# Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre backstroke

The women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 25 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) | 2:06.62 | Athens, Greece | 25 August 1991 |
| Olympic record | Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) | 2:07.06 | Barcelona, Spain | 31 July 1992 |

## 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 | 5 | 4 | Krisztina Egerszegi | Hungary | 2:09.18 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | Whitney Hedgepeth | United States | 2:11.63 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 6 | Anke Scholz | Germany | 2:12.73 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | Miki Nakao | Japan | 2:12.92 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 5 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | Russia | 2:13.32 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | Lorenza Vigarani | Italy | 2:13.58 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Cathleen Rund | Germany | 2:13.58 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 2 | Anna Simcic | New Zealand | 2:13.74 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | 4 | Beth Botsford | United States | 2:14.16 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 2 | Hélène Ricardo | France | 2:14.18 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 7 | Lee Chang-ha | South Korea | 2:14.18 | q, NR |
| 12 | 5 | 6 | Chen Yan | China | 2:14.74 | q |
| 13 | 5 | 3 | Mai Nakamura | Japan | 2:15.05 | q |
| 14 | 5 | 1 | Joanne Deakins | Great Britain | 2:15.12 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 7 | Cătălina Cășaru | Romania | 2:15.92 | q |
| 16 | 4 | 2 | Marianne Kriel | South Africa | 2:15.99 | q |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | Mette Jacobsen | Denmark | 2:16.68 | |
| 18 | 4 | 5 | Nicole Stevenson | Australia | 2:16.71 | |
| 19 | 3 | 1 | Izabela Burczyk | Poland | 2:16.91 | NR |
| 20 | 2 | 4 | Julie Howard | Canada | 2:17.25 | |
| 21 | 5 | 8 | Kateřina Pivoňková | Czech Republic | 2:18.20 | |
| 22 | 4 | 8 | Yseult Gervy | Belgium | 2:18.69 | |
| 23 | 3 | 8 | Ivette María | Spain | 2:18.72 | |
| 24 | 5 | 7 | Lydia Lipscombe | New Zealand | 2:19.54 | |
| 25 | 2 | 2 | Anu Koivisto | Finland | 2:19.58 | NR |
| 26 | 2 | 6 | Petra Chaves | Portugal | 2:20.49 | |
| 27 | 1 | 5 | Maja Grozdanić | FR Yugoslavia | 2:20.65 | |
| 28 | 3 | 6 | Wu Yanyan | China | 2:20.89 | |
| 29 | 2 | 5 | Akiko Thomson | Philippines | 2:21.36 | |
| 30 | 1 | 4 | Praphalsai Minpraphal | Thailand | 2:21.82 | |
| 31 | 2 | 3 | Aikaterini Klepkou | Greece | 2:22.83 | |
| 32 | 1 | 3 | Dijana Kvesić | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2:23.78 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Lin Chi-chan | Chinese Taipei | 2:24.50 | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| 9 | 2 | Mai Nakamura | Japan | 2:13.40 |
| 10 | 4 | Beth Botsford | United States | 2:13.48 |
| 11 | 6 | Chen Yan | China | 2:14.37 |
| 12 | 7 | Joanne Deakins | Great Britain | 2:14.50 |
| 13 | 5 | Lee Chang-ha | South Korea | 2:14.55 |
| 14 | 1 | Cătãlina Cășaru | Romania | 2:15.15 |
| 15 | 3 | Hélène Ricardo | France | 2:16.29 |
| 16 | 8 | Marianne Kriel | South Africa | 2:18.41 |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | 4 | Krisztina Egerszegi | Hungary | 2:07.83 |
| | 5 | Whitney Hedgepeth | United States | 2:11.98 |
| | 7 | Cathleen Rund | Germany | 2:12.06 |
| 4 | 3 | Anke Scholz | Germany | 2:12.90 |
| 5 | 6 | Miki Nakao | Japan | 2:13.57 |
| 6 | 8 | Anna Simcic | New Zealand | 2:14.04 |
| 7 | 1 | Lorenza Vigarani | Italy | 2:14.56 |
| 8 | 2 | Nina Zhivanevskaya | Russia | 2:14.59 |