| | Event type

200 metres Backstroke, Women

Date	27 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Plavatelny basseyn, Sportivny kompleks Olimpiysky, Moskva
Participants	21 from 13 countries

American Linda Jezek would have been the favorite if the USA was in Moscow. She had won the 100 and 200 backstrokes at the 1978 World Championships, with her winning mark in this event a still-standing world record of 2:11.93 as the Games started. Four days before Rica Reinisch had won gold in the 100 backstroke, and was highly considered, but her personal best as recently as June 1980 was only 2:15.59, far from the top international level. But she led throughout in Moscow, leading the East German women to a medal sweep, and finishing in 2:11.77 to better Jezek’s world record. Bronze medalist Birgit Treiber had won silver in this event at the 1976 Olympics, and had been silver medalist behind Jezek in both backstrokes at the 1978 Worlds.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	Rica Reinisch	GDR	2:13.00 (1 h2)	2:11.77 (1)	Gold
2	Cornelia Polit	GDR	2:14.81 (1 h3)	2:13.75 (2)	Silver
3	Birgit Treiber	GDR	2:15.53 (2 h3)	2:14.14 (3)	Bronze
4	Carmen Bunaciu	ROU	2:15.88 (2 h2)	2:15.20 (4)
5	Yolande Van Der Straeten	BEL	2:16.62 (2 h1)	2:15.58 (5)
6	Carine Verbauwen	BEL	2:16.96 (4 h1)	2:16.66 (6)
7	Lisa Forrest	AUS	2:15.40 (1 h1)	2:16.75 (7)
8	Larisa Gorchakova	URS	2:16.68 (3 h1)	2:17.72 (8)
9	Jolanda de Rover	NED	2:17.12 (3 h3)	–
10	Georgina Parkes	AUS	2:17.78 (3 h2)	–
11	Helen Jameson	GBR	2:17.84 (4 h2)	–
12	Jane Admans	GBR	2:19.20 (5 h1)	–
13	Monique Bosga	NED	2:19.21 (5 h2)	–
14	Teresa Rivera	MEX	2:21.51 (4 h3)	–
15	Yelena Kruglova	URS	2:22.41 (5 h3)	–
16	Manuela Carosi	ITA	2:22.46 (6 h1)	–
17	Michèle Ricaud	FRA	2:22.86 (7 h1)	–
18	Agnieszka Czopek	POL	2:23.06 (6 h3)	–
19	Ágnes Fodor	HUN	2:23.56 (7 h3)	–
20	Magdalena Białas	POL	2:26.85 (8 h3)	–
21	Nguyễn Thị Hồng Bích	VIE	2:52.90 (8 h1)	–
DNS	María París	CRC	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	Andrea Kalman	HUN	– (DNS h1)	–
DNS	Annika Uvehall	SWE	– (DNS h1)	–

Round One (27 July 1980 — 10:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Lisa Forrest	AUS	32.27 (2) 33.64 (1)	1:05.91 (1) 34.41 (1)	1:40.32 (1) 35.08 (3)	2:15.40	Q
2	6	Yolande Van Der Straeten	BEL	33.11 (7) 34.09 (2)	1:07.20 (5) 34.51 (2)	1:41.71 (3) 34.91 (2)	2:16.62	Q
3	5	Larisa Gorchakova	URS	32.32 (3) 34.13 (3)	1:06.45 (2) 34.99 (3)	1:41.44 (2) 35.24 (4)	2:16.68	Q
4	2	Carine Verbauwen	BEL	32.26 (1) 34.92 (5)	1:07.18 (4) 35.47 (5)	1:42.65 (5) 34.31 (1)	2:16.96	Q
5	3	Jane Admans	GBR	32.56 (4) 34.28 (4)	1:06.84 (3) 35.40 (4)	1:42.24 (4) 36.96 (=5)	2:19.20
6	1	Manuela Carosi	ITA	32.74 (5) 35.60 (7)	1:08.34 (7) 37.16 (7)	1:45.50 (7) 36.96 (=5)	2:22.46
7	7	Michèle Ricaud	FRA	33.06 (6) 34.94 (6)	1:08.00 (6) 36.86 (6)	1:44.86 (6) 38.00 (7)	2:22.86
8	8	Nguyễn Thị Hồng Bích	VIE	39.97 (8) 42.85 (8)	1:22.82 (8) 45.19 (8)	2:08.01 (8) 44.89 (8)	2:52.90
DNS	8	María París	CRC	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	7	Andrea Kalman	HUN	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–
DNS	2	Annika Uvehall	SWE	– (–) –	– (–) –	– (–) –	–

