Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre freestyle
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 Susie O'Neill Australia 1:59.37 Q
2 3 Camelia Potec Romania 1:59.54 Q
3 5 Claudia Poll Costa Rica 1:59.63 Q
4 2 Nadezhda Chemezova Russia 1:59.69 Q
5 6 Franziska van Almsick Germany 2:00.26
6 1 Giaan Rooney Australia 2:00.84
7 7 Carla Geurts Netherlands 2:00.88
8 8 Rada Owen United States 2:03.34
Results -- Semi-finals
The women's 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18-19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney. Australia's overwhelming favorite Susie O'Neill, dubbed as Madame Butterfly, gave the home crowd a further reason to celebrate, as she claimed the gold medal in the event. Rocketed to the boisterous chants of Susie, Susie by her swimming fans, O'Neill held off a challenge from Slovakia's Martina Moravcová to strengthen her lead on the final lap before hitting the wall first in 1:58.24. Moravcova trailed behind by a small fraction of a second to capture another silver at these Games in 1:58.32, while Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, defending Olympic champion, added a second bronze to her hardware from the 400 m freestyle, in a sterling time of 1:58.81. Russia's Nadezhda Chemezova and Germany's Kerstin Kielgass tied for fourth place in a matching time of 1:58.86, finishing off the podium by just five-hundredths of a second (0.05). Belarus' Natalya Baranovskaya pulled off a sixth-place finish in a national record of 1:59.28, while Romania's Camelia Potec (1:59.46) and China's Wang Luna (1:59.55) closed out the field. Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring world-record holder Franziska van Almsick, who faded shortly on the final lap and finished eleventh in the semi-finals; South Africa's Helene Muller, who posted a second-fastest prelims time (1:59.89) earlier but ended up only in ninth; and American duo Lindsay Benko and Rada Owen, both of whom earned a twelfth and a sixteenth spot, respectively. Shortly after the Games, O'Neill announced her retirement from swimming, and was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission, along with ten other athletes.