Medalists
| Gold |
 Kirsty Coventry
Zimbabwe (ZIM) |
| Silver |
 Margaret Hoelzer
United States (USA) |
| Bronze |
 Reiko Nakamura
Japan (JPN) |
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World Record |
Margaret Hoelzer (USA) |
2:06.09 |
Omaha, United States |
5 July 2008 |
| Olympic Record |
Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN) |
2:07.06 |
Barcelona, Spain |
31 July 1992 |
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
3 |
Yeongseo Kang |
South Korea |
2:14.52 |
|
| 2 |
5 |
Gisela Morales |
Guatemala |
2:14.54 |
|
| 3 |
4 |
Erin Nicole Volcan Smith |
Venezuela |
2:15.58 |
|
Heat 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
7 |
Melanie Nocher |
Ireland |
2:12.29 |
|
| 2 |
6 |
Zuzanna Mazurek |
Poland |
2:12.46 |
|
| 3 |
4 |
Lydia Morant |
Spain |
2:13.87 |
|
| 4 |
8 |
Fernanda Gonzalez |
Mexico |
2:14.64 |
|
| 5 |
1 |
Stella Boumi |
Greece |
2:14.73 |
|
| 6 |
3 |
Sanja Jovanovic |
Croatia |
2:15.57 |
|
| 7 |
5 |
Christin Zenner |
Germany |
2:20.28 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Julia Wilkinson |
Canada |
DNS |
|
Heat 3
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
5 |
Jing Zhao |
China |
2:08.97 |
Q |
| 2 |
3 |
Anastasia Zuyeva |
Russia |
2:09.01 |
Q |
| 3 |
4 |
Laure Manaudou |
France |
2:09.39 |
Q |
| 4 |
6 |
Belinda Hocking |
Australia |
2:09.54 |
Q |
| 5 |
1 |
Anja Čarman |
Slovenia |
2:10.49 |
Q |
| 6 |
2 |
Gemma Spofforth |
Great Britain |
2:10.58 |
Q |
| 7 |
7 |
Evelin Verraszto |
Hungary |
2:11.02 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Lindsay Seemann |
Canada |
2:15.07 |
|
Heat 4
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Kirsty Coventry |
Zimbabwe |
2:06.76 |
Q, OR |
| 2 |
3 |
Meagen Nay |
Australia |
2:08.79 |
Q |
| 3 |
2 |
Melissa Ingram |
New Zealand |
2:09.34 |
Q |
| 4 |
5 |
Alexianne Castel |
France |
2:09.37 |
Q |
| 5 |
6 |
Hanae Ito |
Japan |
2:10.05 |
Q |
| 6 |
8 |
Yanyan Chen |
China |
2:11.95 |
|
| 7 |
7 |
Melissa Corfe |
South Africa |
2:12.64 |
|
| 8 |
1 |
Iryna Amshennikova |
Ukraine |
2:15.78 |
|
Heat 5
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
6 |
Elizabeth Simmonds |
Great Britain |
2:08.66 |
Q, NR |
| 2 |
5 |
Elizabeth Beisel |
United States |
2:09.02 |
Q |
| 3 |
4 |
Margaret Hoelzer |
United States |
2:09.12 |
Q |
| 4 |
3 |
Reiko Nakamura |
Japan |
2:09.77 |
Q |
| 5 |
7 |
Stanislava Komarova |
Russia |
2:09.93 |
Q |
| 6 |
2 |
Nikolett Szepesi |
Hungary |
2:11.47 |
|
| 7 |
8 |
Kateryna Zubkova |
Ukraine |
2:12.64 |
|
| 8 |
1 |
Victoria Escarlata Bernard |
Spain |
2:12.86 |
|
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
3 |
Elizabeth Beisel |
United States |
2:07.90 |
Q |
| 2 |
7 |
Reiko Nakamura |
Japan |
2:08.21 |
Q |
| 3 |
4 |
Elizabeth Simmonds |
Great Britain |
2:08.96 |
Q |
| 4 |
8 |
Gemma Spofforth |
Great Britain |
2:09.19 |
|
| 5 |
5 |
Jing Zhao |
China |
2:09.59 |
|
| 6 |
6 |
Melissa Ingram |
New Zealand |
2:09.70 |
|
| 7 |
1 |
Hanae Ito |
Japan |
2:09.86 |
|
| 8 |
2 |
Laure Manaudou |
France |
2:12.04 |
|
Semifinal 2
| Rank |
Lane |
Name |
Nationality |
Time |
Notes |
| 1 |
4 |
Kirsty Coventry |
Zimbabwe |
2:07.76 |
Q |
| 2 |
5 |
Meagen Nay |
Australia |
2:08.09 |
Q, OC |
| 3 |
6 |
Margaret Hoelzer |
United States |
2:08.25 |
Q |
| 4 |
7 |
Belinda Hocking |
Australia |
2:08.80 |
Q |
| 5 |
3 |
Anastasia Zuyeva |
Russia |
2:09.07 |
Q |
| 6 |
2 |
Alexianne Castel |
France |
2:10.04 |
|
| 7 |
1 |
Stanislava Komarova |
Russia |
2:10.50 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
Anja Čarman |
Slovenia |
2:12.46 |
|
Final
| Rank |
Lane |
Swimmer |
Time |
Notes |
| |
4 |
Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) |
0:2:05.24 |
WR |
| |
2 |
Margaret Hoelzer (USA) |
0:2:06.23 |
|
| |
6 |
Reiko Nakamura (JPN) |
0:2:07.13 |
AS |
| 4 |
8 |
Anastasia Zuyeva (RUS) |
0:2:07.88 |
|
| 5 |
5 |
Elizabeth Beisel (USA) |
0:2:08.23 |
|
| 6 |
1 |
Elizabeth Simmonds (GBR) |
0:2:08.51 |
NR |
| 7 |
3 |
Meagen Nay (AUS) |
0:2:08.84 |
|
| 8 |
7 |
Belinda Hocking (AUS) |
0:2:10.12 |
|
|
