The women's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August 2012 at the

London Aquatics Centre The London Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility with two swimming pools and a diving pool in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The centre, designed by architect Zaha Hadid as one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympic ...

in London, United Kingdom. U.S. swimmer

Rebecca Soni Rebecca Soni (born March 18, 1987) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is a six-time Olympic medalist. She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke (short and long course) and the 200- ...

cleared a 2:20-barrier in a remarkable world record to defend her Olympic title for the first time in the event's history. Dominating the race from the start, she threw down a stunning time of 2:19.59 to open up a full-body length gap over the rest of the field on the final stretch. Meanwhile, Japan's Satomi Suzuki powered home with silver in a scorching time of 2:20.72 to match an Asian record previously held by Rie Kaneto in 2009. Russia's

Yuliya Yefimova Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova (russian: Юлия Андреевна Ефимова, also romanized Efimova; born 3 April 1992) is a Russian competitive swimmer. She is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley (short course), ...

, who trained with Soni at the Trojan Swim Club, snatched the bronze medal with an astonishing European record in 2:20.92. Denmark's Rikke Pedersen fell short of the podium by almost a full second with a fourth-place time in 2:21.65, and was followed in fifth by Canada's

Martha McCabe Martha McCabe (born August 4, 1989) is a Canadian competition swimmer. She won bronze in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 2011 World Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, McCabe finished fifth in the final of the 200-metre breas ...

(2:23.16) and sixth by Soni's teammate Micah Lawrence (2:23.27). South Africa's Suzaan van Biljon got off to a flying start in the first length, but dropped back to seventh in 2:23.72, while Australia's

Sally Foster Sally M. Foster is a Scottish archaeologist and senior lecturer at the University of Stirling. She specialises in the archaeology of Scotland, particularly the Picts and their neighbours in the early medieval period. Education and career Fos ...

rounded out the field to eighth in 2:26.00. Before the breakthrough finale, Soni scorched the field with a world-record time in 2:20.00 to pick up a top seed in the semifinals, slicing 0.12 seconds off the standard set by Canada's

Annamay Pierse Annamay Pierse (born December 5, 1983) is a former competitive swimmer who represented Canada in major international swimming championships including the Summer Olympics, FINA World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championshi ...

in a since-banned high tech bodysuit from the 2009 World Championships. Other notable swimmers missed the final roster featuring Serbia's

Nađa Higl Nađa Higl (Serbian Cyrillic: Нађа Хигл; born 2 January 1987) is a Serbian swimmer. She was World Champion in 200 m breaststroke. Higl was awarded the title "Serbian Sportswoman of the year" for the year 2009 by the Olympic Commit ...

, the 2009 world champion; Norway's Sara Nordenstam, the defending bronze medalist; and Jamaica's Alia Atkinson, fourth-place finalist in the 100 m breaststroke.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. The following records were established during the competition:

Results

Heats

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

External links

NBC Olympics Coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Women's 200 metre breaststroke Women's 00200 metre breaststroke 2012 in women's swimming Women's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics