The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

Domenico Fioravanti emerged as a major force on the international swimming after effortlessly winning his second gold at these Games. He maintained a lead from start to finish and posted a European record of 2:10.87, the second-fastest of all time, making him the first ever swimmer in Olympic history to strike a breaststroke double. South Africa's Terence Parkin, a deaf mute since birth, enjoyed the race of his life to take a silver medal in an African record of 2:12.50. Fioravanti's fellowman Davide Rummolo gave Italy a further reason to celebrate, as he powered home with the bronze in 2:12.73.

Acknowledging a massive cheer from the home crowd, Australia's Regan Harrison swam his lifetime best, but finished outside the podium by 15-hundredths of a second in 2:12.88. Czech Republic's Daniel Málek pulled off a fifth-place finish in a national record of 2:13.20, while Kyle Salyards, the only U.S. swimmer in the final, earned a sixth spot with a time of 2:13.27. France's Yohann Bernard (2:13.31) and another Aussie Ryan Mitchell (2:14.00) rounded out the finale. Notable swimmers failed to reach the top 8 final, featuring Hungary's Norbert Rózsa, the defending Olympic champion, who placed thirteenth (2:14.67), and Canada's Morgan Knabe, who had the fastest 100-metre split, but faded badly on the final lap to place tenth (2:14.01).

Shortly before the next Olympics, Fioravanti was forced to retire from swimming after failing a routine medical test carried by the Italian National Olympic Committee. Tests revealed that he was diagnosed with a genetic heart anomaly.

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

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 7 Davide Rummolo 2:12.75 Q, NR 2 4 5 Daniel Málek 2:14.10 Q, NR 3 7 2 Morgan Knabe 2:14.18 Q 4 7 7 Maxim Podoprigora 2:14.37 Q, NR 5 5 6 Ryan Mitchell 2:14.69 Q 6 7 4 Stéphan Perrot 2:14.79 Q 7 7 6 Regan Harrison 2:14.85 Q 8 5 7 Martin Gustavsson 2:15.02 Q 9 6 2 Domenico Fioravanti 2:15.04 Q 10 6 3 Terence Parkin 2:15.06 Q 11 6 1 Norbert Rózsa 2:15.27 Q 12 6 4 Yohann Bernard 2:15.35 Q 13 5 3 Akira Hayashi 2:15.54 Q 14 6 5 Kyle Salyards 2:15.57 Q 15 2 2 Alexander Tkachev 2:15.63 Q 16 7 5 Dmitry Komornikov 2:15.70 Q 17 7 3 Kosuke Kitajima 2:15.71 18 4 3 Marek Krawczyk 2:16.08 19 4 4 Valērijs Kalmikovs 2:16.21 NR 20 5 4 Roman Sloudnov 2:16.26 21 5 5 Tom Wilkens 2:16.30 22 5 8 Aliaksandr Hukau 2:16.93 23 5 1 Benno Kuipers 2:17.03 24 6 6 Adam Whitehead 2:17.16 25 4 8 Jakob Jóhann Sveinsson 2:17.86 NR 26 7 8 José Couto 2:18.08 27 4 1 Andrew Bree 2:18.14 28 2 6 Oleg Lisogor 2:18.28 29 3 2 Joe Kyong-fan 2:19.16 NR 30 3 5 Li Tsung-chueh 2:19.30 31 4 7 Steven Ferguson 2:19.31 32 4 6 Tal Stricker 2:19.33 33 3 4 Raiko Pachel 2:19.71 34 2 3 Jarno Pihlava 2:19.76 35 3 8 Francisco Suriano 2:20.10 36 2 5 Jeremy Knowles 2:20.31 37 1 4 Andrés Bicocca 2:20.98 38 5 2 Zhu Yi 2:21.60 39 3 6 Alvaro Fortuny 2:21.78 40 3 1 Muhammad Akbar Nasution 2:23.81 41 4 2 Ratapong Sirisanont 2:23.95 42 3 7 Tam Chi Kin 2:24.04 43 3 3 Juan José Madrigal 2:24.49 44 7 1 Elvin Chia 2:26.84 45 1 3 Nguyễn Ngọc Anh 2:29.54 46 2 7 Sergey Voytsekhovich 2:30.23 47 1 5 Leonard Ngoma 2:32.90 2 4 Vadim Tatarov 6 8 Jens Kruppa

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Kyle Salyards 2:13.38 Q 2 4 Daniel Málek 2:13.46 Q, NR 3 7 Yohann Bernard 2:13.48 Q 4 2 Terence Parkin 2:13.57 Q 5 8 Dmitry Komornikov 2:13.95 6 5 Maxim Podoprigora 2:14.20 7 3 Stéphan Perrot 2:14.59 8 6 Martin Gustavsson 2:15.23

Semifinal 2 Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Domenico Fioravanti 2:12.37 Q, NR 2 4 Davide Rummolo 2:13.23 Q 3 6 Regan Harrison 2:13.75 Q 4 3 Ryan Mitchell 2:13.87 Q 5 5 Morgan Knabe 2:14.01 6 7 Norbert Rózsa 2:14.67 7 1 Akira Hayashi 2:15.16 8 8 Alexander Tkachev 2:16.90

Final Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Domenico Fioravanti 2:10.87 EU 7 Terence Parkin 2:12.50 AF 5 Davide Rummolo 2:12.73 4 1 Regan Harrison 2:12.88 OC 5 6 Daniel Málek 2:13.20 NR 6 3 Kyle Salyards 2:13.27 7 2 Yohann Bernard 2:13.31 8 8 Ryan Mitchell 2:14.00

References

External links Official Olympic Report