 final over Hungary's Evelyn Verrasztó. Canada's Julia Wilkinson (2:12.43) and Poland's Katarzyna Baranowska (2:13.36) closed out the field.
Earlier in the semifinals, Coventry established an Olympic standard of 2:09.53 to cut off Yana Klochkova's eight-year record by a 1.15-second deficit.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Stephanie Rice (AUS) | 2:08.92 | Sydney, Australia | 25 March 2008 | |
| Olympic record | Yana Klochkova (UKR) | 2:10.68 | Sydney, Australia | 19 September 2000 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 12 | Semifinal 1 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:09.53 | OR |
| August 13 | Final | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 2:08.45 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 3 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 2:11.55 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 4 | Katie Hoff | United States | 2:11.58 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 2:11.63 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 2:11.72 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 6 | Julie Hjorth-Hansen | Denmark | 2:11.99 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 2:12.07 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 5 | Camille Muffat | France | 2:12.16 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 5 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:12.18 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 2 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 2:12.47 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 5 | 6 | Katarzyna Baranowska | Poland | 2:12.47 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | 2 | Evelyn Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:12.52 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | 1 | Li Jiaxing | China | 2:12.53 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | 7 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 2:12.56 | Q |
| 14 | 3 | 5 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 2:12.75 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | 3 | Keri-Anne Payne | Great Britain | 2:12.78 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 1 | Svetlana Karpeeva | Russia | 2:12.94 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | 8 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:13.05 | |
| 18 | 5 | 1 | Helen Norfolk | New Zealand | 2:13.50 | |
| 19 | 5 | 7 | Erica Morningstar | Canada | 2:14.11 | |
| 20 | 4 | 6 | Qi Hui | China | 2:14.25 | |
| 21 | 4 | 2 | Cylia Vabre | France | 2:14.34 | |
| 22 | 2 | 7 | Joanna Maranhão | Brazil | 2:14.97 | |
| 23 | 2 | 1 | Sara Nordenstam | Norway | 2:15.13 | NR |
| 24 | 2 | 2 | Choi Hye-Ra | South Korea | 2:15.26 | |
| 25 | 2 | 3 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | 2:15.39 | |
| 26 | 2 | 5 | Jessica Pengelly | South Africa | 2:15.80 | |
| 27 | 3 | 8 | María Peláez | Spain | 2:15.97 | |
| 28 | 2 | 6 | Femke Heemskerk | Netherlands | 2:16.28 | |
| 29 | 2 | 8 | Siow Yi Ting | Malaysia | 2:17.11 | |
| 30 | 4 | 7 | Katharina Schiller | Germany | 2:18.00 | |
| 31 | 1 | 6 | Ganna Dzerkal | Ukraine | 2:18.25 | |
| 32 | 1 | 2 | Erika Stewart | Colombia | 2:18.54 | NR |
| 33 | 1 | 3 | Sherry Tsai | Hong Kong | 2:18.91 | |
| 34 | 5 | 8 | Sonja Schöber | Germany | 2:20.18 | |
| 35 | 1 | 4 | Erla Dögg Haraldsdóttir | Iceland | 2:20.53 | |
| 36 | 1 | 7 | Lin Man-Hsu | Chinese Taipei | 2:23.29 | |
| 37 | 2 | 4 | Georgina Bardach | Argentina | 2:25.74 | |
| 38 | 1 | 1 | Fibriani Ratna Marita | Indonesia | 2:28.18 | |
| | 1 | 5 | Maroua Mathlouthi | Tunisia | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:09.53 | Q, OR |
| 2 | 3 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 2:10.58 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Katie Hoff | United States | 2:10.90 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Katarzyna Baranowska | Poland | 2:12.13 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 5 | Hannah Miley | Great Britain | 2:12.35 | |
| 6 | 8 | Svetlana Karpeeva | Russia | 2:13.26 | |
| 7 | 1 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 2:13.45 | |
| 8 | 7 | Li Jiaxing | China | 2:13.47 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 2:11.84 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 2:12.03 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 2:12.03 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 2:12.18 | QSO, NR |
| 4 | 7 | Evelyn Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:12.18 | QSO |
| 6 | 3 | Julie Hjorth-Hansen | Denmark | 2:12.26 | |
| 7 | 6 | Camille Muffat | France | 2:12.36 | |
| 8 | 8 | Keri-Anne Payne | Great Britain | 2:14.14 | |

#### Swimoff

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 2:12.02 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | Evelyn Verrasztó | Hungary | 2:14.96 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Stephanie Rice | Australia | 2:08.45 | WR |
| | 4 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 2:08.59 | AF |
| | 6 | Natalie Coughlin | United States | 2:10.34 | |
| 4 | 3 | Katie Hoff | United States | 2:10.68 | |
| 5 | 2 | Alicia Coutts | Australia | 2:11.43 | |
| 6 | 8 | Asami Kitagawa | Japan | 2:11.56 | NR |
| 7 | 7 | Julia Wilkinson | Canada | 2:12.43 | |
| 8 | 1 | Katarzyna Baranowska | Poland | 2:13.36 | |