| | Event type

200 metres Breaststroke, Women

Date	23 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	40 from 33 countries

With one gold medal already in her locker, Penny Heyns of South Africa looked a clear favourite to win the breaststroke double. When she broke the Olympic record in the heats and qualified for the final with a time that was a second and a half ahead of anyone else it seemed her victory was a foregone conclusion.

If the rest of the world believed Heyns was unbeatable nobody had told 14-year-old Amanda Beard of the USA. Heyns led from the gun but the gap between her and Beard closed quickly in the closing stages and the South African had only a third of a second to spare at the finish. After her country had had waited 44 years for an Olympic gold Heyns had won two within 48 hours.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	R1	B Final	Final
1	Penny Heyns	RSA	2:26.63 (1 h4)	–	2:25.41 (1)	Gold
2	Amanda Beard	USA	2:28.10 (1 h5)	–	2:25.75 (2)	Silver
3	Ágnes Kovács	HUN	2:29.58 (2 h5)	–	2:26.57 (3)	Bronze
4	Sam Riley	AUS	2:28.30 (1 h6)	–	2:27.91 (4)
5	Masami Tanaka	JPN	2:29.36 (2 h6)	–	2:28.05 (5)
6	Nadine Neumann	AUS	2:29.91 (3 h5)	–	2:28.34 (6)
7	Brigitte Becue	BEL	2:29.62 (3 h6)	–	2:28.36 (7)
8	Christin Petelski	CAN	2:30.30 (4 h6)	–	2:31.45 (8)
9	Lena Eriksson	SWE	2:31.65 (3 h4)	2:28.87 (1)	–
10	Kyoko Iwasaki	JPN	2:30.84 (2 h4)	2:29.32 (2)	–
11	Lenka Maňhalová	CZE	2:32.14 (6 h5)	2:29.96 (3)	–
12	Julia Russell	RSA	2:32.44 (5 h4)	2:30.38 (4)	–
13	Alicja Pęczak	POL	2:30.64 (5 h6)	2:30.99 (5)	–
14	Marie Hardiman	GBR	2:31.12 (6 h6)	2:31.39 (6)	–
15	Jilen Siroky	USA	2:31.57 (5 h5)	2:33.43 (7)	–
16	Lin Li	CHN	2:30.64 (4 h5)	2:33.45 (8)	–
17	Svitlana Bondarenko	UKR	2:32.42 (4 h4)	–	–		1
18	Elin Austevoll	NOR	2:32.48 (6 h4)	–	–
19	Riley Mants	CAN	2:32.97 (7 h4)	–	–
20	Alenka Kejžar	SLO	2:33.34 (1 h3)	–	–
21	Maria Östling	SWE	2:33.44 (7 h6)	–	–
22	Yelena Makarova	RUS	2:33.74 (7 h5)	–	–
23	Lourdes Becerra	ESP	2:33.80 (2 h3)	–	–
=24	Elvira Fischer	AUT	2:33.89 (3 h3)	–	–
=24	Yuan Yuan	CHN	2:33.89 (8 h4)	–	–
26	Manuela Dalla Valle	ITA	2:34.76 (8 h5)	–	–
27	Mia Hagman	FIN	2:36.11 (4 h3)	–	–
28	No Ju-Hui	KOR	2:36.20 (5 h3)	–	–
29	Karine Brémond	FRA	2:36.26 (1 h2)	–	–
30	Isabel Ceballos	COL	2:36.94 (2 h2)	–	–
31	Kathrin Dumitru	GER	2:37.07 (6 h3)	–	–
32	María Carolina Santa Cruz	ARG	2:37.85 (7 h3)	–	–
33	Larisa Lăcusță	ROU	2:38.08 (8 h6)	–	–
34	Margarita Kalmikova	LAT	2:39.63 (3 h2)	–	–
35	Érika Graf	URU	2:42.97 (1 h1)	–	–
36	Mou Ying-Hsin	TPE	2:43.94 (4 h2)	–	–
37	Nádia Cruz	ANG	2:44.24 (5 h2)	–	–
38	Natália Kodajová	SVK	2:45.21 (6 h2)	–	–
39	Cerian Gibbes	TTO	2:45.87 (7 h2)	–	–
40	Oksana Cherevko	KGZ	2:57.65 (2 h1)	–	–
DNS	Britta Vestergaard	DEN	– (DNS h1)	–	–
DNS	Anna Wilson	NZL	– (DNS h3)	–	–

