Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke


The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
At only 16 years of age, Diana Mocanu made an Olympic milestone to become Romania's first ever gold medalist in swimming. She fought off a head-to-head sprint challenge from Japan's Mai Nakamura on the final stretch to hit the wall first in a new Olympic standard of 1:00.21, the second-fastest of all time, cutting off Krisztina Egerszegi's 1992 record by nearly half a second. Meanwhile, Nakamura seized off an early lead under a world-record pace, but ended up only with a silver medal in a Japanese record of 1:00.55. Competing previously for the Unified Team and Russia in two Olympics, Nina Zhivanevskaya made a surprise packet with a bronze for Spain in a sterling time of 1:00.89.
France's Roxana Maracineanu finished off the podium in fourth place at 1:01.10, and was followed in fifth by Nakamura's teammate Noriko Inada in 1:01.14. Coming from second at the final turn, U.S. swimmer Barbara Bedford faded down the stretch to pick up the sixth spot with a time of 1:01.47. Aussie favorite Dyana Calub and Denmark's Louise Ørnstedt closed out the field.
Notable swimmers missed out the top 8 final, featuring Germany's Antje Buschschulte, a pre-Olympic medal contender; South Africa's Charlene Wittstock, who eventually married to Albert II, Prince of Monaco in 2010; and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who later emerged as one of the world's top backstroke swimmers in her decade.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
18 SeptemberFinalDiana Mocanu1:00.21

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
164Mai Nakamura1:00.88Q
263Diana Mocanu1:01.18Q, NR
342Roxana Maracineanu1:01.66Q, NR
443Barbara Bedford1:01.70Q
544Nina Zhivanevskaya1:01.97Q
666Louise Ørnstedt1:01.98Q
756Zhan Shu1:02.19Q
765Noriko Inada1:02.19Q
954Antje Buschschulte1:02.23Q
1045Dyana Calub1:02.46Q
1153Katy Sexton1:02.67Q
1252Kelly Stefanyshyn1:02.78Q
1355Sandra Völker1:02.88Q
1461Michelle Lischinsky1:02.89Q
1541Lu Donghua1:02.91Q
1636Kirsty Coventry1:03.05Q, NR
1747Charlene Wittstock1:03.18
1862Courtney Shealy1:03.19
1957Giaan Rooney1:03.20
1933Shim Min-ji1:03.20NR
2146Sarah Price1:03.22
2267Ilona Hlaváčková1:03.28
2351Anu Koivisto1:03.44
2468Fabíola Molina1:03.68
2558Aleksandra Miciul1:04.51
2635Monique Robins1:04.52
2737Sofie Wolfs1:04.66
2731Nadiya Beshevli1:04.66
2932Irina Raevskaya1:04.76
3034Ana María González1:04.95
3124Camilla Johansson1:04.99
3238Aikaterini Bliamou1:05.09
3322Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai1:05.28
3448Brenda Starink1:05.93
3523Chonlathorn Vorathamrong1:05.98
3626Annamária Kiss1:06.12
3716Marie-Lizza Danila1:06.48
3828Elsa Manora Nasution1:06.57
3821Serrana Fernández1:06.57
4027Kuan Chia-hsien1:07.18
4114Marica Stražmešter1:07.21
4213Şadan Derya Erke1:07.26
4315Kolbrún Ýr Kristjánsdóttir1:07.28
4412Anjelika Solovieva1:07.63
4517Andrea Prono1:08.11
4611Monika Bakale1:16.36
25Tessa Solomon

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

* Also a European and a Romanian record.