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


The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Domenico Fioravanti emerged as a major force on the international swimming after effortlessly winning his second gold at these Games. He maintained a lead from start to finish and posted a European record of 2:10.87, the second-fastest of all time, making him the first ever swimmer in Olympic history to strike a breaststroke double. South Africa's Terence Parkin, a deaf mute since birth, enjoyed the race of his life to take a silver medal in an African record of 2:12.50. Fioravanti's fellowman Davide Rummolo gave Italy a further reason to celebrate, as he powered home with the bronze in 2:12.73.
Acknowledging a massive cheer from the home crowd, Australia's Regan Harrison swam his lifetime best, but finished outside the podium by 15-hundredths of a second in 2:12.88. Czech Republic's Daniel Málek pulled off a fifth-place finish in a national record of 2:13.20, while Kyle Salyards, the only U.S. swimmer in the final, earned a sixth spot with a time of 2:13.27. France's Yohann Bernard and another Aussie Ryan Mitchell rounded out the finale. Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring Hungary's Norbert Rózsa, the defending Olympic champion, who placed thirteenth, and Canada's Morgan Knabe, who had the fastest 100-metre split, but faded badly on the final lap to place tenth.
Shortly before the next Olympics, Fioravanti was forced to retire from swimming after failing a routine medical test carried by the Italian National Olympic Committee. Tests revealed that he was diagnosed with a genetic heart anomaly.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
167Davide Rummolo2:12.75Q, NR
245Daniel Málek2:14.10Q, NR
372Morgan Knabe2:14.18Q
477Maxim Podoprigora2:14.37Q, NR
556Ryan Mitchell2:14.69Q
674Stéphan Perrot2:14.79Q
776Regan Harrison2:14.85Q
857Martin Gustavsson2:15.02Q
962Domenico Fioravanti2:15.04Q
1063Terence Parkin2:15.06Q
1161Norbert Rózsa2:15.27Q
1264Yohann Bernard2:15.35Q
1353Akira Hayashi2:15.54Q
1465Kyle Salyards2:15.57Q
1522Alexander Tkachev2:15.63Q
1675Dmitry Komornikov2:15.70Q
1773Kosuke Kitajima2:15.71
1843Marek Krawczyk2:16.08
1944Valērijs Kalmikovs2:16.21NR
2054Roman Sloudnov2:16.26
2155Tom Wilkens2:16.30
2258Aliaksandr Hukau2:16.93
2351Benno Kuipers2:17.03
2466Adam Whitehead2:17.16
2548Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson2:17.86NR
2678José Couto2:18.08
2741Andrew Bree2:18.14
2826Oleg Lisogor2:18.28
2932Joe Kyong-fan2:19.16NR
3035Li Tsung-chueh2:19.30
3147Steven Ferguson2:19.31
3246Tal Stricker2:19.33
3334Raiko Pachel2:19.71
3423Jarno Pihlava2:19.76
3538Francisco Suriano2:20.10
3625Jeremy Knowles2:20.31
3714Andrés Bicocca2:20.98
3852Zhu Yi2:21.60
3936Alvaro Fortuny2:21.78
4031Muhammad Akbar Nasution2:23.81
4142Ratapong Sirisanont2:23.95
4237Tam Chi Kin2:24.04
4333Juan José Madrigal2:24.49
4471Elvin Chia2:26.84
4513Nguyễn Ngọc Anh2:29.54
4627Sergey Voytsekhovich2:30.23
4715Leonard Ngoma2:32.90
24Vadim Tatarov
68Jens Kruppa

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final