Round One

Date	23 July 1996
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time
1	–	Penny Heyns	RSA	2:26.63	QOR
2	–	Amanda Beard	USA	2:28.10	Q
3	–	Sam Riley	AUS	2:28.30	Q
4	–	Masami Tanaka	JPN	2:29.36	Q
5	–	Ágnes Kovács	HUN	2:29.58	Q
6	–	Brigitte Becue	BEL	2:29.62	Q
7	–	Nadine Neumann	AUS	2:29.91	Q
8	–	Christin Petelski	CAN	2:30.30	Q
=9	–	Lin Li	CHN	2:30.64	q
=9	–	Alicja Pęczak	POL	2:30.64	q
11	–	Kyoko Iwasaki	JPN	2:30.84	q
12	–	Marie Hardiman	GBR	2:31.12	q
13	–	Jilen Siroky	USA	2:31.57	q
14	–	Lena Eriksson	SWE	2:31.65	q
15	–	Lenka Maňhalová	CZE	2:32.14	q
16	–	Svitlana Bondarenko	UKR	2:32.42	q
17	–	Julia Russell	RSA	2:32.44
18	–	Elin Austevoll	NOR	2:32.48
19	–	Riley Mants	CAN	2:32.97
20	–	Alenka Kejžar	SLO	2:33.34
21	–	Maria Östling	SWE	2:33.44
22	–	Yelena Makarova	RUS	2:33.74
23	–	Lourdes Becerra	ESP	2:33.80
=24	–	Elvira Fischer	AUT	2:33.89
=24	–	Yuan Yuan	CHN	2:33.89
26	–	Manuela Dalla Valle	ITA	2:34.76
27	–	Mia Hagman	FIN	2:36.11
28	–	No Ju-Hui	KOR	2:36.20
29	–	Karine Brémond	FRA	2:36.26
30	–	Isabel Ceballos	COL	2:36.94
31	–	Kathrin Dumitru	GER	2:37.07
32	–	María Carolina Santa Cruz	ARG	2:37.85
33	–	Larisa Lăcusță	ROU	2:38.08
34	–	Margarita Kalmikova	LAT	2:39.63
35	–	Érika Graf	URU	2:42.97
36	–	Mou Ying-Hsin	TPE	2:43.94
37	–	Nádia Cruz	ANG	2:44.24
38	–	Natália Kodajová	SVK	2:45.21
39	–	Cerian Gibbes	TTO	2:45.87
40	–	Oksana Cherevko	KGZ	2:57.65
DNS	–	Britta Vestergaard	DEN	–
DNS	–	Anna Wilson	NZL	–

Heat #1

Time	10:30

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Érika Graf	URU	2:42.97	0.85	37.57 (1)	1:18.55 (1)	2:00.15 (1)	40.98 (1)	41.60 (1)	42.82 (2)
2	–	Oksana Cherevko	KGZ	2:57.65	0.87	37.86 (2)	1:23.11 (2)	2:15.75 (2)	45.25 (2)	52.64 (2)	41.90 (1)
DNS	–	Britta Vestergaard	DEN	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #2

Time	10:38

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Karine Brémond	FRA	2:36.26	0.78	36.25 (3)	1:15.70 (1)	1:56.00 (1)	39.45 (1)	40.30 (1)	40.26 (2)
2	–	Isabel Ceballos	COL	2:36.94	0.87	36.28 (4)	1:16.46 (3)	1:56.84 (2)	40.18 (2)	40.38 (2)	40.10 (1)
3	–	Margarita Kalmikova	LAT	2:39.63	0.93	36.16 (2)	1:16.60 (4)	1:57.88 (3)	40.44 (3)	41.28 (3)	41.75 (3)
4	–	Mou Ying-Hsin	TPE	2:43.94	0.80	37.06 (7)	1:18.89 (6)	2:01.90 (6)	41.83 (6)	43.01 (5)	42.04 (4)
5	–	Nádia Cruz	ANG	2:44.24	0.77	36.30 (5)	1:16.97 (5)	1:59.56 (4)	40.67 (4)	42.59 (4)	44.68 (6)
6	–	Natália Kodajová	SVK	2:45.21	0.94	34.94 (1)	1:16.17 (2)	2:00.23 (5)	41.23 (5)	44.06 (7)	44.98 (7)
7	–	Cerian Gibbes	TTO	2:45.87	0.84	36.98 (6)	1:19.02 (7)	2:02.26 (7)	42.04 (7)	43.24 (6)	43.61 (5)

Heat #3

Time	10:46

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Alenka Kejžar	SLO	2:33.34	0.76	34.83 (1)	1:13.50 (1)	1:52.91 (1)	38.67 (2)	39.41 (1)	40.43 (3)
2	–	Lourdes Becerra	ESP	2:33.80	0.83	35.53 (5)	1:14.15 (4)	1:53.63 (2)	38.62 (1)	39.48 (2)	40.17 (2)
3	–	Elvira Fischer	AUT	2:33.89	0.81	35.33 (4)	1:14.12 (3)	1:54.00 (3)	38.79 (3)	39.88 (3)	39.89 (1)
4	–	Mia Hagman	FIN	2:36.11	0.85	34.95 (3)	1:14.37 (5)	1:55.04 (4)	39.42 (6)	40.67 (6)	41.07 (6)
5	–	No Ju-Hui	KOR	2:36.20	0.96	35.69 (6)	1:15.02 (6)	1:55.28 (6)	39.33 (5)	40.26 (4)	40.92 (5)
6	–	Kathrin Dumitru	GER	2:37.07	0.87	34.91 (2)	1:13.82 (2)	1:55.27 (5)	38.91 (4)	41.45 (7)	41.80 (7)
7	–	María Carolina Santa Cruz	ARG	2:37.85	0.80	36.89 (7)	1:16.53 (7)	1:57.06 (7)	39.64 (7)	40.53 (5)	40.79 (4)
DNS	–	Anna Wilson	NZL	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	– (–)	–	–	–

Heat #4

Time	10:54

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Penny Heyns	RSA	2:26.63	0.81	33.06 (1)	1:10.62 (1)	1:49.04 (1)	37.56 (1)	38.42 (1)	37.59 (1)	QOR
2	–	Kyoko Iwasaki	JPN	2:30.84	0.76	34.65 (5)	1:12.69 (5)	1:51.51 (6)	38.04 (4)	38.82 (3)	39.33 (2)	q
3	–	Lena Eriksson	SWE	2:31.65	0.84	34.43 (3)	1:12.50 (4)	1:51.41 (3)	38.07 (5)	38.91 (4)	40.24 (4)	q
4	–	Svitlana Bondarenko	UKR	2:32.42	0.82	34.70 (6)	1:12.89 (6)	1:51.46 (4)	38.19 (6)	38.57 (2)	40.96 (6)	q
5	–	Julia Russell	RSA	2:32.44	0.76	34.13 (2)	1:12.13 (2)	1:51.34 (2)	38.00 (3)	39.21 (8)	41.10 (8)
6	–	Elin Austevoll	NOR	2:32.48	0.81	34.61 (4)	1:12.39 (3)	1:51.48 (5)	37.78 (2)	39.09 (5)	41.00 (7)
7	–	Riley Mants	CAN	2:32.97	0.78	35.14 (8)	1:13.63 (7)	1:52.79 (7)	38.49 (7)	39.16 (=6)	40.18 (3)
8	–	Yuan Yuan	CHN	2:33.89	0.78	35.05 (7)	1:13.84 (8)	1:53.00 (8)	38.79 (8)	39.16 (=6)	40.89 (5)

Heat #5

Time	11:02

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Amanda Beard	USA	2:28.10	0.78	35.18 (6)	1:13.66 (6)	1:51.26 (2)	38.48 (5)	37.60 (1)	36.84 (1)	Q
2	–	Ágnes Kovács	HUN	2:29.58	0.80	35.12 (5)	1:13.53 (5)	1:51.78 (3)	38.41 (4)	38.25 (2)	37.80 (2)	Q
3	–	Nadine Neumann	AUS	2:29.91	0.80	34.27 (1)	1:11.61 (1)	1:49.98 (1)	37.34 (1)	38.37 (3)	39.93 (6)	Q
4	–	Lin Li	CHN	2:30.64	0.73	34.92 (3)	1:13.22 (2)	1:52.06 (4)	38.30 (2)	38.84 (6)	38.58 (3)	q
5	–	Jilen Siroky	USA	2:31.57	0.82	35.92 (8)	1:14.31 (7)	1:52.79 (6)	38.39 (3)	38.48 (4)	38.78 (4)	q
6	–	Lenka Maňhalová	CZE	2:32.14	0.86	34.99 (4)	1:13.48 (4)	1:52.26 (5)	38.49 (6)	38.78 (5)	39.88 (5)	q
7	–	Yelena Makarova	RUS	2:33.74	0.84	34.72 (2)	1:13.36 (3)	1:52.92 (7)	38.64 (7)	39.56 (8)	40.82 (8)
8	–	Manuela Dalla Valle	ITA	2:34.76	0.79	35.78 (7)	1:14.83 (8)	1:54.05 (8)	39.05 (8)	39.22 (7)	40.71 (7)

Heat #6

Time	11:10

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Sam Riley	AUS	2:28.30	0.72	33.96 (1)	1:11.49 (1)	1:49.37 (1)	37.53 (3)	37.88 (1)	38.93 (2)	Q
2	–	Masami Tanaka	JPN	2:29.36	0.73	34.03 (2)	1:11.91 (4)	1:50.70 (4)	37.88 (=5)	38.79 (6)	38.66 (1)	Q
3	–	Brigitte Becue	BEL	2:29.62	0.72	34.35 (5)	1:11.79 (3)	1:50.16 (2)	37.44 (2)	38.37 (2)	39.46 (4)	Q
4	–	Christin Petelski	CAN	2:30.30	0.79	34.22 (4)	1:11.59 (2)	1:50.30 (3)	37.37 (1)	38.71 (5)	40.00 (6)	Q
5	–	Alicja Pęczak	POL	2:30.64	0.82	34.86 (7)	1:12.68 (7)	1:51.27 (6)	37.82 (4)	38.59 (3)	39.37 (3)	q
6	–	Marie Hardiman	GBR	2:31.12	0.79	34.64 (6)	1:12.52 (5)	1:51.21 (5)	37.88 (=5)	38.69 (4)	39.91 (5)	q
7	–	Maria Östling	SWE	2:33.44	0.81	34.13 (3)	1:12.57 (6)	1:52.13 (7)	38.44 (7)	39.56 (7)	41.31 (7)
8	–	Larisa Lăcusță	ROU	2:38.08	0.94	35.01 (8)	1:13.84 (8)	1:54.69 (8)	38.83 (8)	40.85 (8)	43.39 (8)

B Final

Date	23 July 1996 — 19:40

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Lena Eriksson	SWE	2:28.87	0.81	33.95 (1)	1:12.35 (2)	1:50.33 (1)	38.40 (4)	37.98 (1)	38.54 (2)
2	–	Kyoko Iwasaki	JPN	2:29.32	0.76	34.86 (5)	1:12.64 (4)	1:50.85 (3)	37.78 (1)	38.21 (2)	38.47 (1)
3	–	Lenka Maňhalová	CZE	2:29.96	0.81	34.10 (2)	1:12.11 (1)	1:50.68 (2)	38.01 (3)	38.57 (4)	39.28 (5)
4	–	Julia Russell	RSA	2:30.38	0.80	34.58 (=3)	1:13.09 (5)	1:51.62 (5)	38.51 (7)	38.53 (3)	38.76 (3)
5	–	Alicja Pęczak	POL	2:30.99	0.83	35.13 (7)	1:13.58 (7)	1:52.18 (6)	38.45 (6)	38.60 (5)	38.81 (4)
6	–	Marie Hardiman	GBR	2:31.39	0.77	34.58 (=3)	1:12.57 (3)	1:51.37 (4)	37.99 (2)	38.80 (6)	40.02 (7)
7	–	Jilen Siroky	USA	2:33.43	0.80	35.04 (6)	1:13.45 (6)	1:52.80 (7)	38.41 (5)	39.35 (7)	40.63 (8)
8	–	Lin Li	CHN	2:33.45	0.77	35.49 (8)	1:14.55 (8)	1:53.91 (8)	39.06 (8)	39.36 (8)	39.54 (6)

Final Round

Date	23 July 1996 — 19:30

Pos	Lane	Competitor	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m	100 m	150 m	50-100 m Time (Rank)	100-150 m Time (Rank)	150-200 m Time (Rank)
1	–	Penny Heyns	RSA	2:25.41	0.83	32.38 (1)	1:09.06 (1)	1:46.50 (1)	36.68 (1)	37.44 (1)	38.91 (5)	OR
2	–	Amanda Beard	USA	2:25.75	0.88	33.97 (5)	1:11.30 (3)	1:48.77 (3)	37.33 (3)	37.47 (2)	36.98 (1)
3	–	Ágnes Kovács	HUN	2:26.57	0.82	33.96 (4)	1:11.43 (4)	1:49.04 (4)	37.47 (4)	37.61 (4)	37.53 (2)
4	–	Sam Riley	AUS	2:27.91	0.74	33.09 (2)	1:10.14 (2)	1:48.29 (2)	37.05 (2)	38.15 (7)	39.62 (7)
5	–	Masami Tanaka	JPN	2:28.05	0.72	33.78 (3)	1:11.93 (6)	1:50.06 (6)	38.15 (8)	38.13 (6)	37.99 (3)
6	–	Nadine Neumann	AUS	2:28.34	0.76	34.14 (6)	1:11.89 (5)	1:49.38 (5)	37.75 (6)	37.49 (3)	38.96 (6)
7	–	Brigitte Becue	BEL	2:28.36	0.72	34.38 (7)	1:12.07 (7)	1:50.07 (7)	37.69 (5)	38.00 (5)	38.29 (4)
8	–	Christin Petelski	CAN	2:31.45	0.79	34.47 (8)	1:12.34 (8)	1:51.47 (8)	37.87 (7)	39.13 (8)	39.98 (8)