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| Event type

200 metres Butterfly, Women

Date26 July 1996
StatusOlympic
LocationGeorgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants34 from 28 countries

Chinese swimmers Qu Yun and Liu Limin had dominated the event at the 1994 World Championships but the Chinese Olympic team was a shadow of the team they had been two years earlier and instead the mantle of pre-Games favourites fell on the shoulders of the Australian pairing of Susie O’Neill and Petria Thomas. As the events of Atlanta unfolded another name was added to the list of contenders as Michelle Smith of Ireland had already visited the top of the Olympic podium on three occasions.

O’Neill had burst onto the world scene as a 16-year-old in 1990 but this was to be her first global title. She led for the entirety of the race and eventually won by a large margin of 2.06 seconds. Behind her Petria Thomas took a large slice off her personal best to finish second ahead of Smith who finally lost an Olympic race. O’Neill would go on to win silver in this event in front of her home crowd in Sydney in 2000 and retired afterwards, having won a total of eight Olympic medals

PosSwimmerNOCR1B FinalFinal
1Susie O'NeillAUS2:09.46 (1 h5)2:07.76 (1)Gold
2Petria ThomasAUS2:10.64 (1 h3)2:09.82 (2)Silver
3Michelle SmithIRL2:10.03 (2 h5)2:09.91 (3)Bronze
4Qu YunCHN2:11.35 (2 h3)2:10.26 (4)
5Liu LiminCHN2:13.12 (3 h5)2:10.70 (5)
6Jessica DeglauCAN2:12.48 (3 h3)2:11.40 (6)
7Mika HarunaJPN2:12.59 (1 h4)2:11.93 (7)
8Trina JacksonUSA2:12.69 (4 h3)2:11.96 (8)
9Sophia SkouDEN2:13.59 (5 h3)2:12.41 (1)
10Cécile JeansonFRA2:13.58 (2 h4)2:12.99 (2)
11María PeláezESP2:13.85 (3 h4)2:13.05 (3)
=12Anna UryniukPOL2:13.90 (4 h4)2:13.64 (=4)
=12Annette SalmeenUSA2:14.69 (6 h5)2:13.64 (=4)
14Hitomi KashimaJPN2:16.04 (5 h4)2:13.97 (6)
15Andrea SchwartzCAN2:13.33 (4 h5)2:14.07 (7)
16Bárbara FrancoESP2:13.34 (5 h5)2:14.16 (8)
17Ilaria TocchiniITA2:16.10 (6 h3)
18Hsieh Shu-TzuTPE2:16.27 (6 h4)
19Sabine HerbstGER2:16.66 (7 h4)
20Nataliya ZolotukhinaUKR2:16.68 (1 h2)
21Loredana ZisuROU2:17.56 (7 h5)
22Ana FranciscoPOR2:17.61 (7 h3)
=23Edit KlockerHUN2:17.90 (8 h3)
=23Nataša MeškovskaMKD2:17.90 (2 h2)
25Praphalsai MinpraphalTHA2:18.19 (8 h5)
26Nida ZuhalTUR2:18.46 (3 h2)
27Marcela KubalčíkováCZE2:19.38 (4 h2)
28María PereyraARG2:19.57 (5 h2)
29Marina KarystinouGRE2:20.57 (6 h2)
30Mandy LootsRSA2:20.73 (7 h2)
31Tinka DančevićCRO2:20.74 (8 h2)
32Park U-HuiKOR2:22.99 (1 h1)
33Melissa MataCRC2:23.89 (2 h1)
34Sonia ÁlvarezPUR2:25.24 (3 h1)

Round One (26 July 1996)

Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final.

Heat One (9:30)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Park U-HuiKOR2:22.990.86
25Melissa MataCRC2:23.890.81
33Sonia ÁlvarezPUR2:25.240.80

Heat Two (9:40)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
16Nataliya ZolotukhinaUKR2:16.680.86
25Nataša MeškovskaMKD2:17.900.80
38Nida ZuhalTUR2:18.460.87
44Marcela KubalčíkováCZE2:19.380.92
52María PereyraARG2:19.570.81
63Marina KarystinouGRE2:20.570.81
71Mandy LootsRSA2:20.730.82
87Tinka DančevićCRO2:20.740.80

Heat Three (9:50)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
13Petria ThomasAUS2:10.640.75Q
24Qu YunCHN2:11.350.77Q
36Jessica DeglauCAN2:12.480.77Q
45Trina JacksonUSA2:12.690.69Q
52Sophia SkouDEN2:13.590.84q
67Ilaria TocchiniITA2:16.100.87
71Ana FranciscoPOR2:17.610.86
88Edit KlockerHUN2:17.900.90

Heat Four (10:00)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
15Mika HarunaJPN2:12.590.86Q
22Cécile JeansonFRA2:13.580.79q
37María PeláezESP2:13.850.80q
46Anna UryniukPOL2:13.900.82q
54Hitomi KashimaJPN2:16.040.78q
61Hsieh Shu-TzuTPE2:16.270.91
78Sabine HerbstGER2:16.660.78

Heat Five (10:10)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Susie O'NeillAUS2:09.460.88Q
23Michelle SmithIRL2:10.030.81Q
35Liu LiminCHN2:13.120.76Q
42Andrea SchwartzCAN2:13.330.76q
57Bárbara FrancoESP2:13.340.77q
66Annette SalmeenUSA2:14.690.82q
71Loredana ZisuROU2:17.560.83
88Praphalsai MinpraphalTHA2:18.190.76

B Final (26 July 1996 — 19:40)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
16Sophia SkouDEN2:12.410.88
23Cécile JeansonFRA2:12.990.76
32María PeláezESP2:13.050.80
=41Annette SalmeenUSA2:13.640.83
=47Anna UryniukPOL2:13.640.82
68Hitomi KashimaJPN2:13.970.76
74Andrea SchwartzCAN2:14.070.75
85Bárbara FrancoESP2:14.160.77

Final (26 July 1996 — 19:30)

PosLaneSwimmerNOCTimeReaction
14Susie O'NeillAUS2:07.760.84
23Petria ThomasAUS2:09.820.75
35Michelle SmithIRL2:09.910.72
46Qu YunCHN2:10.260.76
58Liu LiminCHN2:10.700.78
62Jessica DeglauCAN2:11.400.81
77Mika HarunaJPN2:11.930.89
81Trina JacksonUSA2:11.960.73