Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke

The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1–2 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]

Men's 200 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Medalists of the event
Venue	London Aquatics Centre
Date	August 1, 2012 (heats & semifinals) August 2, 2012 (final)
Competitors	35 from 27 nations
Winning time	1:53.41 OR
Medalists
Tyler Clary  United States Ryosuke Irie  Japan Ryan Lochte  United States

Despite his criticisms about Michael Phelps during training camp before apologizing for the remarks, U.S. swimmer Tyler Clary put aside all the drama to capture an Olympic title in the event. Trailing behind at the 150-metre turn, he made a late charge on the final lap to edge out Japan's Ryosuke Irie and defending champion Ryan Lochte for an Olympic record and a gold medal in 1:53.41.[2][3] Irie also overhauled Lochte about the midway through the leg, but could not catch Clary near the wall to finish only with a silver in 1:53.78.[4] Leading almost an entire race in the first of a difficult double, Lochte faded down the stretch to pick up a bronze in 1:53.94.[5][6]

Poland's Radosław Kawęcki matched China's Zhang Fenglin with a fourth-place time in 1:55.59, while Irie's teammate Kazuki Watanabe earned a sixth spot in 1:57.03. Israel's Yakov-Yan Toumarkin (1:57.62) and Australia's Mitch Larkin (1:58.02) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the finale.[6][7]

Other notable swimmers featured Russia's defending bronze medalist Arkady Vyatchanin, who missed a chance to climb the podium again after placing seventeenth in the prelims (1:58.69); and Turkey's Derya Büyükuncu, who opened the event with a top finish in heat one, but posted a thirty-third place time of 2:01.68 in his astonishing sixth Olympic appearance.[8][9]

Records

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

World record	Aaron Peirsol (USA)	1:51.92	Rome, Italy	31 July 2009	[10][11]
Olympic record	Ryan Lochte (USA)	1:53.94	Beijing, China	15 August 2008	[12]

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
August 2	Final	Tyler Clary	United States	1:53.41	OR

Results

Heats

[13]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	4	Tyler Clary	United States	1:56.24	Q
2	5	4	Ryan Lochte	United States	1:56.36	Q
3	5	3	Zhang Fenglin	China	1:56.71	Q
4	4	4	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:56.81	Q
5	2	4	Gábor Balog	Hungary	1:56.98	Q
6	4	5	Jan-Philip Glania	Germany	1:57.01	Q
7	3	7	Nick Driebergen	Netherlands	1:57.29	Q
8	5	2	Yakov-Yan Toumarkin	Israel	1:57.33	Q, NR
9	3	5	Péter Bernek	Hungary	1:57.52	Q
10	4	7	Mitch Larkin	Australia	1:57.53	Q
11	3	1	Tobias Oriwol	Canada	1:58.06	Q
12	5	6	Yannick Lebherz	Germany	1:58.07	Q
13	3	3	Kazuki Watanabe	Japan	1:58.17	Q
14	5	5	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:58.18	Q
15	4	1	Omar Pinzón	Colombia	1:58.20	Q
16	4	2	Leonardo de Deus	Brazil	1:58.22	Q
17	3	2	Arkady Vyatchanin	Russia	1:58.69
18	3	8	Marco Loughran	Great Britain	1:58.72
19	5	7	Sebastiano Ranfagni	Italy	1:58.76
20	2	2	Pedro Oliveira	Portugal	1:58.83	NR
21	4	8	Matson Lawson	Australia	1:58.92
22	3	6	Chris Walker-Hebborn	Great Britain	1:59.00
23	5	1	Anton Anchin	Russia	1:59.49
24	4	3	Benjamin Stasiulis	France	1:59.52
25	2	5	Darren Murray	South Africa	2:00.01
26	2	3	Aschwin Wildeboer	Spain	2:00.02
27	2	7	Pedro Medel	Cuba	2:00.05	NR
28	5	8	Xu Jiayu	China	2:00.26
29	4	6	Gareth Kean	New Zealand	2:00.54
30	2	6	Oleksandr Isakov	Ukraine	2:00.78
31	2	8	Alexandr Tarabrin	Kazakhstan	2:01.22
32	2	1	Park Hyung-joo	South Korea	2:01.50
33	1	5	Derya Büyükuncu	Turkey	2:01.68
34	1	4	Sebastian Stoss	Austria	2:02.91
35	1	3	Quah Zheng Wen	Singapore	2:03.45

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Ryan Lochte	United States	1:55.40	Q
2	5	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:55.68	Q
3	1	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:56.74	Q
4	2	Mitch Larkin	Australia	1:56.82	Q
5	6	Yakov-Yan Toumarkin	Israel	1:57.33	Q, =NR
6	3	Jan-Philip Glania	Germany	1:57.43
7	8	Leonardo de Deus	Brazil	1:58.14
8	7	Yannick Lebherz	Germany	1:58.80

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	4	Tyler Clary	United States	1:54.71	Q
2	5	Zhang Fenglin	China	1:55.66	Q, NR
3	1	Kazuki Watanabe	Japan	1:56.81	Q
4	6	Nick Driebergen	Netherlands	1:57.35
5	3	Gábor Balog	Hungary	1:57.56
6	2	Péter Bernek	Hungary	1:57.71
7	7	Tobias Oriwol	Canada	1:58.74
8	8	Omar Pinzón	Colombia	1:58.99

Final

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	4	Tyler Clary	United States	1:53.41	OR
	6	Ryosuke Irie	Japan	1:53.78
	5	Ryan Lochte	United States	1:53.94
4	2	Radosław Kawęcki	Poland	1:55.59
	3	Zhang Fenglin	China		NR
6	7	Kazuki Watanabe	Japan	1:57.03
7	8	Yakov-Yan Toumarkin	Israel	1:57.62
8	1	Mitch Larkin	Australia	1:58.02

References

1. "Swimming: Results & Schedules". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 1 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
2. Auerbach, Nicole (2 August 2012). "Clary tops Lochte, wins gold in 200-meter backstroke". USA Today. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
3. "Clary wins 200m backstroke gold ahead of teammate Lochte". London 2012. NBC Olympics. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
4. "Swimmers Irie, Suzuki add silver to Japan's medal count". The Japan Times. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
5. "Tyler Clary wins gold in 200 back". ESPN. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
6. "2012 London Olympics: Tyler Clary Sets Olympic Record in 200 Back Victory; Ryosuke Irie Earns Silver; Ryan Lochte Claims 10th Career Medal With Bronze". Swimming World Magazine. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
7. "Tyler Clary upstages Ryan Lochte to take backstroke gold". The Australian. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
8. "2012 London Olympics: Tyler Clary Leads 200 Back Prelims; Defending Champ Ryan Lochte Second; Derya Buyukuncu Swims in Sixth Olympics". Swimming World Magazine. 27 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
9. "2012 London Olympics: Tyler Clary Leads 200 Back Prelims; Defending Champ Ryan Lochte Second; Derya Buyukuncu Swims in Sixth Olympics". Swimming World Magazine. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
10. "Cavic supplants Phelps' 100 fly time". ESPN. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
11. Michaelis, Vicky (31 July 2009). "Phelps earns relay gold medal, Peirsol sets 200m backstroke mark". USA Today. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
12. "Lochte, Peirsol take gold, silver in 200 back". NBC News. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
13. "Men's 200m Backstroke – Heats". London 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.

External links

• NBC Olympics Coverage