The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

took place on 8–9 August at the

Olympic Aquatics Stadium The Olympic Aquatics Stadium ( pt, Estádio Aquático Olímpico) was a temporary aquatics center in the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. The venue hosted the Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics, swimming events, Synchronized swimming at t ...

Summary

As the most decorated Olympian of all-time,

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

got the opportunity to avenge the distance butterfly title that he lost in London four years earlier, when South Africa's

Chad le Clos Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS (born 12 April 1992) is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short ...

beat him to the wall. Moving to the front at the halfway turn, Phelps held off the Japanese challenger

Masato Sakai is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival for ''The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio'' and ''The Chef of South Polar'' and the award for best supporting actor at the 2008 Nikkan Sports Film Award, at ...

by a 0.04-second margin to claim his twentieth Olympic gold medal and twenty-fifth overall in 1:53.36. Coming from sixth at the 150-metre turn, Sakai made a late surge on the final length to nearly upset Phelps towards a close finish, but he ended up taking the silver in 1:53.40. Meanwhile, Hungary's top seed and 2014 Youth Olympic champion

Tamás Kenderesi Tamás Kenderesi (; born 13 December 1996) is a Hungarian competitive swimmer who specializes in butterfly. He is an Olympics and European Championships bronze medalist, and Youth Olympics gold medalist swimmer. He was born in Bonyhad, but his ...

powered home with a bronze in 1:53.62. Le Clos did not produce another striking effort to halt the most decorated Olympian from snatching the title, as he was shut out of the medals to fourth in 1:54.06. Sakai's teammate

Daiya Seto is a Japanese professional swimmer who specializes in individual medley, butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle events. He won the gold medal in the 400-metre individual medley at the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 world short course champi ...

finished fifth in 1:54.82, with Denmark's

Viktor Bromer Viktor Bregner Bromer (born 20 April 1993, in Aarhus) is a Danish swimmer. He won the 200 metre butterfly at the 2014 European Aquatics Championships in 1:55.29, which was a new Danish and Nordic record. He raced in the 2016 Summer Olympi ...

following him to pick up the sixth spot in 1:55.64. Hungarian swimmer, 2008 Olympic silver medalist, and reigning world champion

László Cseh László Cseh (; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive swimmer and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020 ...

commanded a brief lead on the initial length, but faded shortly to seventh place in 1:56.24. Belgium's

Louis Croenen Louis Croenen (born 4 January 1994) is a Belgian competitive swimmer. He competed in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2016 he competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 200 metre butterfly event and ...

rounded out the field with an eighth-place time in 1:57.04.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

Results

Heats

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metre butterfly Men's 00200 metre butterfly

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Men's events at the 2016 Summer Olympics