Yana Klochkova, Ukraine's swimming pride and three-time European champion, became the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to strike a medley double, since Claudia Kolb did so in 1968, Tracy Caulkins in 1984, and Michelle Smith in 1996. Leading from start to finish, she established a sterling time of 2:10.68 to cut off Lin Li's eight-year Olympic record by a comfortable margin of 0.95 seconds.[2][3] Romania's Beatrice Câșlaru, who shared the European title with Klochkova in the event, raced to silver with a national record of 2:12.57 on the rear of a dominant breaststroke leg. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Cristina Teuscher took home the bronze in 2:13.32 to touch out Canada's Marianne Limpert (2:13.44) by 12-hundredths of a second.[4][5][6]
Limpert was followed in fifth by her teammate Joanne Malar (2:13.70) and in sixth by Russia's Oxana Verevka (2:13.88). Previously competed for Brazil in Atlanta four years earlier, Gabrielle Rose finished seventh in 2:14.82, while Japan's Tomoko Hagiwara rounded out the field with an eighth-place time of 2:15.64.[6]
Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring China's Chen Yan, who recorded the second fastest time ever in the event's history but faded badly to place ninth (2:15.27); and Australia's home favorite Elli Overton, who finished her semifinal run with an eleventh-place effort (2:15.74).[7]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
