Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre backstroke
| Men's 200 metre backstroke at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
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| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | ||||||||||||
| Date | August 13, 2008 (heats) August 14, 2008 (semifinals) August 15, 2008 (final) |
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| Competitors | 42 from 33 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 1:53.94 WR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Ryan Lochte |
 United States
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Aaron Peirsol |
United States
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Arkady Vyatchanin |
 Russia
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The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–15 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Billed as the Clash of the Titans, Ryan Lochte stormed home on the final lap to defeat his teammate Aaron Peirsol and claim his first individual Olympic gold medal. He touched the wall first in 1:53.94, faster than the world record he shared with Peirsol at 1:54.32.
Peirsol enjoyed a head-to-head battle against Lochte in the first 150 metres, but ended up only with a silver in 1:54.33. Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin added a second bronze to his collection, finishing in a new European record of 1:54.93 to hold off Austria's Markus Rogan (1:55.49), the silver medalist in Athens four years earlier. Earlier in the semifinals, Vyatchanin edged out Germany's Helge Meeuw in a swimoff to secure a last spot for the top 8 final.
Japan's Ryosuke Irie finished fifth with a time of 1:55.72, and was followed in the sixth spot by Australia's Hayden Stoeckel, who shared bronze medals with Vyatchanin in the 100 m backstroke, in an Oceanian record of 1:56.39. Romania's Răzvan Florea (1:56.52) and Great Britain's Gregor Tait (1:57.00) rounded out the finale.
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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