The women's 200 metre individual medley at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

took place on 30–31 July 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 Olymp ...

London, United Kingdom London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Despite allegations of doping, China's

Ye Shiwen Ye Shiwen (; ; born 1 March 1996) is a Chinese swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in the 400 metres and 200 metres individual medley, breaking the world record in the 400 m event and the Olympic record in the 200 m event ...

pulled away from the rest of the field to strike a medley double for the fifth straight time in Olympic history since

Michelle Smith Michelle Smith de Bruin (born 16 December 1969 in Rathcoole) is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 20 ...

did so in 1996,

Yana Klochkova Yana Oleksandrivna Klochkova ( uk, Яна Олександрівна Клочкова; born 7 August 1982) is a Ukrainian swimmer, who has won five Olympic medals in her career, with four of them being gold. She is Merited Master of Sports (19 ...

in 2000 and 2004, and Australia's

Stephanie Rice Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

in 2008. Coming from third at the final turn, she opened up her lead with a superb freestyle leg to establish a new Olympic record and a sterling gold-medal time in 2:07.57. Australia's

Alicia Coutts Alicia Jayne Coutts, (born 14 September 1987) is an Australian competitive medley, butterfly and freestyle swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2010 Commonwealth Games (New Delhi). Sh ...

produced a striking effort to claim the silver behind the Chinese teen in a lifetime best of 2:08.15, adding it to her Olympic hardware with a full set of medals. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer

Caitlin Leverenz Caitlin Leverenz Smith (born February 26, 1991) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and medley events. She won the bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Early years L ...

stormed home on the rear of a dominant breaststroke leg to take the bronze in 2:08.95. Rice, the defending Olympic champion, finished fourth in 2:09.55, while U.S. world record holder

Ariana Kukors Ariana Kukors (born June 1, 1989) is an American former competition swimmer and former world record holder in the 200-meter individual medley (long course). Ariana now works in private coaching related to athletic performance. Kukors has won a ...

lost her chance to climb the podium with a fifth-place time in 2:09.83. Zimbabwe's

Kirsty Coventry Kirsty Leigh Coventry Seward (born 16 September 1983) is a Zimbabwean swimmer and politician currently serving as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe since September 2018. A former Olympic swimmer and wo ...

fell short in her second attempt for an Olympic medal, earning a sixth spot in 2:11.13. Great Britain's Hannah Miley (2:11.29) and Hungary's

Katinka Hosszú Katinka Hosszú (; born 3 May 1989) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer specialized in individual medley events. She is a three-time Olympic champion and a nine-time long-course world champion. She is owner of a Budapest based swim school and swi ...

(2:14.19) rounded out the field. Earlier in the semifinals, Ye threw down a fastest freestyle split of 30.59 to set an Olympic record and a textile best in 2:08.39, cutting off Rice's previous standard by six-hundredths of a second (0.06) in a since-banned high tech bodysuit.

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 individual medley Women's 00200 metre individual medley 2012 in women's swimming Women's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics