The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 12–14 August at the
Beijing National Aquatics Center
The National Aquatics Centre (), and colloquially known as the Water Cube () and the Ice Cube (), is an aquatics center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China.
The facility was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2 ...
in
Beijing, China.
In front of a large home crowd inside the Water Cube,
Liu Zige powered past the entire field to capture a first gold medal for the host nation in swimming. She set a new world record of 2:04.18 to cut off a 1.32-second standard set by Australia's
Jessicah Schipper at the
2006 Pan Pacific Championships in
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. She also enjoyed her teammate
Jiao Liuyang handing an entire medal haul for China with a one–two finish. Jiao earned a silver medal as she overhauled Schipper on the final lap, and touched the wall in 2:04.72. Meanwhile, Schipper added a second bronze to her hardware from the
100 m butterfly, outside the record time of 2:06.26.
Poland's
Otylia Jędrzejczak
Otylia Jędrzejczak (; born 13 December 1983) is a Polish swimmer. She was the Olympic champion from 2004 Athens in the 200 metre butterfly. She finished 4th in this event in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and also swam at the 2000 Summ ...
, the defending Olympic champion, finished outside the medals in fourth place at 2:07.02. Having won a bronze medal from Athens four years earlier, Japan's
Yuko Nakanishi
is a Japanese butterfly swimmer.
She attended Osaka Seikei Girls' High School is a girls' senior high school in Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka.
Notable alumni
* Yuko Nakanishi
is a Japanese butterfly swimmer.
She attended Osaka Seikei Girls ...
earned a fifth spot in 2:07.32, holding off France's
Aurore Mongel (2:07.36) to sixth by four hundredths of a second (0.04). Americans
Elaine Breeden (2:07.57) and
Kathleen Hersey
Kathleen Elizabeth Hersey (born February 21, 1990) is an American competition swimmer who represented the United States at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and finished fourth in the 200-meter butterfly in 2012.
Early years and education
Hers ...
(2:08.23) closed out the field.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
Semifinal 2
Final
References
External links
Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 200 Metre Butterfly
Women's butterfly 200 metre
2008 in women's swimming
Women's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics