Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle
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Men's 200 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | ||||||||||||
Dates | August 10, 2008 (heats) August 11, 2008 (semifinals) August 12, 2008 (final) | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 58 from 50 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 1:42.96 WR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–12 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1] There were 58 competitors from 50 nations.[2]
After winning a bronze in Athens four years earlier, Michael Phelps blasted a new world record of 1:42.96 to claim his third straight gold, ninth career, and eleventh overall medal at the Olympics.[3][4] South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan added a silver to his collection, following an unprecedented triumph in the 400 m freestyle two days earlier. He established a new Asian record of 1:44.85 to clear a 1:45 barrier, and used a final-lap split of 26.17 to edge out Phelps' teammate Peter Vanderkaay, who took home a bronze medal in a personal best of 1:45.14.[3][5]
South Africa's Jean Basson finished fourth with a time of 1:45.97, and was followed in the fifth spot by Germany's Paul Biedermann in 1:46.00. Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry, who raced to a top seed in the prelims, earned a sixth spot in 1:46.95, while Japan's Yoshihiro Okumura (1:47.14) and Great Britain's Robbie Renwick (1:47.47) rounded out the finale.[6] Renwick missed out the semifinals by 0.01 of a second from the prelims, but was offered a second shot, following a sudden withdrawal of two swimmers. Canada's Brent Hayden and France's Amaury Leveaux later scratched the event to focus on their duty in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.[7]
Phelps's gold medal was the first American victory in this event since Mark Spitz and Bruce Furniss went back-to-back in 1972 and 1976. Phelps was the fourth man to win multiple medals in the 200 metre freestyle. He and Vanderkaay were the first teammates to make the podium in the event together since West Germany had two medalists in 1984. Park's medal was South Korea's first in the men's 200 metre freestyle. Australia's three-Games medal streak in the event ended.