The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2004 Olympic Games was contested at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece on August 17 and 18.[1]
| Men's 200 metre breaststroke at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Aquatic Centre | ||||||||||||
| Date | August 17, 2004 (heats and semifinals) August 18, 2004 (final) | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 47 from 39 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 2:09.44 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
After missing out the semifinals in Sydney four years earlier, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima blasted one of the longest Olympic swimming records in the book, when he clocked at 2:09.44 to erase a 0.77-second mark by American swimmer Mike Barrowman in 1992, and to strike a breaststroke double for the second straight time.[2] 15-year-old Dániel Gyurta of Hungary made a surprise packet with a silver medal in 2:10.80, edging out U.S. swimmer Brendan Hansen in a close race by 0.07 of a second. Hansen, who broke Kitajima's world record at the U.S. Olympic trials one month ago, finished third in 2:10.87.[3]
Records edit
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Brendan Hansen (USA) |
2:09.04 | Long Beach, United States | 11 July 2004 |
| Olympic record |  Mike Barrowman (USA) |
2:10.16 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 1992 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 18 | Final | Kosuke Kitajima |  Japan |
2:09.44 | OR |
Results edit
Heats edit
Semifinals edit
Semifinal 1 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kosuke Kitajima | Japan |
2:10.86 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Mike Brown |  Canada |
2:12.14 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Vladislav Polyakov |  Kazakhstan |
2:12.19 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Jim Piper |  Australia |
2:12.22 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Grigory Falko |  Russia |
2:12.42 | |
| 6 | 1 | Richárd Bodor |  Hungary |
2:12.76 | |
| 7 | 7 | Terence Parkin |  South Africa |
2:13.58 | |
| 8 | 8 | Chris Cook |  Great Britain |
2:15.91 |
Semifinal 2 edit
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Dániel Gyurta | Hungary |
2:10.75 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Brendan Hansen | United States |
2:10.81 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Paolo Bossini |  Italy |
2:11.76 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Scott Usher | United States |
2:12.00 | Q |
| 5 | 7 | Genki Imamura | Japan |
2:12.86 | |
| 6 | 1 | Maxim Podoprigora |  Austria |
2:14.66 | |
| 7 | 8 | Lai Zhongjian |  China |
2:14.94 | |
| 6 | Ian Edmond | Great Britain |
DSQ |
Final edit
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
3 | Kosuke Kitajima | Japan |
2:09.44 | OR |
 |
4 | Dániel Gyurta | Hungary |
2:10.80 | |
 |
5 | Brendan Hansen | United States |
2:10.87 | |
| 4 | 6 | Paolo Bossini | Italy |
2:11.20 | |
| 5 | 1 | Vladislav Polyakov | Kazakhstan |
2:11.76 | |
| 6 | 7 | Mike Brown | Canada |
2:11.94 | |
| 7 | 2 | Scott Usher | United States |
2:11.95 | |
| 8 | Jim Piper | Australia |
DSQ |
References edit
- ^ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 2004-08-05. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
- ^ "Japan's Kitajima wins men's 200m breaststroke for 2nd gold". Xinhua. People's Daily. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "Kitajima Takes the Breaststroke Double, Wins the 200 in an Olympic Record 2:09.44". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.