Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre butterfly
# Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metre butterfly

The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July and 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

China's Jiao Liuyang stormed home on the final stretch to upgrade her silver from Beijing four years earlier with an Olympic title in the event. She produced a striking effort on the last lap to come from behind and demolish the field with a gold-medal time and a new Olympic record in 2:04.06, shaving 0.12 seconds off the standard set by teammate Liu Zige. Meanwhile, Mireia Belmonte García made an Olympic milestone to become Spain's first ever female medalist and fourth overall in swimming, as she brought home the silver in 2:05.25, the ninth-fastest of all time. Japan's Natsumi Hoshi added a sixth bronze to her swimming squad at these Games, in a sterling time of 2:05.48.

Leading through the prelims and the semifinals, U.S. swimmer Kathleen Hersey finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 2:05.78, a full second ahead of her teammate Cammile Adams (2:06.78). Great Britain's Jemma Lowe (2:06.80), Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:07.33) and defending champion Liu Zige (2:07.77) rounded out the field.

Notable swimmers missed the final roster featuring Australia's Jessicah Schipper, a former world record holder; and Poland's Otylia Jędrzejczak, a 2004 Olympic champion, both of whom placed thirteenth (2:08.21) and sixteenth (2:13.09) respectively in the semifinals.

## Records

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

| World record | Liu Zige (CHN) | 2:01.81 | Jinan, China | 21 October 2009 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | Liu Zige (CHN) | 2:04.18 | Beijing, China | 14 August 2008 |

The following records were established during the competition:

| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| August 1 | Final | Jiao Liuyang | China | 2:04.06 | OR |

## Results

### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | 6 | Kathleen Hersey | United States | 2:06.41 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Jiao Liuyang | China | 2:07.15 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 2:07.64 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 6 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:07.75 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | 3 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 2:07.79 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 4 | Natsumi Hoshi | Japan | 2:08.04 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 6 | Judit Ignacio Sorribes | Spain | 2:08.14 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 3 | Cammile Adams | United States | 2:08.18 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 2:08.19 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | 7 | Choi Hye-ra | South Korea | 2:08.45 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | 4 | Liu Zige | China | 2:08.72 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | 3 | Jessicah Schipper | Australia | 2:08.74 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | 2 | Martina Granström | Sweden | 2:08.94 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 1 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | 2:09.24 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | 2 | Audrey Lacroix | Canada | 2:09.25 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 2 | Otylia Jędrzejczak | Poland | 2:09.33 | Q |
| 17 | 3 | 5 | Ellen Gandy | Great Britain | 2:09.92 | |
| 18 | 1 | 5 | Ingvild Snildal | Norway | 2:10.99 | NR |
| 19 | 4 | 7 | Katerine Savard | Canada | 2:11.05 | |
| 20 | 3 | 7 | Samantha Hamill | Australia | 2:11.07 | |
| 21 | 3 | 8 | Denisa Smolenová | Slovakia | 2:11.10 | |
| 22 | 1 | 3 | Andreina Pinto | Venezuela | 2:11.23 | NR |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Rita Medrano | Mexico | 2:11.42 | |
| 24 | 1 | 4 | Sara Oliveira | Portugal | 2:11.54 | |
| 25 | 2 | 1 | Martina van Berkel | Switzerland | 2:12.25 | |
| 26 | 3 | 1 | Joanna Melo | Brazil | 2:13.17 | |
| 27 | 2 | 8 | Emilia Pikkarainen | Finland | 2:13.81 | |
| 28 | 1 | 6 | Cheng Wan-jung | Chinese Taipei | 2:14.29 | |

### Semifinals

**Semifinal 1**

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Jiao Liuyang | China | 2:06.10 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Natsumi Hoshi | Japan | 2:06.37 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Cammile Adams | United States | 2:07.33 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 2:07.69 | |
| 5 | 1 | Anja Klinar | Slovenia | 2:07.84 | |
| 6 | 7 | Jessicah Schipper | Australia | 2:08.21 | |
| 7 | 2 | Choi Hye-Ra | South Korea | 2:08.32 | |
| 8 | 8 | Otylia Jędrzejczak | Poland | 2:13.09 | |

**Semifinal 2**

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Kathleen Hersey | United States | 2:05.90 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 2:06.62 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 2:06.82 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Liu Zige | China | 2:06.99 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 2:07.37 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Martina Granström | Sweden | 2:07.83 | NR |
| 7 | 8 | Audrey Lacroix | Canada | 2:08.00 | |
| 8 | 6 | Judit Ignacio Sorribes | Spain | 2:08.96 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 5 | Jiao Liuyang | China | 2:04.06 | OR |
| | 6 | Mireia Belmonte García | Spain | 2:05.25 | NR |
| | 3 | Natsumi Hoshi | Japan | 2:05.48 | |
| 4 | 4 | Kathleen Hersey | United States | 2:05.78 | |
| 5 | 1 | Cammile Adams | United States | 2:06.78 | |
| 6 | 8 | Jemma Lowe | Great Britain | 2:06.80 | |
| 7 | 2 | Zsuzsanna Jakabos | Hungary | 2:07.33 | |
| 8 | 7 | Liu Zige | China | 2:07.77 | |
