Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke
| Men's 200 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
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| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | ||||||||||||
| Date | September 20, 2000 (heats & semifinals) September 21, 2000 (final) |
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| Competitors | 46 from 42 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:56.76 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Lenny Krayzelburg |
 United States
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Aaron Peirsol |
United States
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Matt Welsh |
 Australia
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The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20–21 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
Soviet-born American Lenny Krayzelburg became the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to strike a backstroke double, since Roland Matthes did so in 1968 and 1972, John Naber in 1976, and Rick Carey in 1984. He powered past his nearest rivals Aaron Peirsol and Australia's overwhelming favorite Matt Welsh to hit the wall first in a new Olympic record of 1:56.76. At only 17 years of age, Peirsol trailed behind by almost half a second (0.50) to take a silver in 1:57.35, handing an entire medal haul for the U.S. team with a one–two finish. Meanwhile, Welsh settled only for the bronze in an Oceanian record of 1:57.59.
Iceland's Örn Arnarson came up with a spectacular swim to earn a fourth spot in 1:59.00, holding off Italy's Emanuele Merisi (1:59.01), bronze medalist in Atlanta four years earlier, by a hundredth of a second (0.01). Romania's Răzvan Florea finished sixth with a time of 1:59.05, while Brazil's Rogério Romero (1:59.27), competing at his fourth Olympics, and Croatia's Gordan Kožulj (1:59.38) closed out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight swimmers went under a two-minute barrier.
Earlier, Krayzelburg established a new Olympic standard of 1:58.40 on the morning prelims to cut off Martin López-Zubero's eight-year record by seven hundredths of a second (0.07). Followed by an evening session, he eventually lowered it to 1:57.27 in the semifinals.
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.
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