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	5	Rica Reinisch	GDR	31.19 (1) 33.73 (2)	1:04.92 (1) 34.20 (1)	1:39.12 (1) 33.88 (1)	2:13.00	QOR
2	4	Carmen Bunaciu	ROU	32.19 (5) 33.66 (1)	1:05.85 (2) 34.71 (2)	1:40.56 (2) 35.32 (2)	2:15.88	Q
3	6	Georgina Parkes	AUS	32.09 (4) 34.44 (3)	1:06.53 (4) 35.67 (4)	1:42.20 (4) 35.58 (3)	2:17.78
4	1	Helen Jameson	GBR	31.74 (=2) 35.01 (5)	1:06.75 (5) 35.50 (3)	1:42.25 (5) 35.59 (4)	2:17.84
5	3	Monique Bosga	NED	31.74 (=2) 34.54 (4)	1:06.28 (3) 35.90 (5)	1:42.18 (3) 37.03 (5)	2:19.21

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	5	Cornelia Polit	GDR	32.16 (2) 33.97 (1)	1:06.13 (2) 34.40 (1)	1:40.53 (1) 34.28 (2)	2:14.81	Q
2	4	Birgit Treiber	GDR	32.36 (3) 34.31 (2)	1:06.67 (3) 34.60 (2)	1:41.27 (3) 34.26 (1)	2:15.53	Q
3	3	Jolanda de Rover	NED	31.71 (1) 34.36 (3)	1:06.07 (1) 35.17 (3)	1:41.24 (2) 35.88 (5)	2:17.12
4	8	Teresa Rivera	MEX	33.28 (6) 35.37 (5)	1:08.65 (5) 37.13 (5)	1:45.78 (5) 35.73 (3)	2:21.51
5	2	Yelena Kruglova	URS	32.51 (4) 35.27 (4)	1:07.78 (4) 37.59 (7)	1:45.37 (4) 37.04 (6)	2:22.41
6	1	Agnieszka Czopek	POL	34.57 (7) 36.21 (7)	1:10.78 (7) 36.41 (4)	1:47.19 (7) 35.87 (4)	2:23.06
7	6	Ágnes Fodor	HUN	33.23 (5) 35.72 (6)	1:08.95 (6) 37.28 (6)	1:46.23 (6) 37.33 (8)	2:23.56
8	7	Magdalena Białas	POL	34.92 (8) 36.84 (8)	1:11.76 (8) 37.95 (8)	1:49.71 (8) 37.14 (7)	2:26.85

Final (27 July 1980 — 18:30)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	100 m	150 m	Time
1	4	Rica Reinisch	GDR	31.18 (1) 33.37 (2)	1:04.55 (1) 33.94 (1)	1:38.49 (1) 33.28 (1)	2:11.77	WR
2	5	Cornelia Polit	GDR	31.59 (2) 33.62 (3)	1:05.21 (2) 34.48 (5)	1:39.69 (3) 34.06 (2)	2:13.75
3	6	Birgit Treiber	GDR	31.86 (5) 33.80 (5)	1:05.66 (4) 34.23 (3)	1:39.89 (4) 34.25 (3)	2:14.14
4	2	Carmen Bunaciu	ROU	31.91 (6) 33.33 (1)	1:05.24 (3) 34.35 (4)	1:39.59 (2) 35.61 (6)	2:15.20
5	7	Yolande Van Der Straeten	BEL	32.65 (8) 34.46 (8)	1:07.11 (8) 34.14 (2)	1:41.25 (7) 34.33 (4)	2:15.58
6	8	Carine Verbauwen	BEL	31.74 (4) 34.44 (7)	1:06.18 (7) 34.90 (7)	1:41.08 (6) 35.58 (5)	2:16.66
7	3	Lisa Forrest	AUS	32.37 (7) 33.63 (4)	1:06.00 (6) 34.70 (6)	1:40.70 (5) 36.05 (7)	2:16.75
8	1	Larisa Gorchakova	URS	31.62 (3) 34.06 (6)	1:05.68 (5) 35.71 (8)	1:41.39 (8) 36.33 (8)	2:17.72