Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metre butterfly

The Men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 11–13th August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This swimming event used the butterfly stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of four lengths of the pool.

Six heats were held, with most containing the maximum number of swimmers (eight). The heat in which a swimmer competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the swimmers with the top sixteen times from the entire field qualified for the semifinals. Two semifinal heats of eight swimmers each were held. The swimmers with the eight fastest times again advanced to the finals; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements.

The qualifying standards were for the 2008 event were 1:57.67 (A norm) and 2:01.80 (B norm). Nations with two or more swimmers meeting the A standard could enter any two such swimmers; otherwise, they could enter a single swimmer meeting the B standard.

During the final, Michael Phelps's goggles filled with water, preventing him from seeing anything while he was finishing the second lap. He nevertheless won the event in world record time, also setting the record for the Olympic athlete with the most career gold medals won. This was his tenth overall Olympic gold medal; he would go on to win another one in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay event, held on the same day. [cite news|first=Larry|last=Siddons|title=Water-Filled Goggles Can't Keep Phelps From Gold Mark|url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=ac18scOpOC4E&refer=home|publisher="Bloomberg"|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-13]

Medalists

Heat 2

Heat 5

emifinal 2

Final

References