Which event did Michael Phelps swim at the 2000 Sydney Olympics?

Michael Phelps swam the 200-metre butterfly at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The event was Phelps’s Olympic debut. At just 15, he qualified for the United States team and advanced through the heats and semifinals at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre. The 200-metre butterfly was already a natural fit for him: butterfly became his signature stroke, and he later won Olympic titles in the event at Athens, Beijing, London, and Rio.

Phelps finished fifth in Sydney’s final with a time of 1:56.50. The race was won by American Tom Malchow in 1:55.35, with Ukraine’s Denys Sylantyev second and Australia’s Justin Norris third. Phelps’s result did not produce a medal, but it marked the beginning of an Olympic career that eventually yielded 28 medals.

The event is sometimes confused with the 200-metre individual medley, another race Phelps dominated later. In the butterfly, all four lengths use the butterfly stroke; an individual medley combines butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.